Education Roundup: Happiness, free netflix, animals cams and more, March 31

Free wifi hotspots, a free happiness class and more|

Wifi support: Up to 40 percent of district families do not have access to reliable wifi at home. This obstacle to universal distance education makes it difficult for the district to implement consistent instruction remotely. The Ed Foundation is working with the district to purchase 200 wifi hotspots to help provide reliable internet service for Sonoma Valley High School students so that instruction can continue remotely in an equitable manner. To donate, visit svgreatschools.org.

Happiness: Yale is offering its most popular course, 'The Science of Well-Being,' online for free. Learn more at businessinsider.com/coursera-yale-science-of-wellbeing-free-course-review-overview.

Animal cams: While perhaps not educational, but certainly entertaining, we also found a resource for dozens of animal cams. The list is available at explore.org/livecams/currently-live/puppy-whelping-room.

Free movies: Amazon is making some of its family-friendly programming available free on Prime Video as a result of the COVID-19 crisis. The content is available to all Amazon customers — no Prime membership is required. The free service includes 'Arthur,' 'Caillou,' 'Daniel Tiger's Neighborhood,' 'Dinosaur Train,' 'Reading Rainbow,' 'Wild Kratts' and several other shows.

Free resources: We posted a lengthy list of free resources for parents last week but another great site to check out is amazingeducationalresources.com. The list includes dozens of education companies offering free subscriptions due to school closings.

Learning at home: Are you having trouble getting your student excited to learn at home? Stanford education scholar Denise Pope suggests ways to get K-12 students motivated in an article online at ed.standford.edu. Her recommendations include project-based learning and student-created video tutorials, among others.

Online music lessons: Cannon School of Music has gone virtual. All of its teachers are available for online private lessons. All ages and levels of experience welcome. Instruments are available to purchase or loan and they can arrange for safe drop off in Sonoma. Email cannonmusicschedule@gmail.com for more information. 'We need music now more than ever,' says owner Mikey Cannon.

Resources: Resources for schools and families related to COVID-19, including a map of school lunch locations, resources for parents, and more, can be found at scoe.org/covid. Check out the online resources being offered by Sonoma Valley Unified at sonomaschools.org/svusd-remote-learning/home.

Email ourschools@sonomanews.com.

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