Teachers and families planning for at least 2 more weeks of learning from home amid coronavirus outbreak

HORSHAM, Pennsylvania (WPVI) -- With Governor Tom Wolf's order that schools in Pennsylvania be closed another two weeks, teachers and families are finding ways to keep students learning from home.

Now many teachers are putting together lesson plans for the next two weeks, to teach students remotely.

Qualifying families pulled up to Marple Newtown High School in Delaware County on Monday to get a laptop from the district, for their kids to start online learning.

RELATED: Great homeschooling and educational resources for parents

At Garnet Valley School District, Chromebooks and iPads were given to students in grades K-8 last Monday and Tuesday, as most high school students have devices. The district had bus drivers assist administrators as they dropped off devices to students' homes.



On Saturday, the remaining devices were picked up by parents as they drove through the middle school parking lot. As of Monday, the district distributed 2,163 devices.

This week teachers like Heather Arters are tackling how to teach challenging classes like acting through a screen.

"I can be in a Google Hangout with them, and also in a Zoom breakout room with them, but we haven't done that yet because the district still wants us to pull back for a minute until we make sure everyone has the same access," said Arters, who teaches English and Acting at Garnet Valley High School.

Erika Schwanbeck said she's trying to get creative teaching gym class to middle schoolers online.

"The way we're going to move forward is we've created a physical activity log so that we can provide them to show evidence of movement," said Schwanbeck.

Schwanbeck teaches physical education and health at Keith Valley Middle School, which has joined many schools around the area in providing free breakfast and lunch for students who qualify.

"The breakfast is a breakfast bar, a milk, and a juice. Lunch is either peanut butter and jelly, a bagel, carrots, milk, snack and a piece of fruit," said Debra Gould, a cafeteria manager in the Hatboro-Horsham School District.

Those meals are made to go to over 1,000 students a day, for those that qualify for the free or reduced school meals. Parents were notified on which days of the week to pick up the meals.