Here is the British variant updated visualization in Illinois. We continue to be the only ones that we know of that are publishing this for now.
COVID Variants Spread in Illinois and what this means
We are at it again. March 5 is a milestone day in IL, with the arrival of P1 Brazil COVID-19 variant. This means that all 3 variants are now here in the state, and one, the British variant, B.1.1.7 is spreading quickly. However, the data is lacking completely on what’s really happening, what it means for the reopening phases, and what it means for the current and next school year.
Fun fact, we were the first ones to publish the IL doubling rates in March one year ago https://www.mage.education/news/2020/3/19/coronavirus-stem-part2. Before any paper. Why are we having a moment of deja vu? Look, we are the first ones to publish a B.1.1.7 graph, below. We shouldn’t be, but we are. And it’s terrifying.
When COVID-19 arrived in Illinois, we had little to test for it and identify it, and there were single cases for 1.5 months, eerily, until March 7. After that, in 2 weeks, the doubling rate became almost every 2 days. Currently, the doubling rate of B.1.1.7 in Illinois is every 2 weeks, but it’s only been detected for 1.5 months AT ALL. So, it’s spreading FASTER, or our data view is poor. Or both.
Here’s a petition to get the state to share more data on the variant spread. http://chng.it/5mDzmJvhtr. Please sign and share. This petition covers vaccination efficacy on local variants, variance RT rates, updating phased reopening with variant and vaccine efficacy metrics, and reinfection data tracking.
Useful links:
Variant tracker: https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2021/health/coronavirus-variant-tracker.html - not much data here, or anywhere else yet, but it’s helpful to highlight that in South Africa, the AstraZeneca’s vaccine is not used because it’s not considered effective against their dominant variant.
Covid Variants and significance: https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-021-00564-4
CDC variant data: https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/transmission/variant-cases.html
Illinois variant page: http://www.dph.illinois.gov/covid19/variants
#PandemicSilhouette challenge
Welcome to the #PandemicSilhouette challenge!
While we are apart, we can…. draw together! Pun intended. You need the following supplies:
2 colors of paper
scissors
a pencil
glue
Timing device is recommended but not requried. Recommended time is up to you but we would say for K-12, 5 minutes. Bonus, this teaches #mindfulness as you patiently do your best to pose for your partners. You an use Alexa, Siri, or just a clock or a sand timer.
A clipboard may be easiest.
Instructions:
Socially distanced, in masks, take turns drawing each other’s profile.
You have a set time to do your best so that your partner doesn’t get too tired,
Draw just the outline of the profile (an outline of something, especially a person's face, as seen from one side.) of your partner.
More than 1 person can draw 1 person.
Having a high contrast background or a window behind the person is helpful.
Pick the outline color that will go on top. Draw the head and shoulders (or more if you’d like) of the person, don’t worry about erasing or the inside details.
Draw a line across the bottom of the silhouette.
Cut out the silhouette.
Paste your cut-out on your base paper, a second color.
Don’t forget to put all your supplies back and recycle your excess paper!
Take a photo and Tweet it to us by 12AM Central Time on February 1, 2021. We will announce winners by 12AM Central Time on March 1, 2021.
if you tweet or instagram or Facebook tag us in your photos, make sure you have permission to share this photo and that we can re-share it on our social media if you want to get recognized for your project.
FAQ:
Of course you can draw the silhouette of someone virtually.
Yes, you are welcome to play if you are a homeschooler and your subject (what you are drawing) can be anyone or anything.
Are there prizes? Not yet. We don’t want to deal with the prize rules and all that. This is just for fun, and to get everyone to draw together/ help everyone feel like they belong to a greater community/we are all in this together.
Small print:
By posting on our site/feeds/instagram/Facebook/twitter, you give us the right to reshare and repost your image to congratulate you.
Waitlist Update
MAGE is off to an exciting start to the fall. We decided to start the year off in person. Why?
while the positivity rate and infection rate were low, with proper precaution, to allow our students to get to know each other and their teachers and build relationships, while we could do so in person, largely outside.
because surveillance testing (on site AT SCHOOL for teachers and students and their families) and rapid testing became possible. We literally made the decision after it became a possibility to have this be in position.
Our students enjoyed an August in-person start, already had 7 (OUTDOOR) field trips, have bonded with their classmates and teachers, and they are well-settled in. We completed our NWEA testing and goal setting for the fall term. Our students enjoy weekly specials such as lego robotics, yoga, Latin, and Tae Kwon Do. They have 1:1 math and English lessons in addition to ability-based math circle/group work, math team, reading, and writing groups. They really benefit from being with intellectual peers.
If there is a shut down in IL in the next few weeks, we are in a decent position to brave it. Our cohorts at least know how to work together well. But, we are not “secretly planning” on a shut down unless there’s a government mandate. We plan on staying open as long as we can do so safely. We closed before the government mandate last time and could do that again if needed, but we have a large amount of things we did to keep kids safe. We will do the same in our second location for each cohort:
separate doors and bathrooms
outdoor classrooms
airborne remediation (filters, hepa, UV, air flush system)
visitors must be tested for covid
compliance with best practices regarding quarantine, symptom checks; school-based periodic asymptomatic case surveillance, masks and cleaning, limiting shared supplies and frequent hand washing, having as many meals outside as weather allows.
The end of October is the time where most students in schools settle into their school year. If you need a new, properly differentiated option that’s striving to be in person, take a look at us. We are not perfect, but we may be your least worst option. And you know what, that’s not that hard to do. By 3rd grade, most parents of highly and profoundly gifted kids find themselves on their second or third school and disillusioned. We are a supportive community of gifted students and their families. It’s a great place to be.
We get a lot of questions about our waitlist. Here are the most common answers, without the obvious questions:
Your position in line is held by your completed application date.
We are working on a January start at this time for our second location.
Space will be limited even with the second location. We are aiming at opening 4 seats in JK, 8 seats in the lower school, 8 seats in the elementary school, and 8 in middle-high school.
Students can shadow our school now even when there’s no space, to make a decision about January. We allow 1 shadow per week per grade; students and their family need to have a COVID test before they shadow and comply with COVID policy. Students can only shadow after they’ve submitted a complete application including all supporting qualifying documents, the family interview has happened, and these pieces met enrollment criteria.
We have more than 10 students on the waitlist.
You would get to meet possible members of your cohort and teachers in the actual location where your class would be held and do a free trial demo class before having to make a decision. In other words, you could shadow now and we will approximate as best as we can the real experience before you sign a contract, which is more than what most schools do.
We have students in grades K-8 at this time. We have teachers certified all the way through high school and college and can accept high school students just fine.
What’s our biggest challenge right now: figuring out a legal/safe way of extending our outdoor classroom season; increasing our specials, especially foreign language, at a time where most people are too afraid to come on site; figuring out how to offer camps on school days off without exposing our cohort to outside students while also giving our regular staff time off.
We have a monthly admissions in person OR virtual coffee on the first Sunday of most months.
FALL PLANS
Chicago Public Schools (CPS) had a Townhall virtual meeting today about their proposed fall hybrid program. Here is the result of a poll about how parents feel about this version of the plan. Where do you sit?
Now, if you have a child in a selective enrollment program or a lotto program, you feel trapped. You were able to witness first hand, how distance learning worked for your child and what they were doing/learning. If that worked for you, great. If you think the district will do more than this spring, you are probably incorrect. So, if you are a concerned parent of a gifted child who needs something different, keep on reading.
Now might be a good time to take a good look at MAGE.
Supplementation during/after school: Kindergarten through High School
If you know that your child will need supplementation, we can do that right. Sign up for our newsletter, to stay on top of our schedule when we announce it for the fall. Our classes are reasonably priced and high quality, and include things like Math Team, Robotics, Esports, and weekly play group, among with other enrichment.
Full day instruction: Kindergarten through High School
Do you have a selective enrollment seat or a lotto seat and are afraid to leave and lose your spot? No problem. Stay in your seat, but choose virtual instruction delivery. However, send your child to us. We will work around their 1-day a week “virtual instruction” schedule if you want, no worries. We will make sure they actually are learning the material and complete your district’s required busy work. We will also help you work out a way to cut out the busy work and teach your student instead if we see that it’s not a fit/not tailored to your child, with direct instruction that goes well beyond the rote.
We are a kindergarten through high school program that has in-person instruction with master teachers, and a tiny cohort. We are a “pod” by design, as it is, before COVID. If we shut down, the classes that you have continue virtually: small ability-grouped, dynamic reading groups and hands-on project, math circle and exploration groups, clubs, specials and electives, teams. We have 1:1 or small-group instruction in core subjects that goes at exactly your child’s pace and meets your child where they are for knowledge and moves well beyond common core. It doesn’t move at some pre-determined average student speed. It moves at your child’s speed. Instead of grades, you get reports on what has been learned. Instead of homework, we use the time wisely during the time your child is with us so that they have time to master their knowledge while they are with us, so that home time can be saved for family bonding, playing with friends, and pursuing personal interests.
You can also study exclusively online, with a local cohort, though out of state students are also welcome, so you could still enjoy local graduation (gatherings as allowed by the government) science fair, and other local celebrations, or attend in a hybrid model a few times a month or a week.
Relative safety: we will not enroll students who are, or who have siblings enrolled in a live pod at a public school, because those students share bathrooms, central air, hallways, and entryways with others and because many travel on public transport or bus, and bus routes are frequently shared with other schools. All students will be tested at the start of the school year, and so will their drop off/pick up caregiver. All students at MAGE arrive to school by private vehicle. No, we are unfortunately not yet equitable, and yes, the children that come here are privileged, because we are brand new and we haven’t figured out how to make our program available to every qualified family, only those that can afford our full-time tuition. No, we do not have financial aid, but we may have some limited merit scholarship available to top qualified candidates. Yes, we have plans toward becoming more equitable, but we are 1-2 years out.
We will hold outdoor classroom instruction daily, if weather permits.
We have safety measures most schools don’t have, can’t afford, or can’t enforce. Our families understand the importance of following protocols and they can afford to take time off to stay home with a sick child and not send them to school if they are showing COVID symptoms.
We have an hour of recess daily, and field trips (outdoor ones, meaningful and also providing social emotional time and bonding for students and their families, not just educational enrichment, which is what we did all of last year WITHOUT COVID.)
We take care of your students social, emotional, and academic needs in a completely individualized way. We provide like peers and like-minded families. Imagine being in a community of other engaged parents and actively working together to make the school amazing for their kids.
Maybe your HS student can sit and work on their AP classes alone and pace themselves through. But if not, perhaps you need us to keep an eye, while you are at work. Not only that, but they will be with other kids, and top qualified teachers, and we also have an optional college counseling program for gifted kids, that sometimes starts as early as middle school when they reach certain milestones, since these students are ready for the academics of college early and will be eligible for top schools.
We have just had our prospective student free shadow day, and may have another in 2 weeks, depending on the rate of acceptance and the number of open seats that remain after this week. Our next Admissions Coffee is on Saturday, August 2, at 10AM, virtual or in person, your choice. Our application is free, and you can use your SEES letter, PSAT/SAT/ACT/BESTS/COGAT/ or even NWEA MAP to qualify (for now), besides IQ testing. Come find out what we are all about, or drop us a note, or sign up for our newsletter.
COVID-19 Certification
As we have moved into Phase III reopening in Illinois, we have updated our wellness policy to include COVID-19 guidelines. Our facility has been emptied, the floors have been refinished, and it has been repainted and professionally deep-cleaned. We are changing all of our furniture prior to our anticipated in-person reopening in July for Camps to create a setting that will be in compliance with all the government standards and still allow our students to safely collaborate. We have completed the COVID-19 certification for the City of Chicago and we look forward to seeing everyone in July.
Coronavirus STEM: Part 4
We have been sharing some math activities around coronavirus. Some fresh problems:
Problem 1. It takes, on average, 4.5 days to develop symptoms of coronavirus from the time the person is infected and the person may already be contagious before showing symptoms. It takes about 14 days to recover from the time you show symptoms. The person continues to be contagious for up to 2 weeks after all symptoms are gone. How long is a person with coronavirus contagious from the time they are exposed to the virus, and should practice social distancing?
Problem 2. The federal government has limited every federal site to 250 tests per day in Illinois. We have 3 Federal sites. How many tests is the federal government making available in Illinois daily at this time?
Problem 3. Using the current doubling rate, use the graph below to estimate the number of cases in one week.
Problem 4. Using the communicability rate of 2.2 infections for every infected person, how many people will the currently ill people will infect? Compare that to the answer from problem 2 and discuss the similarity or difference.
Coronavirus STEM: Part 3
Here are some fresh Coronavirus STEM problems for you, in order of difficulty.
Problem 1. 4-digit subtraction word problem. You can increase the difficulty of this and choose to make this more of a science/language arts project by a. having the students find the data online themselves or reading the article without having the data component pointed out to them.
In the latest article from Crains, the following data is available. “As of today, 63 percent of the 2,589 intensive care unit beds in hospitals across Illinois were occupied, as were 59 percent of medical/surgical beds and 32 percent of ventilators, which are used to help patients with severe COVID-19 symptoms breathe, according to data from the state’s Department of Public Health. The state has slightly increased its capacity of beds and ventilators since March 16, when 73 percent of the 2,578 ICU beds and 40 percent of the 2,144 ventilators were in use.“
Use the previous Crains article for this data.
By how how many units did the state increase ICU and Ventilator Capacity in Illinois in the last week?
Problem 2. Multiplication/percentage problem: Same as above for data, but with a % increase.
Problem 3. For students with more skills, same as above, but use our previously posted data under this category to update the chart to see how many days it will be before the state will run out of these two resources given any available rate for ICU and ventilator use.
Problem 4. Building on problem 3, by how much will we be short of scarce resources by March 30 and April 6? You can find rates of ICU, Ventilator and Hospital Bed use in our previous post article links. Now, compare this data to the latest Governor update, and write a sentence about your findings.
Problem 5. Using the data on the City of Chicago Web site, compare the rate of hospitalization for coronavirus to the rate of hospitalization globally. What do you notice about the rate of hospitalization in Chicago, vs. in China, or the world, etc? Why do you think the numbers are same/different? Use the previously posted articles and sources if needed, and here’s another good source of data. Use the hospitalization rate in Chicago (pls note that more people will be hospitalized for coronavirus but not counted in the hospitalization number because only some of those people are tested, so these are not accurate as we are not testing everyone that should be) to estimate the real number of Coronavirus infections in Chicago. If you make the assumption that the numbers of under or over-estimation of cases evidenced by your answer are mirrored in the rest of the state, calculate a more realistic number of cases of coronavirus infections statewide, using the Illinois Coronavirus State Dept of Public Health data.
Coronavirus STEM: Part 2.
If you are following along, our students have been doing some basic collecting and modeling of Illinois Coronavirus stats. We recently created a petition for shelter-in-place a part of our study of civics, and of course, we claimed “victory” as the shelter-in-place was achieved.
If you read our previous article here with some Coronavirus Math problems, here is a sample current graph. The data was collected from the Illinois Department of Public Health which relies primarily on the Federal Coronavirus Test and has just recently started to report some private test facility data, with a lack of clarity as to the completeness of that integration.
Some possible facts:
We should run out of ICU beds on 3/30 at latest, unless capacity has been expanded in the last week.
We should run out of ventilators on 4/3 at the latest, unless new ones have been purchased by IL hospitals.
Take the shelter in place to heart, people. Even if you don’t get coronavirus with complications or pass it to someone who is vulnerable, if you have some serious injury, there may not be space for you for whatever else that may befall you, like normal flu complications.
As the number of cases increases, the number of available supplies such as ICU beds and ventilators runs out, and then the death toll starts rising more rapidly.
Coronavirus Math+Civics+Science+ English+SEL all in one!
Moving class online for the outbreak does not remove the need to discuss the outbreak. Students really want to understand the purpose of social distancing. Students are worried. Students want to know how long before things return to normal, are they going to catch the virus, and is anyone they know going to die. Some students are too sensitive to talk about their strong feelings in the classroom, yet others need the classroom as a safe space to explore their strong emotions.
Our students are very interested in the progression of the outbreak, and they want to feel like they can do something about it. And they can! They are launching a petition to help stop the spread of Coronavirus. They have been asking all sorts of questions and have been doing some very cool math based on current events and articles. We want to share some of these with you and we wanted to share your students’ cool Coronavirus math with us. It is terrifying, and it is terrible, but talking about their emotions while processing the complex information about the virus in a cross-disciplinary approach is powerful, and provides a creative and appropriate outlet. They are reading the news anyway, and they are already concerned, and this gives. them the outlet to manage these concerns and information.
The data and information coming in about the pandemic is rich in opportunity for a multidisciplinary study. Here are some examples:
Problem #1. Calculate infection or death doubling rate in your state and graph it. Our state is Illinois. Our state has now reported 16 days worth of data here. The way the data is reported, is that you can’t see it. You can mine it from the press releases the state publishes daily, but mostly you have to copy it daily. This is something that even the younger students can do at 3PM Central Time for the day, or the next morning here in Illinois and could easily be done with regular math students in 5th grade and up completely, and the graphing can be done with even the younger students, if you are following US Common Core.
Problem #2, building on Problem 1. How many days before the infection rate in your state reaches 1 million at the current doubling speed?
Problem #3, building on Problem 1. Using the articles in citation below, and the doubling rate from Problem 1 (feel free to use your state/country data instead):
How many days before we run out of beds in ICU, assuming that patients using the beds have not died and have not gotten better (are continuing to use the beds).
How many days before we run out of ventilators, assuming that patients using the ventilators have not died and have not gotten better (are continuing to use the ventilators).
In 30 days, what magnitude fewer will there be available equipment vs. need?
Civics bonus: what can/should be done about this?
Citations:
Guan WJ, Ni ZY, Hu Y, Liang WH, Ou CQ, He JX, et al. Clinical characteristics of coronavirus disease 2019 in China. N Engl J Med. 2020. https://doi.org/10.1056/NEJMoa2002032.
Coronavirus threatens health system capacity, STEPHANIE GOLDBERG, Crains Chicago Business, March 17, 2020
Please, send us links to your math problems and solutions below. We will update this shortly with our graphs and answers.