Conrad Hirsch, 11, his sister Greta, 9, and their mother Angela began a newsletter, Corona Kids, to keep busy while out of school because of the Coronavirus. They work with friends and classmates to publish three times weekly.
Here are two riddles to keep you thinking during this time of shut down and stay home: “A word I know, six letters it contains, remove one and twelve remains, what is it?”
Or how about: “What question can you never answer yes to?”
Subscribe to Corona Kids, an online newsletter “by and for kids of Glen Echo, Bannockburn and beyond!” to learn the answers.
Corona Kids is the brainchild of Angela and Aaron Hirsch, parents of Conrad, 11, a fifth grader at Bannockburn Elementary School in Bethesda and Greta, 9, a third grader there.
“At the beginning of the school closure, my husband and I started thinking about how to keep the kids occupied and keep them connected with their friends,” Angela Hirsch said. “This seems like a good fit.”
The plan for Corona Kids is to publish the online newsletter three times a week during the school shut down. From reading the first issue, published last week, there seems to be no lack of copy. There were nine contributing writers with offerings such as movie reviews by Parker Satlof, a computer game review by Jonah A. Lester, an interview with her friend Chloe by Colby Epanchin, an interview by Conrad with his uncle, who is a Google engineer, and an original cartoon be Declan Spealman.
Included also are a number of riddles contributed by Ida Maccoby – without answers! Riddlers had to wait until the March 23 newsletter to see if they puzzled correctly.
Huck Payne wrote a piece lamenting the cancellation of Bannockburn’s annual Spring Show. According to Huck, the show has never been cancelled in its sixty-four-year run! And it was going to be his first year in the show.
Gwendolyn Learn submitted photos and directions for making marble stationary, and Greta and her puppy wrote a poem, What Its Like to Be a Dog.
Someone without a byline offered a “Boredom Buster” for each of the published newsletters. The first was a virtual field trip tour of the Great Wall of China, Monday’s offering is virtual seats on popular Walt Disney World rides.
This newsletter is not just for kids. I’m hoping Space Mountain is on the virtual tour so I can try it, and I can’t wait to make marbled paper.
As of March 23, there were 30 subscribers to the newsletter – put online by parent Terri Payne – interested readers can sign up to receive Corona Kids by emailing CoronaKids+subscription@groups.io.
Greta said she is not planning to specialize in poetry for the newsletter, as a matter of fact, this week she is working on an illustration for a story by her cousin Max. Max lives in Brooklyn.
“He’s from our Brooklyn Bureau,” Angela said.
Conrad said he and his friends are excited about the newsletter.
“You can learn a lot of stuff,” he said.
This week he is learning and writing about Uzbekistan.
“He likes geography,” his mother said.
Ida did not forget to publish the answers to the riddles in last week’s newsletter.
Those from the beginning of this story are:
“A word I know, six letters it contains, remove one and twelve remains, what is it?” Dozens
“What question can you never answer yes to?” Are you asleep yet?
“I hope you like these riddles,” Ida wrote. “I got them from The 37 Best Riddles for Kids That Aren’t Too Confusing on Google, so if you want to check them out, there are 27 more.”