I would assume that the reason I chose to write my first blog on this topic was because my mother is a nurse, and for the past two weeks she has made sure to remind me to continue proper hand washing and taking all my vitamins, (see it never ends, even in college.) Not only that, but the simple fact that it has been perfect flu/cold weather lately. To be honest, I am no clean freak or anything, but I don't enjoy getting sick anymore than the next person. I would also be the first one to admit that as a future mother, if my children ever come home sick - usually resulting in me getting sick as well - I will fully blame the school and the child's classroom at cost! Yet, not only as a future mother, but as a studying educator and teacher as well, I thought that it would be important to learn how to keep my classroom clean and healthy!
One of the worst parts about being sick, let alone the illness itself, is that lack of motivation to do anything. Whether a child is suffering a small cold, not only is the rest of the class susceptible to the illness, but that student will have no motivation to work or learn. They will most likely be cranky, irritable, and not very social as well. Despite that factor, having students absent in your class is not a good sign either. So instead of the illness spreading around to their other classmates and the absentee rate rising, we as educators might as well learn now how to keep our classrooms clean now!
As a future Early Childhood teacher I know that my responsibility to keep my classroom clean will be higher than most. Usually good hand washing techniques are not as predominant in younger students than they are older. More things within the class are usually touched and shared, and if your classroom has toys, they are also very susceptible to holding plenty of germs. Common sense would be to keep your classroom as clean as possible. Here are a few obvious tasks that I thought of to do so: take the time to wipe down the tables or desks with Clorox wipes every day after school, sanitize all computers, keyboards, and mice after they are used, make sure you explain to your students the importance of hand washing and proper nose blowing or coughing, and try to keep a few bottles of hand sanitizer in a reachable area for all students to use whenever they feel necessary.
All of the above choices are pretty common to any (future)teacher from experience. However, I searched the internet a little bit to see if I could find any other good ideas for a healthier classroom environment. Check the link below to see what I found:
http://www.in.gov/idem/files/healthy_classroom_fact_sheet.pdf
One of the worst parts about being sick, let alone the illness itself, is that lack of motivation to do anything. Whether a child is suffering a small cold, not only is the rest of the class susceptible to the illness, but that student will have no motivation to work or learn. They will most likely be cranky, irritable, and not very social as well. Despite that factor, having students absent in your class is not a good sign either. So instead of the illness spreading around to their other classmates and the absentee rate rising, we as educators might as well learn now how to keep our classrooms clean now!
As a future Early Childhood teacher I know that my responsibility to keep my classroom clean will be higher than most. Usually good hand washing techniques are not as predominant in younger students than they are older. More things within the class are usually touched and shared, and if your classroom has toys, they are also very susceptible to holding plenty of germs. Common sense would be to keep your classroom as clean as possible. Here are a few obvious tasks that I thought of to do so: take the time to wipe down the tables or desks with Clorox wipes every day after school, sanitize all computers, keyboards, and mice after they are used, make sure you explain to your students the importance of hand washing and proper nose blowing or coughing, and try to keep a few bottles of hand sanitizer in a reachable area for all students to use whenever they feel necessary.
All of the above choices are pretty common to any (future)teacher from experience. However, I searched the internet a little bit to see if I could find any other good ideas for a healthier classroom environment. Check the link below to see what I found:
http://www.in.gov/idem/files/healthy_classroom_fact_sheet.pdf