Teacher Tip: Keep the Germs Away...when you can

I still have two more posts to write in my "Boys and Books" series but I've been a bit under the weather. It's that time of year when cold and flu germs are just waiting to tackle innocent bystanders. They are lurking on door knobs, key pads, telephones, pencils, computer key boards, urghh...just everywhere.

So this week, I turn to YOU for teacher tips! How do you reduce the spread of cold and flu germs in your child care center/school/classroom?

There is no fool-proof answer, but here are some of the things I've seen:

• Bleach water solution, when MADE and USED properly, can be sprayed on eating areas, toys, door knobs, etc.
• In infant programs, have a laundry basket placed out of reach of the children. As children put things in their mouths, as soon as they are done, put them in the basket to be sanitized before another baby picks it up.
• Have a mid-day sanitation schedule. Rather than waiting until the end of the day, assign someone to clean and sanitize toilet seats, toilet handles, door knobs, telephone receivers, and other areas.
• Refer to, post, and follow NAEYC's cleaning and sanitation frequency chart.
• Do you serve food family style? Make sure that there is a teacher supervising until children learn not to dip their own spoon into the community bowls! I used to purchase serving utensils that were glaringly different (ex: red, or some other bright color) than the typical utensils to help children remember.
• Teach children (and some adults) to sneeze and cough into their elbows, not their hands!
• Of course, teach proper hand-washing procedures to children and adults.

So, what are your tips for reducing germs in the child care / early childhood environment?

Other Posts:
Germs Make Me...and You...Sick
Should Child Care Employees Be Required to Get the Flu Shot?

What's More Important Than The Health of Your Child?

I found this video to be very thought-provoking. But I am more anxious to hear what YOU think. Please share your comments here and I will retweet them on Twitter.

A Wake-Up Story from Healthy Child Healthy World on Vimeo.

A Wake-Up Story is a must-see video for every parent and anyone that cares about the health and development of children. Watch it. Share it. Join the movement. www.Awakeupstory.org

Germs Make Me (and You) Sick!

Well, in case you haven't noticed, my weekly blog has been on hiatus because I've been under the bed for the last week, sick, sick, sick! So today is the first day I've been able to focus my eyes and coordinate my thoughts enough to write and it took me 2.2 seconds to decide upon my topic for this week. In fairness, I will give some of the credit to this idea to PBS Teachers. Last night I attended an awesome (and FREE) webinar called, Helping Kids Understand Viruses and Vaccinations with Sid the Science Kid. During the session, some of the participants expressed the everyday challenges we face in the classroom with helping children to learn the important habits that we all know spread germs. Several of us started exchanging ideas that we use in the classroom and I thought this might be a good place to expand that conversation.
So here we are in the middle of cold and flu season and people are still deciding whether to get the seasonal flu vaccination, where to find the H1N1 shots, and how to survive these upcoming weeks and months without getting sick. Despite the lingering questions, there are things that we know that we can do right now in our classrooms to reduce the spread of germs. Below you will find some of my favorite books for preschoolers that I hope will inspire a healthier classroom environment for you.

Germs Make Me Sick by Melvin Berger

• Listen to the book at PBS Kids/Reading Rainbow.
• Turn your dramatic play area into a Doctor's office! Be sure to have several dolls and stuffed animals to act as patients. Items to include: gauze, toy doctor kit, band aids, note pads for prescriptions, calendar for appointments, telephone, etc...

Germs Are Not for Sharing by Elizabeth Verdick

• Make Germ Stopper Badges for the children and award them when children are seen doing things to prevent the spread of germs (washing hands, sneezing into elbow, etc).
• How do germs spread? Cover one child's hand with flour (some teachers use glitter, lotion, or paint) to represent germs. Then let that child shake the next child's hand, and then let that child shake another child's hand, and so on...This helps give children a visual idea of how germs spread, even though we can't see them.
  

Those Mean Nasty Dirty Downright Disgusting but...Invisible Germs by Judith Anne Rice

• Make "Sneezing Faces" by having the children decorate a paper plate to look like themselves. Trace the child's hand on skin-toned construction paper; then cut it out. Glue a tissue on the nose area and then glue the hand on the tissue. Here is an example.
• Hand Wash Scramble: Take any hand washing poster such as this one cut out the steps and laminate them individually. Have children practice putting the steps in order.

Wash Your Hands by Tony Ross

• Make up a hand washing song for your class.
• Have the class illustrate their own hand washing posters to post at each sink. The posters should illustrate each of the four steps in the process.

Resources for Teachers

• Sid the Science Kid Gets a Flu Shot and Elmo's Flu PSAs
• The Teacher Resource Manual to Promote Hand Hygiene
• Henry the Hand
• Should Teachers Be Required to Get Flu Vaccinations?
• CDC Guidance on Helping Child Care and Early Childhood Programs Respond to Influenza during the 2009-2010 Influenza Season
• Preparing for the Flu: A Communication Toolkit for Child Care and Early Childhood Programs
• Clean Up the Classroom with Clorox
• Join the PBS Teacher Discussion: How are you helping kids understand what they are hearing about the 2009 H1N1 flu?
• Scrub Club

Share your ideas:

• Do you have a favorite hand-washing song?
• How do you remind your preschoolers to wash their hands?
• What kind of information do you share with the parents of your students?
• Do you have other books or activities that you use to teach children health-related information?

Should Child Care Employees Be Required to Get Flu Vaccines?

I learned a few weeks ago that medical staff at some hospitals are being required to get flu vaccinations. On one level this makes absolute perfect sense to me... hospital workers come in contact with thousands of people each day. Doesn't getting the vaccine prevent the hospital workers from potentially contaminating all of the people they come into contact with each day? Won't having the vaccine protect the hospital workers from the hundreds of people who drag themselves to the ER with the flu?

We require children to get shots before they enter school - for their protection and for the protection of others... isn't this the same principal? What if you need emergency care at the local hospital and the hospital is shut down because most of the doctors, nurses, and technicians are home recovering from the flu? Some hospitals are even changing their visitor policies, preventing children under 18 from being in the hospital unless they are a patient. Have we gone too far?

So I began to think about our field of early childhood... should child care providers be required to get flu vaccinations? What about those caregivers who specifically work with infants younger than six months? These infants, who are too young to get a flu vaccination, are at great risk if an unimmunized caregiver exposes him or her to the flu virus.

I'd like to know what you think: Should childcare employees be required to get the seasonal and H1N1 flu vaccines? If so, who should pay for the vaccine - the employee or the employer?

Here are some recent news stories about Child Care environments and the Flu:

• H1N1 flu puts child-care centers on defense in Great Falls
• Daycares Feel Swine Flu Impact
• Update: Mothers line up for H1N1 vaccinations at the Health Department
• U.S. children's H1N1 flu deaths shoot up

Flu Resources for Early Childhood Programs:

• CDC: Seasonal Flu Information for Schools & Childcare Providers
• CDC Guidance on Helping Child Care and Early Childhood Programs Respond to Influenza during the 2009-2010 Influenza Season
• Preparing for the Flu: A Communication Toolkit for Child Care and Early Childhood Programs
• Elmo Public Service Announcements