Germs

You may have noticed that 5 year olds are very oral, hands in mouths, noses, licking objects, putting objects in their mouths, etc.  This is completely developmental for their age.  With that said, it is extra important we communicate the importance of proper hand washing and asking the children to do so each time they do one of those things.  We have been exploring germs over the past few weeks.  Mrs. Walter demonstrated how far a sneeze goes and all the places it travels by pretending to sneeze a handful of glitter on to our learning environment.  By the end of the day, students were covered in glitter.  We talked about what if those were real germs, what might happen and how could we prevent such things.  

The class is also conducting an experiment with bread.  We took three slices of bread and placed each one in a plastic bag.  One bag, gloves were used to place the bread in the bag.  One bag washed hands were used to place the bread in the bag.  The third bag, each student touched the bread before placing it in the bag.  We are patiently waiting to see if anything happens to each slice.  Stay tuned...

What can you do at home?

• Model proper hand washing (sing the ABCs)
• Help your child recognize when their fingers or objects are in their mouth and show them how to clean the items and their hands properly
• Reinforce the idea that germs make us sick
• Tell your child that picking their nose is private and they may need to do it but it is something we do in private and with a kleenex (in the bathroom) and we wash our hands
• Teach your child to blow their nose
• Encourage children to sneeze into their elbows

***Gum is allowed in the classroom to help students curb their oral habits.  Students may bring in gum and only chew it while in our classroom.  They may only eat the gum their family has provided, that way I know parents actually allow their child to chew gum.  Once fingers go in the mouth to play with the gum, students get a warning and wash their hands.  If it continues, students will be asked to spit it out and try using gum again later.  No bubbles and no wrappers on the floor.