Common Places for Germs in Your Classroom
Be Aware of Your Trouble Spots!
Making sure kids and their learning environments stay clean and healthy can be a difficult task. With so many bodies in such close quarters, schools can be hotbeds of germs and pathogens, and illness can sweep through a classroom quickly, leading to missed days. Children and teachers should be aware of the trouble spots at school, maintain best practices to help prevent the spread of germs, and have the right supplies for the job.
The Bathroom Door
One would think that school bathrooms would be full of germs. As staff cleans the restrooms regularly, though, this is not the case. However, the bathroom door is another matter. Kids are notoriously forgetful about washing their hands, particularly after using the restroom. And those hands always touch the door.
Lunch Boxes and Cafeteria Trays
Lunch boxes and cafeteria trays are constantly being touched by both hands and food. This makes them fertile breeding grounds for germs and pathogens. Furthermore, lunch boxes can go days without a complete cleaning while cafeteria trays don’t get a regular and thorough wipe-down between meals.
Desks
Children spend most of their time at their desks. As a result, desks are in constant contact with hands, sneezes, coughs, gum, lunchroom leftovers, recess dirt…the list goes on.
Classroom Supplies
Classrooms often have boxes full of such supplies as scissors, markers, crayons, and glue that get passed around from day to day. These individual items rarely, if ever get cleaned. However, research shows that the classroom item with the highest concentration of germs is the pencil sharpener. It’s something that almost everyone touches, and without a sink nearby, the hands that touch it are usually at least a little dirty.
Drinking Fountains
The handles and basins of drinking fountains are usually cleaned as often as the restroom. However, the spigot isn’t, and children often put their mouths directly on it. It’s essential to teach kids to not touch the spigot and let the water run for a few seconds before drinking it.
Best Practices for Children and Staff
Obviously, some of these places are going unavoidable. Even the most dedicated staff can’t be expected to clean and disinfect each individual crayon. Therefore, we need to teach kids the importance of washing their hands with an antibacterial soap frequently throughout the day. Teachers and staff can do their part by cleaning and disinfecting frequently with an all-purpose cleaner/disinfectant like Bioesque’s Botanical Disinfectant Solution.
