Hand washing lesson

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I'm another lurker coming out of the shadows. Just joined up today. Graduated 2011 and worked medsurg a few years then peace corps before starting as an elementary school nurse this past autumn. I have loved reading this message board and knowing I am not alone! Really appreciate all of the wisdom and humor that is shared here.

My school is doing their annual health fair next week and the teachers asked me to do a lesson on hand washing/germs/etc.for second graders. The nurse before me left rather suddenly; I never actually met her, and I'm not sure what she used to do for this. The lesson needs to be about 40 minutes and I think two classes will come at a time (about 40 students) until all the classes have been through. Does anyone have an ideas or lesson plans that you've done for this sort of thing? I want the students to practice (I do have special glitter and a black light), but I feel like that will be difficult to do with such a large number of students. I know teaching hand washing shouldn't be a big deal, but I still feel like I am trying to gain the respect of the teachers (they are an interesting crowd!) and don't want to make a fool of myself doing this! Appreciate any thoughts/ideas you may have! Thanks

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I don't know. 40 minutes is a long time for hand washing.

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I don't know. 40 minutes is a long time for hand washing.

Not really. Not if your audience is healthcare workers. 40 min is very long for second graders and their families. Better include lots of bubbles somehow!

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Specializes in Pediatrics Retired.

I have a 15 minute video called "Clean Kids." It's for K-3. Covers hand washing, bathing, teeth brushing, clean clothes, etc. I let the teachers show it. Teachers can hardly hold the kid's attention for 40 minutes on one subject. That's s long time.

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Specializes in Pedi.

I did hand washing lessons for my school using GloGerm lotion and a black light and showed a short video. I did this in individual classrooms though, so I only had about 20 kids at a time and access to a sink. While the other kids were waiting their turn to wash their hands or to see the "germs" left behind, I had activity sheets for them to work on. You can find these activity sheets on the GloGerm website. The kids and teachers really loved it. Not sure how helpful this is, since you'll be in a different setting with a lot more kiddos.

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Thanks. Yeah 40 minutes seems a bit long. Maybe I'll just plan for games at the end.

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Specializes in IMC, school nursing.

I just presented a Q&A NAMI program to 5th and 6th graders. NAMI said an hour, they were pretty good with the questions, but I only got 40 minutes. The 7th and 8th graders only did 20 minutes. I can't imagine more than 10 minutes with littles, they will be bouncing off the walls. I was asked to cover dismissal for the littles once, I now switch for the middle schoolers. Littles don't do well with too much time.

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Don't know how feasible this is with so many kids or if you have supplies/sinks available, but I did a presentation to elementary school students using different colored paint. Put a dot of different colors in a few kids' hands and have them all shake hands around and then look at the colors on their hands to show how germs spread. Then practice the hand washing technique that you've taught them to wash off the paint. On the same line as the glo-germ stuff but didn't require a black light or special hand stuff. However, this was done with much fewer kids and multiple teachers helping, so...

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Specializes in kids.

Chocolate syrup works well also!

(for a variety of things!! :wacky:)

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