Happy Halloween Teachers!

This spooky month is one of the best months to be a teacher, in my opinion! Great art projects, fun bulletin boards and seeing your kiddos in costume make this month so much fun. October is also a great time to focus on hygiene and infection control. What can be scarier than germs lurking around your classroom?!? Frankenstein and Dracula come once a year but bacteria, viruses and other germs are always around us! This month is the start of the sick season so hand washing and other hygiene principles are important to emphasize.

There are some great activities this month that can be done this month to remind your students about the importance of being clean at school and home. Here are a few ideas for you this month for a few different areas of teaching:

• Reading: Germ books! Try “Micro Monsters- Life Under the Microscope” from Eyewitness Readers. The pictures of germs close up are sure to make for a scary read!
• Writing: Get your students writing a scary germ story. They know where they hide and they know how to get rid of them.  Have them tell about germs spreading and how soap and water can eliminate the scary germs.  Maybe have a hand sanitizer character save the day in their story!
  
• Art: Design a haunted house! Instead of finding ghosts and goblins, decorate your house with lice and bacteria. Scary stuff!
• Math: For younger students, write story problems or make patterns using germs. Have your older students research the rate at which germs spread.
• Bulletin Boards: let students design their own scary germs and display them in the hallway. That gets other students and teachers talking about how scary they are.  Who can draw the best bacteria?
  

The OUTFOX Prevention system also has a great lesson plan for Halloween! Find "Germy Halloween" in your manual or at this link: Germy Halloween Lesson

You can find great games, activities, songs and so forth that will enhance your infection control lesson for your class!

Happy Haunting Germs!

Mrs. T