My name is Barbara Maher and I am the School Nurse at Franklin School in Rahway, NJ. I saw your Healthy Schools, Healthy People project and got excited. I knew that I wanted to find a way to teach the students a lesson on keeping FLU free this season and thought that this would be a great way. I do not do the health teaching for the school, but I love when I have time do things with the students like poster contests, red ribbon week where I read to the students and have contests. I brought my ideas to the teachers of the second grades and asked them what I could do. They asked the students what they would like me to do. They answered by asking me to read to them about germs, hand washing and then doing a project.

I proceeded to read a book to all 4 classes about germs and staying in school during cold and flu season because we use proper hygiene and wash our hands. We discussed all the reasons when we would wash our hands and went over a lesson on Hand washing. Using glitter glue we spread the germs throughout the class and now the student saw how fast germs can spread without even thinking.

I used the opportunity to have a lesson in my office when I completed hearing testing on all the 2nd grade classes. I had the student all around my island which has a sink and a few students were then asked to give a lesson on washing their hands and the class was told to listen and at the end let us know if the classmate followed proper procedure. The students watched and were able to correct any mistakes and then their fellow classmate repeated the procedure following proper technique.

I did a quick survey of the students to see if they had washed their hands since coming to school and if so when was that. Out of 96 students, 32 students washed their hands 28 had used the bathroom and washed their hands after, 2 had colds and washed their hands after sneezing and coughing, 2 students washed their hands after getting marker on them. We reviewed the times when we should wash our hands.

Next I spoke to the students about how important it was to teach their family members about Healthy Habits and hand washing so they all stay healthy this Cold and Flu season. Students talked about how they washed their hands using the steps they learned and teaching their younger and older siblings to wash hands properly. They learned that if they stay healthy they will be in school every day and not at home feeling poorly and spreading their germs to other members of their families.

All the students were then asked to complete a poster using the Healthy Schools, Healthy People slogan. All the students completed the poster and many were informative showing the steps of hand washing and pictures of how to do it step by step, others where showing how to wash away germs. Some showed school as a healthy place where germs stop at the front door (I wish). All the students voted on a poster they liked and 3 were picked and winners given a prize (art set).

I believe I will continue to do this next year and maybe will have more students who really understand about Healthy Habits and proper hand washing as they get older. This may cut down on our absenteeism in our school and throughout their life.

Thank you for giving me this great opportunity to teach the students and hopefully giving them a life lesson. I had fun and I think they did to.

I am attaching pictures of our hand washing bulletin board, in my office having them wash hands, and the posters on our wall, I also am sending you a picture of me conducting the hand washing lesson.