Maintaining a Healthy Classroom and Student Illness

Making sure that your student's health is safe guarded is essential to a pupil staying up to speed on class curriculum after returning from an illness. Furthermore, steps should be taken to ensure that an illness does not spread to other members of the class and ultimately other members of the student body.

One simple measure that can be taken to increase cleanliness and promote health is to send home an announcement to parents asking that parents that if able send along common supplies for keeping students clean and fighting germs. A few good supplies to request are boxes of tissues, paper towels, hand sanitizer, etc. Furthermore, ask parents on this same form if their child has any allergies to these types of products to ensure that a student does not suffer a reaction from using any of the supplies. This also helps to cover your bases as far as liability is concerned, and at the same time further safeguard the health of your students.

Encourage your students to stay clean. Simple practices such as washing their hands often, using hand sanitizer after sneezing or coughing, and ensuing that tissues and paper towels are readily available are key. Also, have the presence of mind to stay on top of any air filter that may be present in your room. If an air filter is present and not changed on a regular basis, it can greatly affect allergies.

If a student appears ill in class, and in your opinion looks too ill to be in class, simply send them to the nurse. This will reduce the risk of a contaigous ailment spreading to other members of the class, and to you. When a student cannot concentrate and solidly focus on the material at hand, they are less likely to retain the knowledge of the lesson taught. By sending them to the nurse, and allowing them to perform their work later when they are in better health will aid them in gaining understanding of the matreial.

You should be prepared for students to be absent from class. Ask yourself how often you have perfect attendance. Prepare a take home packet for each day beforehand. This can even turn into a lesson guide packet to hand out to students in class each day. When a student is absent from class, you can supply them with a packet upon their return. Also, provide them with a packet for the lesson being given the day they return. Allow them to go to a quiet area where they can concentrate on the material they missed, and as time permits, perhaps even catch up to the class on the current material, so that they can stay in step with the curriculum.

Always make accommodations for students returning from an absence. Offer them one on one time to answer their questions and make sure they have a solid understand of the material they missed. If a student falls behind and there is a missing link between lessons, they will have further difficulty understanding the subject as the lessons progress. By helping your students catch up and stay up to speed with the rest of the class, you increase class participation, improve morale in the classroom, and your students will appreciate the extra steps you took to help them when they were ill.