Summer has flown by so quickly and we are getting ready to send the boys back to school. Each year teachers compile a list of school supplies that they anticipate your child to use during the year but they have to keep in mind that classroom storage is prime real estate. Once cold and flu season shows up hits, kids are walking around sniffling, sneezing, and coughing spreading germs with their others. We get it that you can’t keep your child home for every sniffle or a cough, especially, if your child has been diagnosed with allergies.
But teachers would love it if parents sent in extra supplies several months into the school as cold and flu season starts to ramp up. Not only will teachers be appreciative of the extra supplies, we promise that the students will appreciate it too. Do you remember your own days at school when you had to blow your nose in those rough paper towels or carrying around several sheets of the thin toilet paper? Just thinking about it now makes my nose feel raw.
Whether you stock up on supplies now or later in the year, we came up with a checklist of the teacher approved supplies for cold and flu season school.
HAND SANITIZER
Hand sanitizer is a liquid-based substance that can be used to kill germs, both bacterial and viral, on the hands when soap and water aren’t available. In most classes beyond elementary, sinks aren’t available in the classroom for students to wash their hands after blowing their nose or coughing into their hands. Keeping a bottle of hand sanitizer in the classroom readily available for kids to use on their hands throughout the year. It will help keep the kids from spreading unnecessary germs and potentially decrease classroom illnesses. Hand sanitizer can be pricey but we promise it is worth and teachers will appreciate it too.
KLEENEX
Once kids graduate from elementary school, kleenexes become a luxury item during cold and flu season. Students are often forced to use those rough brown paper towels or a wad of thin, scratchy toilet paper. While it might be embarrassing for your child to take stash a box of kleenex in their backpack to share with classmates, everyone will appreciate using kleenex instead of the alternative choices.
DISINFECTANT SPRAY
Have you ever stepped into a classroom after the kids have been outside or after recess? Let me tell you, a room full of sweaty kids smells awful. To me, it smells like an old dirty sock or the inside of your shoe at the end of the day. Your child’s teacher will jump for joy for a can of disinfectant spray even at the beginning of the school year. He/She can even use it to disinfect the classroom during cold and flu season too. The disinfectant spray is perfect for spraying down doorknobs and other objects around the classroom that students frequently touch.
DISINFECTANT WIPES
I’ve been shopping at Aldi for a majority of my grocery shopping and I couldn’t believe it when I found a huge container of the disinfectant wipes for less than $4.00 (thinking it was closer to $3 but I didn’t buy them on my last trip). Disinfectant wipes are a great way for students to have the opportunity to disinfect their desks at the end of the day on a weekly basis or a daily basis during cold and flu season.
AIR PURIFIER
If a handful of parents were to give a small amount of funds, either to the teacher or a designated room mom, to purchase an air purifier. An air purifier can greatly improve the air quality in the classroom. Air purifiers help remove airborne pollutants like mold, pollen, dust, bacteria, and even pet dander. Take it a step further and purchase an air purifier that has a UV light to kill off cold and flu germs. While an air purifier isn’t a guarantee that you won’t get sick, it does help filter some of the junk floating around in the air. Thus, potentially reducing your risk of contamination.
It is crazy how quickly summer flew by this year. My kids head back to the classroom soon and we are doing last minute prep to get everything they need for school. While buying my kid’s supplies, I got to thinking of all the germs that comes along with the kids in the classroom. During the school year, kids are in close proximity of each other and germs start running rampant. This mom wanted to arm teachers with a bit of ammunition to help reduce some of those icky germs from spreading.