As a teacher, you live and breath germs all day, every day (well, almost every day).
This is especially true in the winter time when the kiddies get sick with all sorts of things.
They are constantly blowing (if not picking) their noses,
sneezing, and coughing like no tomorrow.
I remember when I first started out on my teaching career (during student teaching), I caught something on a weekly basis. I was miserable! I think by now, my system has built up some immunity to germs that I am regularly exposed to. However, some germs still get past me and I do get sick once in a while (like right now.... about to take some Nyquil and call it a night).
Anyways, I have come with some preventive measures that I believe work for me 90% of the time.
1) Load Up on Emergen-C Packs
I drink these bad boys pretty regularly once my germ radar goes off. Which is pretty often, especially in the winter time. There have been times where I felt like I might be coming down with something and drinking these 3x a day for a couple of days really got rid of whatever I was feeling. They are about $10 for a pack of 30. You mix it in your water. Kind of taste like a fizzy vitamin water. Loaded with vitamins and all that good stuff.
2. Wash Your HandsNow, I do think that I don't do a bad job of washing my hands regularly but when I am at work, I do an ESPECIALLY THOROUGH job of washing them whenever I can. I also wash them first thing when I get home from work to get rid of all the germs I may be carrying with me from work.
3. Wipe Em' Down
The kids!? Haha no.... their desks. Whenever I have a chance and the kiddies are not in the room I like to wipe down their desks with Clorox wipes (if not available I will settle for baby wipes with a squirt of hand sanitizer).
4. Circulate Air
Even in the winter time, we like to keep some of the windows open (which is okay because school heat is crazy and it feels like a million degrees anyway). I like to think that leaving some windows cracked open allows for germs to fly out of the room. This might be more of a mental thing~ haha.
Although the kiddies get me sick from time to time, there is really no where else I rather be than in a room full of germ-y little 3rd graders.