So it begins!

October 22, 2009 | Posted in: Class Updates

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What an October!  We’ve had measurable snowfall in some parts of the state, and now our kids are dropping like flies from whatever bug is making its way around school.  This doesn’t usually start to happen until January or even February, but everything is early this year!  I was out with the flu for two days this week, and whatever this bug is, it’s contagious!  I passed it on to my wife and to a friend who I saw briefly on Sunday.  Today, we had ten – yes, ten – students absent.  I must confess that it was the first time in my career that I had such a small class (14 kids) because of sickness.  First, thank you to all the parents who kept their sick students home so that they wouldn’t spread the bug to other students.  I know that you want your kids to come to school and to try to “tough it out”, just as I wanted to try to make it in on Wednesday, but I appreciate you thinking of the other students.

I didn’t want to proceed with standard lessons today since there were so many students absent who would need skills reviewed upon their return.  So instead, we focused on our in-class writing project and a few other tasks instead.  There is no homework this evening, and there is no make-up work for students who were absent today.  My plans for tomorrow depend on how many students are absent, so we’ll see what happens!

We have several procedures in place to slow the spread of airborne germs, bacteria, and viruses.  First, we have a class job called “Sickness Stopper” which rotates each week.  The Sickness Stopper’s responsibilities include making sure that there are plenty of tissue boxes around the classroom and that the jars of hand sanitizer are full.  He or she also periodically makes a pass through the room with antibacterial wipes to try to clean up any germs.  Also, we have been pulling apart desks to give everyone some personal space, and we’ve discontinued (for now) the daily high-five or handshake greeting during Morning Meeting.

Hopefully next week will be a bit more healthy for us all.  When Dr. Perrault wishes the kids “Have a healthy week!” tomorrow during Health class, let’s hope it’s an accurate prediction of the week to come!