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Middle SCHOOL LESSON
DON’T BE SIDELINED BY GERMS
Germ Lesson – Keeping personal items personal
OBJECTIVES:
1. Define germs and how they affect health
2. How do personal items transmit germs
3. What personal items are we talking about?
4. The “5 Second” Rule
INDIANA HEALTH & WELLNESS STANDARDS
(Grades 6-8).1.1 Compare how healthy behaviors and
personal health are linked.
(Grades 6-8).1.3 Examine how one’s surroundings affect
health and wellness.
(Grades 6-8).1.6 Identify how health care can
promote health.
(Grades 6-8).1.7 Identify the benefits of practicing
healthy behaviors.
(Grades 6-8).6.1 Examine personal health behaviors.
(Grades 6-8).7.1 Identify the importance of being responsible for health behaviors.
TEACHER TALKING POINTS
Define “germs” and how they affect health
• Germs are tiny organisms, or living things, that can cause disease.
• Germs are so small that they can enter into our bodies without being noticed. You need a
microscope to see them.
• It’s hard to say no when a friend wants to borrow your lip gloss or share your drink.
We think we’ll look like wimps or germaphobes to our friends if we don’t borrow and share.
• You can’t always tell just by looking at someone if they’re infected with something.
It’s easy to think that if somebody looks healthy, they must be healthy. But this is not
always true!
How do personal items transmit germs?
• Most of us are taught at a young age that it is polite and nice to share things with others.
However, that is not always in the best interest of our personal health.
• Once inside our body, germs release toxins, which can cause things like fevers, sniffles,
rashes, coughing, vomiting and diarrhea.
• Germs can be spread through the air (in sneezes, coughs or even breaths), in sweat,
saliva and blood. Some germs pass from person to person by touching something that is
contaminated, like shaking hands with someone who has a cold and then touching your
own nose. Germs “ride” on and in all sorts of substances in our bodies, from fingertips to
spit to blood.
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For example: Let’s say your friend Kate has a cold. Being polite, she covers her cough with
her hand, then a few minutes later, uses a finger to scoop up some of your lip gloss.
She just put her cold germs into your pot of lip gloss. Next time you use it, chances are
you’ll be putting her cold germs on your mouth.
Now let’s say that Kate has a serious germ in her blood. She uses your fingernail file and
gets a teeny speck of blood on the file from a little cut around her nail. You use the file
after her and scrape your skin a little too hard, allowing the germs in her speck of blood to
make their way through your broken skin and into your bloodstream. You may now have
Kate’s serious disease.
What personal items are we talking about?
• Anything that goes into or onto your mouth - toothbrushes, cups/drinks, straws,
silverware, lipstick/balm/gloss
Lips, mouths and throats are home to all sorts of germs, some that are harmless, some
just annoying and some very serious. Lips may seem safe, but they can have germy spit
on them, and they can crack and bleed. In addition, oral herpes can be found around
the lip area. Germs can get onto anything that goes into or on someone’s mouth and be
transferred to your mouth.
• Manicure tools
The areas around the fingernails and toenails are notorious for having all sorts of little
breaks in the skin, including ones so small you can’t even see them. Blood or other body
fluids containing germs can get onto nail clippers, nail scissors, files and other manicure
tools, and then be transmitted to you through little breaks in your skin.
Avoid loaning out nail clippers and files by not carrying them with you. Keep them at
home. But, if you must loan them out, remember to clean them off later with disinfectant. This won’t work on files that aren’t metal so you should probably throw them away.
Do you have a hangnail and no clippers? Put a Band-Aid on it or just leave it alone until you can clip it off later rather than use someone else’s tools.
•
Makeup
Eye makeup can be the worst offender in this group.
Eyes can have a variety of germs in and around
them. People have become infected with
diseases like pink eye from sharing makeup.
To protect yourself, wash your hands before
applying makeup to stop the germs on
your hands from getting into your makeup
and on your eyes, in your mouth, or on
your face. If you share mascara, eyeliner,
etc, those germs can be transmitted from
one person to another. Also, if you try
on any kind of makeup that other people
have stuck their fingers in, you can become
infected with the germs that moved from their
fingers to the makeup.
How
to
•
•
•
avoid sharing your makeup with your friends?
Avoid having to share your makeup by not bringing any.
Use the “blame your mom” approach (i.e. “My mom is a germ freak. She would
totally lose it if she knew I was sharing make-up. Sorry.”
If all else fails, put the makeup on the back of your hand (unless you have
cracked/dry/wounded skin) to try the color on your skin, then wash it off with soap and water.
• Earrings and other “piercing” jewelry
Sharing these items is generally a very bad idea because it is more likely that these items
have come into contact with blood or body fluids, which can carry serious diseases.
If someone insists on borrowing your jewelry, tell them that it’s not a good idea. If you cannot bring yourself to say no, clean it with disinfectant before wearing it again.
Sharing food
We are often tempted to try our friends’ foods when eating out. If a friend offers you a
bite of her gooey chocolate brownie dessert, use a clean fork or other utensil to cut off a
bite from the uneaten portion.
•
If someone comes after your food with a dirty utensil and you don’t want to stop them,
simply leave the part they ate from on your plate.
The “5 Second Rule”
• Nearly all of us have dropped food on the floor and still wanted to eat it. We sometimes
want to apply the “5-second rule” —food won’t become contaminated with bacteria if you
pick it up off the floor in 5 seconds or less.
• Scientists have actually tested this theory and found that the rule is primarily false:
Bacteria can attach to food even if you pick it up really fast.
• Two facts to consider whenever you are tempted to apply the 5-second rule:
• Although the floor may look clean, that’s not always the case. Newly washed
floors are only as clean as the tools used to wash them (imagine eating food off
the mop in the school cafeteria if you need a visual). Even with a brand-new mop
or sponge, stubborn germs can still remain on the floor after cleaning.
• Fast is better but it may not be fast enough. Although a piece of food does pick
up more bacteria the longer it’s on the floor, bacteria can attach to it instantly.
So any food that makes contact with the floor can get contaminated. Also, foods
with wet surfaces, like an apple slice, pick up bacteria easily.
• When in Doubt, Toss It Out – While some bacteria won’t bother you, others can torture
you with sickness like diarrhea. Even if there’s no visible dirt on your food, you can still get
sick. So when you drop that delicious piece of chocolate onto the ground, the safest
choice is to throw it out.
STUDENT ACTIVITY –
A Rotten Apple
This experiment is a good demonstration to show why so many people can get sick at
the same time. You will need one good apple, one apple that is getting a bit rotten and
a toothpick.
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Place the good apple on a piece of paper towel, and label it HEALTHY.
Place the bad apple on a piece of paper towel, and label it SICK.
Take a toothpick and stick one end into the sick apple and the other end into the
healthy apple.
Wait about 10 minutes, and then take the toothpick out. (You can throw out the sick/
rotten apple.)
Wait about 2-3 days and then cut open your healthy apple.
Ask your students to think about what happened to the healthy apple to make it sick.
Explain that the toothpick transferred bacteria or germs from the sick apple to the healthy
apple. This is what happens when someone who is sick passes on their germs to other people,
by touching or breathing.
FAMILY INFORMATION Think about all of the things that you and your family members touched today — from the
telephone to the toilet. Whatever you did, you came into contact with germs. So it’s easy for
germs on your hand to end up in your mouth (maybe you chowed down on that protein bar in
the car-pool line?). Most middle school students know the importance of good hand washing
as a means to reduce germs entering their body; however, they may not be aware that sharing
personal items has just as much risk of introducing germs to their body. Teach your child that it’s OK to refuse to share their personal items with their friends. According to Shape Magazine, the top 10 items you may want to keep to yourself include:
• Bar soap – Try liquid soap instead
• Hats, hairbrushes and combs
• Anti-perspirant – if you use a roll-on and want to share, switch to a spray
• Nail clippers, nail files and buffers
• Makeup
• Razors – A good rule of thumb is to avoid sharing anything that could possibly have
contact with blood
• Drinks - The germs that cause strep throat, colds and even meningitis can all be
exchanged with one small sip
• Toothbrushes
• Earrings
• Earphones
Things to remember
• Lots of people who are infected with
serious diseases like HIV don’t know they
have a disease.
• People can pick up and pass on less serious
infectious germs before they even feel sick.
• You can end up with a cold, a skin
infection, diarrhea or any number of nasty
things if you share personal stuff.
• Our fingers and hands can be “vehicles”
for germs to hitch a ride from one place
to the next. So by not sharing, you’re helping
protect yourself and others from these germs.
LESSON PLAN EVALUATION
1. You can tell by looking at someone if they have a disease or illness that you could catch.
___True ___False
2.Germs can be spread by saliva or sweat. ___True ___False
3.It’s okay to share earrings with friends. ___True ___False
4.Its okay to use the “5-Second Rule” when you drop a piece of food on the floor.
___True ___False
5.People can become infected with pink eye by sharing makeup. ___True ___False