Kindergarteners Views on the Swine Flu

Just to set you all straight, our school nurse is encouraging us to call it h1n1 virus, instead of the swine flu. Officials are worried that by continually referring to it as the swine flu, people will stop eating pork, which will affect pork producers. So, technically, this post is "Kindergarteners Views on the h1n1 Virus".

My students and I briefly talked about it yesterday during Writing, when one of them said they saw all these people on the news talking about getting sick and closing all the airports. I told them that yes, there is something out there called the swine flu (h1n1), explained it to their level of thinking, and told them that although it doesn't seem to be a problem in MN, to help prevent it, the best things we can do is just practice safe and healthy habits, like washing our hands, using the crook of our elbow for sneezes and coughs, etc. They seemed to understand.

A little while later, during playtime, Jackson (one of my students) came up to me. "Mrs. Pavlenko, can I borrow a piece of tape?" I told him of course. I was sending a few e-mails, so while I was monitoring the class, I was not "watching" them. When I was finished, I scanned the room. Everything looked good-Brandon and Josiah were playing with the blocks, Mackenzie and Emmy were in the home center, Jackson was walking around the room with a Kleenex on his face, and...wait! Did I see that right? I looked again. Yep. Apparently, Jackson had used my piece of tape to adhere a Kleenex to his face. I called him up to my desk to confirm what I already knew. "Jackson, why are you wearing a Kleenex?" "Well," he says, "I saw these people on the news wearing these face masks so that they don't catch the flu, and so people don't get their spit and germs on them, so I am protecting myself." Ahhhh....I see. It's amazing how aware of things children are.

Then today, during Writing, one of my students shouted out, "Eww....Aaron just licked his hand. What if he had the flu and then he just spread his germs all over?" I said, yes this hand-licking practice was not appropriate, but was not a good idea whether there was swine flu (h1n1) or just regular old germs floating around. We then reviewed how important good hand washing and hygiene is. They agreed, and Aaron walked back to the sink to wash his germ-ridden hand while the rest of us continued with Writing.

As this pandemic continues to get more and more severe and close to home, I am wondering how long and how much these childrens' (and their parents') comments/concerns/paranoias will come into play in the classroom. Only time will tell...