Introduction to Bacteria (Reception)
Learning objectives
To understand that some bacteria can be harmful to health
To be aware of the microscopic nature of bacteria
Resources
A pin
Magnifying glasses
Access to Internet
Time
1 hour or 2 x half hour
Introduction
What are germs (bacteria)? Explain that germs are so small that they are invisible to the naked eye; that they are invisible under a magnifying glass; that they are only visible using a special instrument called a microscope.
Using the pinhead explain that germs are so small that a million germs could fit onto it.
Hand out magnifying glasses to see if children can see germs on their hands.
If possible show a picture of bacteria or use the Internet to show some bacteria on the screen. Explain the magnification and how big that would make the children if they were magnified in the same way.
Create a wordbank of other words that mean small.
Where do they live? Explain that germs are all around us, everywhere on our body, on surfaces - particularly around toilets, on our pets, in soil etc., What do they do? Most of the time they are harmless to us but they can cause us to be ill, give us a tummy ache, spots, fever etc.,
Activities
Create your own germ/bacteria/virus. What does it look like? What shape is it? What colour? What does it do that makes us feel ill? What is its name?
Plenary
Ask class to hold up their germs, ask for explanations from three.
Explain that although germs can make us ill. We can help ourselves by keeping clean particularly by washing our hands, especially after going to the toilet. (Can be continued in the next session).
Hand Washing (Reception)
Learning objectives
To be aware of when we should wash our hands
To know how to wash our hands
Resources
UV Box (available from your School Nurse or Public Health Information & Resource Library)
Paint
Blindfold
Nailbrush
Another adult or helper.
Time
1 hour
Introduction
Remind the class of work undertaken in the previous session re: bacteria (i.e. size, where they live, what they do, how we can stop them from making us ill).
Recap on washing the hands after going to the toilet. When else should we wash our hands? Before eating, after stroking pets, after playing, if we can see they are dirty, before we start cooking.
Who thinks they can wash their hands properly? Pretend that all germs are now blue (or other paint colour), paint the hands of the volunteers, blindfold them (one at a time) and ask them to wash their hands. Do they get all of the paint off?
How do we wash our hands? Soap + water. Demonstrate, explain that germs live particularly around nails, fingertips, under jewellery and we need to pay special attention to these areas. We also need to dry our hands properly as germs like wet hands better.
Activities
- Using the UV machine explain that this machine will make germs glow in the dark if they have the special cream on. Ask children to rub the special cream on their hands, put hands in the box, they should glow. Ask the children to wash their hands as previously shown, then place hands back in the box – is anywhere still glowing? Shows areas that germs really like.
Hand Washing (continued)
Plenary
Recap on the importance of washing and drying hands carefully.
Sing and demonstrate several rounds of the Nursery Rhyme.
Ask children to insert the situation.
(To the tune of ‘Here We Go Round the Mulberry Bush’)
“This is the way we wash our hands, wash our hands, wash our hands,
This is the way we wash our hands, when we: (insert situation)”
i.e. after we’ve been to the toilet, when we’ve stroked our pets, before we eat our tea etc.
Water Water Everywhere (Year 1)
Learning objectives
To be aware of the importance of water in everyday life
To understand what life would be like if water were not clean and available
Resources
Water, Water Everywhere Sheet
Bowl/water/apples
Towel
Time
1 hour
Introduction
What do we use water for? Washing, drinking, making food, swimming, playing, watering plants. Why is each of these important?
Washing: keeps us clean, helps us to stop germs from making us ill. When should we wash our hands? How do we wash our hands? Which bits do we often miss? (see earlier lesson). Cleaning teeth.
Drinking: keeps us healthy, importance of drinking water. Add it to squash, use it to make tea/coffee etc.,
Making food: in preparation of food, washing hands before starting to cook, washing fruit and vegetables before we eat them, because of soil/insecticides/handling etc., Link to the National School Fruit Scheme.
Swimming: good exercise helps keep our heart and body healthy
Playing: water fights, paddling pools etc., lets us have fun, keeps us happy.
Activities
Complete Activity Sheet 1 - draw four activities that need water
Play ‘Bobbing Apples’
Plenary
Recap. We have used water today to have fun.
Think about how we get our water. Is it difficult? Imagine what our life would be like with no water. How would we feel? Could we live without it?
Why do we have lots of water? Climate/weather.
Activity Sheet 1 Insert logo here
Water, Water Everywhere
Draw four things that you do that you use water for.
Write what they are underneath.
Clean Water (Year 1)
Learning objectives
To know that water is essential for life
To be aware that some children do not have easy access to water
Resources
Wateraid Story Sheet
Glass of clean tap water, glass of dirty water. A bucket containing 5 litres of water
Globe or atlas
Pictures from Oxfam, Save the Children, Wateraid etc.,
Time
1 hour
Introduction
Reminder of previous work on what we use water for. Hold up dirty water. Hands up - Who would drink this? Why not? Hold up clean water - Who would drink this? Why is it important to have clean drinking water?
Read the following stories from the Wateraid website (
Wateraid is an organisation that helps bring clean water to areas of the world where there is none.
Use the globe or atlas to show where the areas in the stories are situated.
Activities
- Try carrying the bucket with the water in - How does it feel? How would it feel if it was a very hot day? If you wanted to go and play with your friends? If you were hungry? If you didn’t feel well?
- Discuss the implications to these children of having to collect water each day: fairness, education, hygiene, childhood etc.,
Plenary
How could we help these and other children? Perhaps an assembly piece to tell other children about the importance of water? Perhaps a fundraising event to raise money for Wateraid, or another children’s charity that helps supply clean water. How can we make sure that WE save water in this country?
Activity Sheet 2Insert logo here
Wateraid Stories
a)Four-year-old Amina carries five litres of water back to her
home in Kibaya Town in Tanzania. The container is very heavy and she has
to keep putting it down on the floor as she finds it hard to carry (Try
this with the bucket + water). Fortunately she doesn’t have far too walk.
In Tanzania, as in many developing countries, women and children are
responsible for collecting their family’s water and children
often start this job at a very early age. There are three schools in her
town but education is not free and many poor families like Amina’s can’t
afford to send their children to school.
b)Six-year-old Agilane Saide sits with her family at her home in
Biarro Sanjala, Mozambique. With the help from WaterAid her family now has a Well in their yard, right next to their house. Her mother Fatima explains the difference their new water supply has brought to her and her children. “Before we had the Well I used to collect my water from the swamp and it was very bad. We used to get many diseases like diarrhoea. Before in the wet season water would flow in to the swamp from the village, taking all the dirt and rubbish with it and it was very dirty. Then in the dry season there would be very little water and we would have to dig out holes at the bottom of the mud. This was very hard work – it was tiring and I used to get back problems too. Now that we have this Well the water is much cleaner and we don’t have stomach problems any more. Now we don’t have any problems – we no longer have to drink dirty water and when it rains no dirty water enters the Well. Quite often the children could not wash before they went to school or they would have to go and collect water before they could wash themselves. They always had to collect water before school. Now they can wash very quickly and then go to school. They always go to school on time now. Their health is much better too now. It is a good Well, it has released our burden”
Clean Cook Dirty Cook (Year 2)
Learning objectives
To be aware of simple food hygiene procedures.
To understand the effects of poor food preparation techniques
Resources
Bread/ butter/ sandwich filling (x 2)
Apron/tea towel (x 2)
Chopping board/knife/plate (x 2)
Two adult or older child helpers
Design A Sandwich Sheet
Time
1 hour
Introduction
Word-shower ‘germs’. What are they, what do they do? Explain that we are going to be doing some cooking and will need to do this safely, making sure that no germs get on our food. How can we do this? Wash hands, wear apron, cover cuts, hair tied back, clean crockery, wash fruit and vegetables etc.,
Create a top ten list.
Activities
Next week we are going to be having a Teddy Bear’s picnic and will need to make some sandwiches.
- Using the Design A Sandwich sheet - design a sandwich for you and your bear to make next time.
- Clean Cook Dirty Cook - Ask helpers to demonstrate making sandwiches, one to do everything hygienically, the other the opposite e.g. don’t wash hands, wipe floor with tea towel, dip finger in jam, put in mouth etc.,
Ask class to watch carefully.
Are they stopping germs from getting into the sandwich?
Plenary
Review Clean Cook Dirty Cook.
Whose sandwich would you eat? Why wouldn’t you eat the other?
Letter home to parents re: next week’s picnic.
Activity Sheet 3Insert logo here
Design A Sandwich
Teddy Bear’s Picnic (Year 2)
Learning objectives
To know how to use hygienic food preparation techniques
To be able to prepare a sandwich
Resources
Ingredients as detailed in the sandwich designs
Tablecloths
Orange squash/other drinks
Plates
Aprons/tea towels/cloths
Knives/boards etc.
Bears
Adult helpers
Time
1 hour
Introduction
Reminder of food hygiene ‘Golden Rules’ made last time.
Reminder of ‘Clean Cook Dirty Cook’, and how not to cook.
Activities
In small groups (each with an adult helper):
- Make the sandwiches designed last time. Adults to ensure hygiene standards are met. Wash hands prior to start, ensure clean surfaces, hair tied back etc., Clear away afterwards.
- Set each table for the picnic with tablecloth, drinks etc.,
- Get bears. All wash hands. Enjoy picnic.
Plenary
Have the bears had a good time?
Did we make sure our bears wouldn’t get upset tummies? How?
Reinforce the main points.
Clean Cooking (Year 3)
Learning objectives
To be aware of the need for good personal hygiene when preparing and cooking food.
Resources
Clean Cooking Fact Sheet
Time
1 hour
Introduction
Revise the concept of germs/bacteria, their size and the harmful nature of some of them. When should we wash our hands?
Move on to the problem of food poisoning, upset stomachs etc., Using the Clean Cooking Fact Sheet go through the ways in which you can help prevent spreading germs when preparing and cooking food.
Activities
Can all be carried out using ICT if available.
In small groups
- Imagine you are opening your own restaurant. Design a poster to tell your staff how they can stop spreading germs when dealing with food.
Your poster should be eye-catching, colourful, not have too much
writing on it, have a slogan or theme. Get your message across.
- Write song or rap to get the message across.
- Create an acrostic poem about the words:
germs, bacteria, disease - use a dictionary or thesaurus to help you.
Plenary
All groups to feedback on their posters, songs, raps and poems.
Consider the comments from the rest of the class.
Use to create a display, perform in assembly or place the posters around school.
Activity Sheet 4Insert logo here
Clean Cooking Fact Sheet
Bacteria in food may make it unsafe or horrid to eat and could give you a tummy ache. The best way to prevent food poisoning is to stop the bacteria getting into it in the first place.
Roman Baths (Year 3)
Learning objectives
To understand how the Romans spent their leisure time
To know the layout of Roman Baths
To be aware of the services available to bathers
Resources
Internet access
Time
1 Hour
Introduction
The Romans used to spend a great deal of their leisure time at the Roman Baths. Why were they so popular? Roman baths were more like a visit to a leisure centre than a quick scrub. The Romans loved the baths because they were a good place to meet people and business could be carried out there. You could spend all day there, gossiping, eating snacks, playing sports and even getting clean! It could be very noisy. A Roman poet called Martial lived above a set of baths and complained about it. He said the sausage sellers' calls and the shrieks of the hair pluckers' customers were the worst!
When you went to the baths you firstly changed out of your clothes and did some exercises. Then you might have a swim in the pool before going into a series of rooms which got hotter and hotter to help make you sweat off the dirt. When the Romans were in these rooms they would often stop and talk to each other. All the dirt and sweat was then scraped off with
a "strigil" – a skin scraper. Finally, you had a swim in the cold pool.
The most famous Roman baths in Britain are
in the City of Bath.
Roman Baths (continued)
Activities
Have a tour of the Roman Baths at Bath, visit
(Look at what was in each of the rooms and the layout of the baths).
- Create a comic strip of ‘A Day at the Baths’
- Imagine you were writing an article about a visit to the Baths for the local Roman Times Newspaper. Tell us about your day there - what was
available (food, services etc.), who else was there, how to get there, how much to get in, whether you would recommend it, you might like to include a picture.
Plenary
What did you notice about the Baths on your Internet tour?
Which part do you think you would have liked best/least?
How do people spend their leisure time today?
Is there anything like the Roman Baths around today?
- Leisure centres, gyms, swimming pools etc.
Agony Aunt/Uncle (Year 4)
Learning objectives
To be aware of the importance of personal hygiene
Resources
A variety of texts that feature ‘smelly’ characters.
Roald Dahl: The Twits, Fantastic Mr Fox, The Witches, Stig of the Dump, Stinky Stories etc., or, use a character from a well-known story/fairy tale.
Magazines with problem pages
Agony Aunt/Uncle Worksheet
Internet access
Time
1 hour
Introduction
Choose one of the texts, e.g. a description of Mr Twit, and read it out loud.
Discuss the personal hygiene issues raised by this – hair, skin, teeth, hands/nails, feet, clothes, head lice, dandruff, earwax, body odour, scabs, spots etc.,
Why is it important to keep yourself clean?
Consider: infection control, body changes, consideration for others,
personal pride, self-esteem etc.,
Activities
- Imagine you are one of the characters from the texts. Write to an Agony Aunt/Uncle asking them for help with your personal hygiene problems. Reply to your character with some good advice for them.
- Create an information sheet about a personal hygiene problem and how it can be overcome. Use the Internet to help your research and Word to help write your information sheet. Include a picture/illustration.
Plenary
Feedback from several of the advice pages.
Review information sheets.
Create/contribute to a display.