I definitely do not consider myself to be a clean freak. Or a neat freak. But as I have settled into being a stay at home mom of two for the summer, I am finding myself cleaning and organizing more and more. Maybe it's because toddlers make a mess everywhere they go or maybe it's because I am in my home more than I am when I work. But I am starting to get the clean freak itch. If there's clutter, I need to pick it up and I want everything to have a particular place. I've done some organizational projects this summer and have tried to stay on track of household cleaning by creating a weekly schedule where I do certain tasks on certain days of the week (wash the sheets on Mondays, wash the kids' clothes on Tuesdays etc.) I doubt I will stick with the same schedule when I return to work, but it's working for the summer. I don't always do the assigned task for the day, but in a week, I definitely make sure that the laundry gets done, the bathrooms get cleaned, and everything gets dusted in addition to many other weekly jobs.
Now that the back to school buzz has officially started (I cannot believe how many teachers are returning to work already!), I started wondering if my cleaning mojo will continue into my classroom.
There are some teachers that clean surfaces in their classrooms daily, disinfect all the time, and constantly prevent the spread of germs.
I have never been one of those teachers.
I tend to subscribe to the belief that kids need to be exposed to things in order to be immune from them...so my past teacher self has not been super concerned about cleaning on top of what our custodians do. But I am realizing this summer that I actually really enjoy clean. It's not so much the idea that cleaning will prevent germs or sickness, but the feeling of calmness that happens for me when my house and my living space is clean and organized.
So...I am wondering how much time you spend tidying/cleaning/disinfecting your classroom on a daily basis.
What cleaning tasks do you do yourself?
If your school had an award for cleanest classroom, would you win?
3 comments:
Hahaha, I definitely would not. I admit that when things get busy cleaning totally falls by the wayside for me! I totally agree with you that kids need to be exposed to germs and really no matter what you do, they are going to be!
I tend to delegate a lot of the cleaning to the kids :) So... clearly it's not always clean!
I like your idea of the schedule for home. I get very overwhelmed when I'm a stay at home mom about how things just KEEP coming. I also really hate cleaning so that might be part of it.
I am a clean FREAK and my kids wipe their desks down with disinfecting wipes every day...LOL
I am not a clean freak. My students clean their desk tops every couple of weeks (usually when I pass by one that is so gross that I can't stand it anymore lol). One of my colleagues went around each morning before kids came and spot cleaned, but I am not like that at all.
I like my room to be clutter free but I am not one who disinfects every single day.
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