Monday, May 04, 2009

Sweating the Swine Flu

I finally addressed the swine flu with my first graders this morning. I didn't go into any real details (I don't feel that knowledgeable myself) but I'm sure that many of them are hearing things and I don't want them to be worried. So we talked about smart hygiene decisions and how we can work to not spread germs. Later we stopped at the bathrooms on the way to lunch to wash hands (something I really should have been doing anyway).

As we were walking into the lunchroom my little prince asked if we were going to have school tomorrow. I started to sweat thinking about what an awful teacher I must be that I've instilled panic in six year olds over the swine flu. I was wracking my brain about how to address this at such an inopportune time as the beginning of lunch. So, to buy time, I asked him why would we not have school tomorrow.

"Because it's the fifth of May."

Nearly laughing with relief I explained to him that we would be having school on Cinco de Mayo.

1 comment:

Tim said...

Your little prince had a valid question depending on where his family might have lived. When I was living in Southern Arizona, schools were closed for Cinco de Mayo.