The Pitfalls of Being a Teacher!

I love being a teacher. I have loved it for the last 17 years. The only problem is, I catch every thing that comes into my class.  Since I'm the reading teacher, I work with small guided reading groups throughout the day to help my students who just quite aren't where they need to be when it comes to reading and comprehension. 

Not my table, but it works for my post!

Now as you can see from the picture, I am no more than 2 or 3 feet away from my students.  I meet with 5 different groups during the day.  It never fails, at least 2 of them are sniffling, sneezing, or coughing.  It's quite disgusting. I keep tissues and hand sanitizer handy, but how do you control the germs when they don't cover their mouths.  You would think that by 5th grade they would know how to do this, but I still have to remind them everyday. I have to wipe down my table with chlorox wipes between every group. 

I had built up my immunities over the years, but since my fibro diagnoses my immune system seems to be shot.  So now I get to spend yet another weekend trying to recuperate enough to go back to my germy little monsters on Monday.  They're so lucky I love them all! Do you think they would be offended if I wore a surgical mask during group?

Gentle Hugs,
Bonnie