Write down your objective. Include an estimated amount of time it will take to teach the lesson and the items you will need. Your objective is to teach children how to wash their hands. When teaching children with exceptionalities, plan to extend the lesson over several weeks and to revisit the lesson throughout the year. Including the items necessary to complete the lesson will ensure a substitute could easily teach the lesson in your absence.
Base your lesson plans on the children with exceptionalities in your class. If a special needs child cannot see, you will need to use different methods than you would with a child who cannot hear. Write down your teaching ideas.
Break the hand-washing lesson down into parts: making warm water, disinfecting hands and rinsing the soap off of hands. Teach children how to make warm water. While warm water is not a requirement to achieving clean hands, it does remove oil and grease faster than cold water. Wrap the faucet handles with red or blue masking tape. Hot is associated with red and cold with blue. Adjust the hot and cold faucets to make warm water. Practice making warm water with each child until everyone can easily perform the action. Encourage the children by offering rewards such as stickers or pencils for accomplishing the action. Practice rubbing soap on the nooks and crannies of each child's hands. Show the kids how to rinse the soap off their hands.
Give your students a visual of what you expect them to do. Wash your hands in front of them. Place a dollop of soap in your hands and begin rubbing in between your fingers and on your palms and the back of your hands. Sing "Happy Birthday" to give the kids an idea of the approximate time it takes to remove bacterial from hands. In general, it takes 20 to 30 seconds. Dry your hands on a paper towel, then use the paper towel to turn the water off.
Assist the kids. Place your hands on top of their hands. Adjust the water until it is warm. Pump the soap into the child's hands and rub them together. Scrub the back of the child's hands, as well as in between fingers and the child's palms together. Sing "Happy Birthday" with the child. Rinse the soap from the child's hands. Grab a paper towel, dry the hands and turn off the water with the used paper towel. Repeat the process as much as possible during the day to instill the process in the child's mind.