The best nonfiction book about personal hygiene:

The Bacteria Book: The Big World of Really Tiny Microbes, by Steve Mould

• General Information:
  • The Bacteria Book: The Big World of Really Tiny Microbes by Steve Mould. Published May 2018 by DK Publishing.
  • This book is so great because it talks about the science behind bacteria and germs and how some bacteria is good. But it also talks about bad bacteria and how it spreads and where it comes from. It gives a great insight on the science of germs while discussing proper care and prevention for spreading them. It can easily be integrated into a science unit on how germs and bacteria grow and spread. It can help discuss how they are still there even when you can’t see them and why you need to wash your hands even if they don’t look dirty.

• Core Integration:
  • You can integrate this into science and how germs grow and spread. You can discuss good and bad bacteria and what types of things are good and bad environments for growing germs.
    • One follow up activity you could do with young students to show them how germs spread is to play a game called glitter hands. Each student gets some glitter (in one color – giving out a variety of colors) on their hands (you can use glitter glue or mix regular glitter with water or hand sanitizer) and they go around shaking hands and touching everyday items. Then they can see all of the colors and how germs spread.
    • You can also have students try washing glitter off their hands with just water, then trying with soap to see how much of a difference soap makes.
    • Another activity you can do is the bread in a bag activity where you have one piece of bread that hasn’t touched anything in a bag as your controlled variable, then you take different slices and wipe them on different surfaces before putting them in their own bags and marking what they touched. Over the course of time, you can see the bread grow mold and bacteria from the surfaces it touches to show how dirty they are.

• Standards:
  • Identify ways germs are transmitted. H1.W3.Kb
  • Describe ways to prevent the spread of germs. H1.W3.1a
    • Understand how germs can spread, cause diseases, and how we can prevent the spread of germs through good hygiene practices.
  • Math standards that the glitter hands is integrated into are:
    • NBT.2.: Understand that the two digits of a two-digit number represent amounts of tens and ones.
      • Count the amount of glitter on their hands before and after.
    • MD.4 Organize, represent, and interpret data with up to three categories; ask and answer questions about the total number of data points, how many in each category, and how many more or less are in one category than in another.
      • Do multiple trials of glitter hands, have students take data on if the soap works or not.