Lesson Notes By Weeks and Term v4 - KG 2

Lesson Video

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Performance objectives

• Overview:
• This lesson focuses on one of the most important ways we keep our bodies clean and healthy: handwashing. In Ghana, we love to play outside, and we often eat delicious foods like kenkey, fufu, and banku with our hands. Because we use our hands so much, they can pick up tiny, invisible things called germs that can make us sick with tummy aches (like from cholera or diarrhoea) or coughs and colds. Learning how to wash our hands properly with soap and water is a superpower that helps us fight these germs and stay strong, healthy, and ready to learn and play.
• Learning Objectives:
• By the end of this lesson, the learner will be able to:
• State at least two important times to wash their hands (e.g., before eating, after using the toilet).

Lesson summary

This lesson focuses on one of the most important ways we keep our bodies clean and healthy: handwashing. In Ghana, we love to play outside, and we often eat delicious foods like kenkey, fufu, and banku with our hands. Because we use our hands so much, they can pick up tiny, invisible things called germs that can make us sick with tummy aches (like from cholera or diarrhoea) or coughs and colds. Learning how to wash our hands properly with soap and water is a superpower that helps us fight these germs and stay strong, healthy, and ready to learn and play.

Lesson notes

Core Idea: Our hands touch everything, so they can get dirty with germs, even when they look clean. Washing them with soap and water is the best way to get rid of these germs. What are Germs? Explanation: Germs are very, very tiny living things that are all around us – on the floor, on toys, on door handles, and even in the air. We cannot see them with our eyes because they are invisible. Analogy for Learners: "Think of germs like tiny, invisible troublemakers or 'bad guys'. If they get inside our bodies, they can cause problems and make us feel sick. They can give us a running tummy, a cough, or a fever." How Do Germs Get on Our Hands and Make Us Sick? Explanation: We get germs on our hands when we touch dirty things. For example: Playing in the sand or on the ground. Touching a door handle that someone who is sick has touched. After using the toilet. Covering our mouth with our hands when we cough or sneeze. These germs then travel from our hands into our bodies when we touch our eyes, nose, or mouth, or when we use our hands to eat. When MUST We Wash Our Hands? (The 5 Key Times) After using the toilet: This is very important because the toilet has many germs. Before eating: To make sure we don't eat germs along with our food. After playing outside: The ground and our toys can have lots of germs on them. After coughing, sneezing, or blowing your nose: This washes away the germs from the sickness so we don't spread them. After touching animals: Animals can be lovely, but they also carry their own germs. The Correct Steps for Handwashing (The Superpower Method) This is a practical skill. We will use the famous Ghanaian Veronica bucket or a tap for our demonstration. Step 1: Wet Your Hands Turn on the tap or press the spigot of the Veronica bucket. Let clean, running water flow over your hands. Step 2: Apply Soap Take a bar of soap or liquid soap and get enough to make good bubbles. Step 3: Lather and Scrub (for 20 seconds) Rub your hands together to make a lot of soapy bubbles (lather). Scrub everywhere: The palms (the inside of your hands). The back of your hands. In between each of your fingers. The tips of your fingers and under your nails (scratch your palms!). Your thumbs. Teacher's Tip: To make sure we scrub for long enough (about 20 seconds), we will sing the "Happy Birthday" song twice, or a local song like "Yemama yɛn nsa ho" (Let's wash our hands). Step 4: Rinse Thoroughly Put your hands back under the clean, running water. Rub them together until all the soap and bubbles are gone. Step 5: Dry Your Hands Use a clean, dry towel or cloth to dry your hands. If a clean cloth is not available, you can shake your hands gently in the air to air-dry them. It is important that the cloth is clean, otherwise, you will put germs back on your clean hands!

Guided Practice (With Solutions)

Activity 1: "Germs or No Germs?" Picture Sorting Task: The teacher shows the class large picture cards of children doing different activities. The learners will give a thumbs-up if the child needs to wash their hands afterwards and a thumbs-down if not. A child eating kenkey with their hands. A child playing 'ampe' in the sand. A child sleeping in bed. A child coming out of the toilet. Worked Solution & Commentary: Picture 1 (Eating Kenkey): Thumbs Up! Teacher says: "Correct! We must always wash our hands *before* we eat to wash away any germs." Picture 2 (Playing Ampe): Thumbs Up! Teacher says: "Excellent! After playing outside in the sand, our hands are dirty and full of germs. We must wash them." Picture 3 (Sleeping): Thumbs Down. Teacher says: "Good thinking. We don't need to wash our hands right after sleeping, but we should wash them when we wake up to start our day fresh and clean!" Picture 4 (Coming from Toilet): Thumbs Up! Teacher says: "Very, very important! We *always* wash our hands with soap after using the toilet."

Activity 2: "What Do We Need?" Object Hunt Task: On a table, place a bar of soap, a bowl of clean water, a clean handkerchief, a stone, a leaf, and a dirty rag. Ask learners to come one by one and pick only the things we need to wash our hands properly. Worked Solution & Commentary: Learners should pick the soap, the bowl of water, and the clean handkerchief. Teacher says: "Perfect! We need soap to fight the germs and clean water to rinse them away. We use a clean cloth to dry our hands. We cannot use a stone or a leaf because they don't make bubbles to fight germs. And we cannot use a dirty rag because it will put the germs right back on our clean hands!"