How to Keep a Clean Classroom Year Round

With the school year starting, teachers and school staff members are looking for classroom cleaning tips to help keep everyone healthy and safe. School janitors might take care of the basic cleaning tasks like trash removal and vacuuming, but the teacher is responsible for most classroom care. Here are some simple classroom cleaning tips that will help keep your classroom clean for the whole school year.

Sanitize shared objects daily

Think about dry erase markers, dry erase boards, classroom library, pencil sharpeners, hall passes, and more. Multiple students touch these objects throughout the day. Using a disinfecting wipe or spray at least once a day to clean shared objects will help prevent the spread of germs. 

Practically speaking, it may be hard to keep up with all the small shared objects and which ones need cleaning. An excellent way to make it easy for you and the students is to reduce the number of things students share. You can switch shared items out for new ones throughout the school year as those objects get worn.

Offer a handwashing station

The most important way for students and teachers to prevent the spread of germs and ultimately keep a clean classroom year-round is proper handwashing during the school day. If your classroom isn’t equipped with a traditional sink, a portable sink as a handwashing station is just as effective. The best part about portable sinks is that they don’t require plumbing and can easily move around the classroom. 

During transition times or after a messy project, everyone can wash their hands with minimal interruption, which keeps your classroom cleaner and your students from spreading unnecessary germs. Students can even help with the sink’s care and maintenance. In addition, there are portable sinks designed specifically for classrooms, which makes it easy to work inside your classroom. 

Portable sinks in the classroom also prevent children from crowding around one classroom sink. Even though the children have the right idea, too many children around one sink could unintentionally spread germs. Having more than one classroom sink allows students to spread out and gives them the opportunity to wash their hands for the recommended 20 seconds per hand wash. When students can effectively wash their hands, it will reduce the spread of germs in the classroom.

Get creative

Students, young and old, learn best when there’s fun involved! Don’t be afraid to get creative on ways to keep your classroom clean. You don’t want to spread more germs or create a larger mess unnecessarily, but engaging students to make cleaning fun can lead to a more positive experience for everyone. Incorporating games into your classroom cleaning routine can keep things interesting for children and your classroom tidy!

Create a class job chart

Maintaining a safe and clean classroom should be a shared responsibility among the teacher and students. Consider creating a class job chart with age-appropriate cleaning tasks for students to complete. This can be a rotating job list, so every student has an opportunity to complete a task during the school year. 

Students will appreciate a clean classroom more when they help. Don’t forget about the benefits of responsibility, leadership, and good work ethic a class job chart will teach! You will achieve much more than a clean classroom with a class job chart for your students.

You can also have times during the school day where every student has a job to complete. For example, during the transition to lunch, students can tidy up their desk area, place any shared objects they’ve personally used in a dirty bin, and wash their hands in the portable classroom sinks. Transition times throughout the school day, plus at the beginning and end of the day, are great times to maintain a clean classroom environment.

Complete weekly and monthly deep cleaning

Take note of what’s in your classroom, and then make a list of what weekly and monthly deep cleaning tasks are necessary. This deep cleaning serves as a good reset to start a new week and month. If you have extra free time during the school day, you can get your students involved too. Going the extra mile with a deep cleaning is especially important during the cold and flu season, plus right before a long school break. A good time to complete these cleaning tasks is during your weekly and monthly portable sink care tasks.

Keeping a clean classroom isn’t impossible. It just takes some intentional planning and a little fun. All Portable Sinks can help you maintain a clean classroom space with our wide variety of portable sinks. Whether you need child height or standard height, we have a portable sink that will fit perfectly into your students’ routine. Contact us today and see our classroom portable sinks on our website. Follow All Portable Sinks on Facebook and Instagram for more tips on handwashing and portable sink care.