Really freaked out!

[Tounces]

Today while I was in the middle of teaching Reading, a cockroach ran across my floor!!!! I freaked out when some of the kids said "Look it's a cockroach." I have never seen one before and was hoping they were wrong. A couple of my boys went over and stomped on it. I think I went into a panic attack. I asked if they were sure that is what it was. Then I got stories about cockroaches and mice at their homes!! I told them I didn't want to hear about them. I called the office and requested they send the janitor immediately to get rid of it. He didn't come and I was still scared. I still am shaking from this. I went to the teacher next to me and told her what happened. She asked one of the students to get a paper towel and throw it in the garbage. Yuk!!! She acted like it was no big deal.
I'm from a colder climate so this is new to me. I absolutely hate bugs of any kind. I called the office again for the janitor. He came finally. I asked him if they would spray during Spring break-next week. He said they can't because of the EPA. He would put traps around instead. I don't want dead cockroaches laying around my room either. He said this is the time they start coming out. I don't know what to do. I so scared now that one of these things will come out again. Plus I heard they can cause asthma attacks and I have asthma. I'm sure my students will go home and tell their parents.
I have no food out in the room and I clean my room more than most here. What else can I do? I'll probably be here next year too.

 

[cateach]

This isn't a big deal..

at all. Bugs are everywhere.

 

[MC.]

Ewwwww!

Something similar happened to me last year. I opened my cabinet and out of the corner of my eye saw one scurry past. I stiffled a scream so my second graders wouldn't be scared. I slammed it shut and had the janitor come out. He took everything out of the cabinet and found 3 more! There was no food and I am extremely neat. Apparently there is nothing you can do. They sprayed some stuff inside and outside my room. I also bought my own roach spray from the store and sprayed it around. We are not allowed to spray anything besides what the janitor has, but I didn't care. Bugs don't bother me too much- but roaches are another story. If there is one, there are usually more hiding around.

 

[istoleahalo]

In Florida roaches are everywhere! Yes they are gross but not a big deal. My best advice is to stay calm iven if you do feel like freaking out because the little ones temd to feed off of you. I have pretty severe acrachniphobia and had to do this once with a spider but I didn't want my kids to freak so I just stayed as calm as I could possibly stay. Luckily I had some boys who weren't afraid and they took care of it.

 

[NCteacher]

Scary- but not a big deal..

Our school is infested and it is an everyday happening to open a desk drawer, or for a student to pull a book out of his desk and have several come out! I used to take my posters off the walls in the summer and lay them flat on a counter, but had to stop, because the roaches would get stuck in the tape goo and I would return in August to find hundreds of dead roaches stuck to my posters! Totally disgusting- but harmless. Our school has an exterminator come out every 2 weeks to spray on the weekends, but it has little effect. The grossest thing is one of my friends was using the bathroom and one crawled out from under the toilet seat! Our exterminator said that they are not just attracted to food- piles of old papers or anywhere there is water are places they like to live. Try not to get too upset, it really isn't a big deal!

 

[Mrs. G]

Falling roaches!!

One school year on the first day of school I was in the front of the classroom when a cockroach nearly fell on my head! I had a student stomp on it. You get used to them. I've had them in my desk and in the closet. They are gross, but there is not much you can do for them at school.

 

[lq]

Not too bad!

I can handle roaches, but one day I found a small garden snake in my room!! A kindergartener picked up a game and a snake slithered across the room. I am terrified of snakes and screamed loud. I code red the office and they all came running! I still get kidded about the incident.

 

[Ima Teacher]

They're nasty, but plentiful. Our old building was full of them. I rarely see them in our new building, thank goodness. We had the exterminator come to the house to make sure we don't have them at home.

I've had two pest-related freak outs in my classroom, however. Once I was sitting at my desk and a HUGE spider ran from under something on my desk. I didn't scream, but I nearly sucked all the air from the room and went zooming across the front of my classroom in my chair . . . much to the amusement of the kids. The other time I had a mouse in my bookbag. I heard something in my bookbag and saw movement. I carefully moved it and dumped it in my floor. The mouse went running into the hallway where someone stepped on it accidentally.

 

[dld]

cockroach dance!

I, too, am from Florida, and they are practically our state mascot! just kidding...lq- I lol at your story!
After Hurricane Wilma- we missed a day or two of school at the beginning of the year. Roaches seem to come out more when it is rainy and wet outside. I have never been afraid of them, BUT ...
the first day we came back after the hurricane, my students were working quietly (for a change ) on a writing assignment, and I was sitting at my desk helping my ESL student w/the assignment. All of a sudden, I kept feeling something tickling my knee under my slacks. I itched, and continued what I was doing...again, itchy, tickly feeling- this time on my calf...I lifted my pant leg and there was a little roach on my leg!!! I am a very calm conservative type of person, but when I saw that roach, and it saw me- I let out a yell and we both took off!!! I practically jumped across my desk, knocked over my poor ESL student and her books, fell on top of another student, and ended up on the floor. Meanwhile, my students are all up out of their chairs - faces terror stricken, as I am flip flopping on the floor trying to find this roach in my britches!!! Two teachers nearby came running in to find my students standing away from me at the back of the room, me on the ground with my pants leg pulled up as far as it will go, hair falling down from its clip, and 2 kids on the floor next to me. Add to this the fact that this is my first year at this school, and Lord only knows what everyone was thinking...BTW- never found the roach- even after a strip search in the bathroom! ha! The final insult to injury- every student in my class-including ESL girl changed their writing topic...I kept every one of them for prosperity!

 

[Ima Teacher]

I, too, am from Florida, and they are practically our state mascot!

Every time I come home from Florida, all of my bags stay in the garage or on the porch until I have time to "deroach" everything. And those are some HUGE roaches you guys have!

 

[fun_friend]

I had to laugh about your inexperience with roaches. I don't actually live in Florida, but here in S GA roaches are plentiful. I use a pro at home to keep them at bay, but I prefer to see the big ones rather than the smaller yucky ones! My kids don't freak as much as they used to about them and my class kids are used to them too. What I freak about (just a little) is lizards! Lizards are forever running into my house. If you sit on my porch for a few minutes you start to see them everywhere. I don't mind them outside, but I DON'T want them in my house!

 

[fun_friend]

My husband wanted me to post about the RATS at his old high school! He had to set traps routinely which were always full of dead and dying rats! These bold rodents would even make their presence known with a roomful of kids! Yuck-O!

 

[SC]

Roaches are gross, but I usually just have some kid to take care of them. I get bugs in my classroom every now and then, and luckily all of the little boys like to take care of them for me

 

[Tounces]

thanks all

I found all your stories interesting. I hope I can sleep tonight without visions of roaches, rats, snakes and lizards dancing in my head. I guess these are just another "perk" of being a teacher. . I wonder what other professionals have these sort of working conditions.
I still don't like them and can't see me ever getting used to roaches. If they came out of my desk drawer and all over as much as some of you say, I'd have to quit. I just don't do bugs. Thanks again. Sweet dreams.

 

[change2R]

We have them too.

We have tons of cockroaches in MO too. We also have problems with flies and termites. One day at the beginning of the year, all of the teachers got fly swatters and had a contest. Who could kill the most flies during reading time (90 Min.). I killed 76 while I was teaching my lesson. I don't remember how many everyone else killed. I have fly specks on all of my posters. It's disgusting!!

We also have termites. One day I got in my closet to get that day's daily math poster and I noticed that it had some holes in it. I lifted up the stack and screamed. There were hundreds maybe thousands of termites that were eating through my last 30 math posters. They brought the exterminator immediately. I had to call the math company to see if I could reorder the last 30 math posters. When I told the lady why I needed them, they sent them to me for free. She said I couldn't have made up something like that. She was soooo nice that she sent me a little gift because she said I went through a traumatic ordeal.

 

[MA Teacher]

I'd freak out too!!!

I've never even seen a cockroach so I would freak out. I can't believe they are as common as the posts are suggesting.

I've never seen any pest or cockroach in our school. An occasional spider is as "wild" as it gets. Thank goodness!

 

[JudyW]

Want to keep the principal away?

If you want to keep your principal and other folks out of your classroom just park an aquarium with hissing cockroaches next to the door. It works great!

P.S. Hissing cockroaches make interesting subjects for science study. Ever wonder how roaches manages to climb up walls? By observing the hissing cockroaches it is obvious that they have little suction cups on their legs. Neat!

 

[aussiejane]

Australia

I think we are the creepy, crawly capital of the world - all the bugs mentioned above plus MANY poisonous things like dangerous and deadly spiders and snakes. For a while there, is was a regular event to have the Australian Brown Snake under and IN classrooms - it is one of the most toxic and aggressive snakes on Earth. Having said all that, I'm more likely to die of heart failure after a close encounter with a cockroach.....

 

[jov]

cockroaches and asthma

I believe I read that it's the cockroach poop that causes problems for people with asthma. But this happens only in places that are totally infested with roaches, not for the occasional roach as in your case.

I used to work in a totally infested school building. The bugman explained that the bugs are always there in the walls. His job is just to control them enough so we don't see them. What a lovely thought. Spend a little time with roaches and the fear thing wears off. You start seeing them as a challenge.

 

[ClaireDeLune]

dld

Your story, "cockroach dance!," had me laughing until tears came to my eyes. Thanks for sharing.

I lived in government housing as a child, so roaches don't bother me, although I don't like them.

Now that we've lived in two houses, however, I have a major problem with spiders. I usually suck them up with the vacuum because I REALLY hate spiders! I also hate earwigs. You can "squash" those suckers and they still get up and walk away.

JudyW, where would one get hissing cockroaches? The pet store? I like the idea of having an aquarium that gives people the heebie-jeebies. I'd probably have a snake or a tarantula. Strange, I hate small spiders, but tarantulas don't bother me as much. Maybe because they move slower than the little suckers.

 

[change2R]

iPeach

We have Saxon Math. Saxon has a side A and a side B. Students are supposed to do side A together so there is a poster of side A. I can write on the poster as the students write on their papers. The teacher next to me had a built-in shelf that went missing too. =)

 

[MissO]

yuck!

Here in South Texas, our climate is similar to Florida's. Large, dinosaur-looking cockroaches are common, especially in older buildings such as my school.

We have a sink in every classroom. Since roaches like water... you get my drift. Twice last week I witnessed cockroaches climbing out of the sink drain into the sink.

I'm not from this kind of climate, so I'm not used to seeing insects this large. I can usually handle squashing bugs, even spiders, but cockroaches I do not do. I totally freeze when I see one. Thankfully, I teach 3rd grade, and most of my boys are eager to show off their skills at "taking care" of such creatures. Then it's my job to somehow act like it wasn't a big deal!

 

[NCteacher]

Btw....

Every spring into early summer we are invaded by earwigs. Did you know that regular ol' dishsoap kills them in about 20 seconds flat? Have no idea why- but it is a safe, easy way to get rid of them!