Submitted by Amy Dagenhart, Taylorsville, North Carolina
Idea posted May 27, 2005
My students are not required to purchase their own recorders. The cleanliness issue can be tough to deal with, but I've finally gotten a solution that works well. I bought three five-gallon plastic buckets. I drilled eight holes about 1/4 inch in the bottom of each of them. I put the recorders in these buckets after the students are done using them. Because the buckets have handles, they can be carried easily to the school cafeteria. To clean, the cafeteria ladies run the buckets of recorders through the dishwasher for me. When they are washed and rinsed, I put them back in the buckets, and any extra water can drain out through the holes. I then spray the recorders with sterilizing spray, and they are ready for the next class. Having more than one bucket allows me to have a "used" and "unused" container of recorders all the time! It works for me.