The easiest way to prevent getting sick is to wash your hands. But you have to do it the right way...and that's not easy. Take third graders for example. They have no problem getting dirty. But they're pretty sure they're old enough to wash up the right way. Student nurses Ann Gieschen-Salazar and Amanda Marko visited a classroom at Washington Elementary School in Wauwatosa to make sure. "Children are big germ carriers, and if they don't get the germs off their hands they're touching...Everything they touch has got their germs, and another child touches it, it's just a vicious cycle," Gieschen-Salazar explains. So they did a demonstration. Each student rubbed a special 'germ lotion' all over their hands and wrists. The goal: Wash off all the germs. To see how well they did, Amanda and Ann put their hands under a special black light that illuminates all the germs left behind. The kids' reactions: "Oh no, oh no! Ewww look at all those germs!" It's not just kids doing a shoddy job at the sink. Did you know you're supposed to scrub for a whole 30 seconds? And cold water just won't do the trick. "It takes only about 10 minutes to teach a child how to wash their hands properly," Marko says. The students got a second chance to do it right... And this time, the results are much better. "Good job! Still have a little bit, don't forget your thumb," the nurses tell the kids. And in case they forget the lesson...Each student gets to take home a hand washing calendar, a chart reminding them the right way to get the germs off, and a special hand washing award. It's not just kids who need a lesson. In a recent study only 83% of adults washed with soap after using the restroom. Health experts say the most important times to wash are after using the restroom, before and after handling food, after handling garbage or dishes, if you cough or sneeze into your hands, and anytime you have contact with someone who is ill.