Kindergarten Crusade

I really hate that I don't have an image to go along with this story, so I'll do the best I can to create a good image for you with words. Yesterday afternoon, I taught a kindergarten class and at the time, they were using geometric shapes to design robots. While wandering around the room, making sure everyone was on-task, I noticed that one little boy had his fingers in his mouth and seemed to be up to no good. At this age, many of them are trying to pull out loose teeth, which I try to discourage in art class because I honestly don't want the commotion that immediately follows when one of them is successful.

I made my way over to him and asked cautiously, "What are you doing?" "I've got something in my teeth!" he replied. "Well, how about waiting until you get home where you can use some dental floss. Try to keep your fingers out of your mouth because you're going to get the crayons soggy and other people won't want to use them." ..."I don't have any dental floss at home, but I got toothpicks!" "That'll work."... And with that, he went back to coloring.

After art was over, I lined them up and led them through the hallway to the library where their next class was. As we stood outside the door waiting for the librarian, the same little boy shoved his index finger only a couple of centimeters from my eyeball. Backing up to a safer viewing distance, I stared at his finger trying to figure out what was on it and why he was trying to show it to me. (I'll spare you some details by not describing it). "What is it?" I asked him, forgetting about his earlier quest. "I got it out!!!!" he proudly exclaimed.