In Pursuit of Science

As I'm walking my class to art one boy scurries to the front of the line after passing a group of older students and anxiously asks: "Mrs. McKanna, one of the older boys just poked me with his toothpick...am I going to be OK?" I pretend like there's something to inspect on his arm..."I think you're going to be just fine." "OK. Are you sure? Thank you, Mrs. McKanna."

Then I learned this side of the story from the science teacher:

"As my students returned to the science classroom, after being asked to select an object to test for bacteria, I asked each of them what object they had chosen. "I chose the door handle" (Student 1). "I chose the trashcan" (Student 2). "I chose one of the little fourth graders" (Student 3). And yes, he was armed with a toothpick."