i need a band-aid

I keep several boxes of band-aids on hand in my classroom. Many, many more than I will ever need in a single school year. I dispense them freely and often because I have found that there is nothing quite like a band-aid and a hug to say, "I care about you. I'm sorry you don't feel well or are hurting. You can count on me to make you feel better." Yes, band-aids aren't just for blood. Mostly they're for feelings. Oh yes, and in my classroom, they're also for art. They're quite nice for watercolor resist paintings. And today we used them to bandage imaginary boo-boos on our big cardboard cut-out friend. Nothing like a box of band-aids to liven up a "last weeks of school - what do you have for us that's new - kind of day".

We also read Shel Silverstein's poem Band-aids. As an elementary teacher, I loved Silverstein's poetry and often used it as a writing prompt. I haven't really tried him with preschool until now. The littles seemed to like him though so maybe we'll sample some others.