SEX and 5th graders

Me: "Alright class, today we're going to read an article in your science magazine about BLOOOOOOD!"
Class: Blood??!! Cool.
Me: "Yeah, so before we begin, as I pass out the magazines, i need you to be scientific investigators and look over the article so we can read it together as a class."
Class reads quietly for about 30 seconds until...
Student: "Ms. Brown! The 'S-WORD'" is in here!!!!!!!
Me: What s-word? Samurai?
Class: Oh my gosh, the word SEX!!
Class breaks out in short pandemonium while my quick teacher brain switches into high gear.
Me: Students, have a seat, let's talk about this. I know that sex is an embarrassing, silly word, but we're scientists. So, any section of the article that has sex in it I will read so you don't have to be embarrassed, but I need you all to remember that we're scientists and scientists need to create a positive learning environment for discoveries. So, if you hear the word sex, in your head you can say, "eeeeeeew, groooss! Ms. Brown said SEX!!"
Class laughs.
But, you need to pay attention and not yell and scream because we have a lot of learning to do today.
After that, students took turns reading aloud, except of course when it was my turn to read sex. Thankfully, all my little scientists listened and did not freak out which allowed me to talk about AIDS and how sex is one of the only ways you can contract it. This of course developed into a lengthy conversation about HIV vs. AIDS and which one you give to a person in sex and which one a mom gives to a baby. However, I believe none of this would have happened if they'd been screaming about "the s-word" the entire time.
Thank goodness I am too cynical and I didn't say crap like, "You can't be grossed out by sex. Sex is beautiful." Puke.