Periods?

So, the other day, a little girl came up to me to ask a question. This is not rare, as she asks questions frequently, whether relating to the content or not. However, one thing was a little different than normal. She was speaking in a much softer tone than normal, so at first it was a bit hard to hear. The conversation went as follows:

Student: Ms. Murphy, when do we get our periods? Fifth grade?

Me: What sweetheart? (thinking at this moment I heard her wrong)

Student: When do we get our periods? (still speaking quietly, but loud enough to know I heard her correctly "/

Me: Umm....what?? (wanting to shrivel up into a ball at this point...thinking to myself...'These are the kinds of questions you need to ask your mom, sweetie.')

Student: You know, like first period, second period, third period? When do we get our periods?

Me: (light bulbs going off, sigh uncontrollably escaping my breath) Oh! OH! In middle school. Sixth grade.

Student: Oh, bummer. I wanted them next year. (or some sentence related to this)

Me: Okay, have a seat sweetheart.

Yeah...escapades of a fourth grade teacher. You never know what's in store for you. One thing I have learned for sure is to get complete clarification before trying to answer a question that could have more than one answer, or meaning.