I'm learning that after you pull an epic April Fool's Day prank, word spreads. Sometimes you have kids that have heard tales of the prank from older siblings, sometimes other well meaning teachers play your prank before you have a chance with your own kids. Such has been the case for the last two years when with my Lirpaloof Bird Hunt. It was all kinds of awesome, but it became really clear to me that it was time to leave it behind me and search for something new. So I did. And it was incredible!

I have to give credit to Tina Miller inspiring this one. She mentioned the general idea and then I took it to the extreme. 

So many little things lined up to make this work. It was kind of amazing - like the Universe was totally in on the joke. Let me walk you through the day:

As the kids walked in to the room, I noticed one of my little guys hobbling down the hall with an orthopedic boot on. It took me a few minutes to realize that this was his April Fool's prank. And it was my perfect opening. I said, "Oh man. I guess you won't be able to have your foot check today."

He looked a bit panicked, but hobbled in shifting his limp from left foot to right. He caved after about 15 minutes and confessed to me quietly that he didn't really break his foot and that he'd be able to have his feet checked after all. We agreed that he'd tell everybody right before the foot check that it was a joke. Perfect.

Then our math special teacher came to our room because the older kids were testing. And guess what she had the kids do... they measured their FEET! Thank you, Universe! I told her quietly about our upcoming foot check and she managed to work it into her lesson. Rock on!

So, when it was time to do the deal, I called them to the carpet for the day's read aloud which was What if you had Animal Feet?  Great book, by the way.

 

I explained that today was National Foot Check Day for all second graders, and just like when they had their vision and hearing checked, today a doctor would come in and make sure that their feet were growing correctly for their age and height. I reminded them that their parents returned the form giving permission at the beginning of the year. I explained that the doctor would just come in, ask them to spread their toes as wide as they could and then measure their feet.

Then I gave them the handout that explained the whole thing and we read it together. Click HERE to download a copy.

I passed out baby wipes and we cleaned our feet really well. I mean, let's have a little consideration for the podiatrist. Who wants to touch 20 pairs of stinky, dirty feet? So we took off our shoes and socks and got to work cleaning up!

After cleaning up, we put our feet up on the tables so that they'd stay clean and the doctor could just quickly make his way around the room. I told them to tell the doctor if anything had been hurting them lately and to try to remember if they'd ever injured their feet before. Their discussions were completely serious. I told them to practice spreading out their toes as wide as they could so that the doctor wouldn't have to do it (because sometimes that can hurt a little). Look at their faces as they're spreading out those toes!

We waited like this for a bit. Some of us were more relaxed than others...

I honestly had to turn my face to the board a few times because I thought I was going to lose it more than once. When I couldn't take it any more, I spilled the beans. Their reaction was priceless! They totally fell for it! I mean, who checks their feet?? lol!

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SunnyDays

Did you all survive April Fool's Day?  We had a BLAST! Well, I did. I think maybe my kids got mad at me. We hunted down that elusvie lirpaloof on Monday morning. {peek here if you missed the first part of this} I seriously almost lost it when I was explaining the whole thing. I was all dramatic-like talking about how lucky they were to get to look for the lirpaloof and how I thought for sure I saw one on the way in.  They feel for it hook, line, and sinker!! We searched and sang and ran around the whole park - and no lirpaloof. I finally gathered them around and did some fake-googling and found out that it helps if you call its name out backwards. So I wrote it out in sidewalk chalk forward and backwards. We sounded it out and...april fool's  - joke's on you! 

Honestly, there were a little mad at me!! I felt kind of bad. I even felt a little bit guilty! Like here I am this person they just blindly trust with their whole little heart and I just led them on a crazy goose chase, literally! But they loosened up and started giggling about it. Especially after I showed them the video of themselves below. So, we're all good.

And, no worries, they worked ALL DANG DAY to get me back. They actually had some good ones beyond the usual "there's a spider on your back!" Here are some of the ones I could actually take a picture of.

I've heard from a few bloggy friends who also searched for the lirpaloof. I LOVE that! If you blogged about your lirpaloof adventure, feel free to link up below. I'd love to hear about it :)

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SunnyDays

I have been thinking about this April Fool's prank for about two years - no joke! I heard the idea for this somewhere and I really have no idea if it was a blog or conversation or friends of mine. If it was your original idea, let me know!

All I remember is that you have the kids go outside and try to call out for the lirpaloof bird, a special bird that can only be found on April 1st. {get it yet?} Of course, no such bird is ever found and after the kids spend a while calling for it, you let them in on the joke.  Lirpaloof is actually april fool spelled backwards! Ha, ha little kiddies - joke's on you! Then everyone laughs for just a few minutes at the appropriate volume and hysteria-level and quickly files into the perfect line and we return to the classroom for some very rigorous, hands-on, common-core, project-based learning activity where no one tries to get me back for the rest of the day. <--That last part may or may not be a complete pipe dream...

But  regardless of the outcome, I'm going to go on a lirpaloof hunt this year! If you want to join me, I've made a handout to legitimize my little prank. I made up all the stuff in the handout, like what the bird looks like and the whole carrot bit.

My plan is to read the passage together, then hand out a carrot to each of my little nuggets.

We're going to go outside, wave our carrots high and sing to the lirpaloof! Then after I snap some good pictures, I'll gather them around while I do some very drama-queen googling to see if I can find some helpful hints. And the helpful hint, of course, will be to try to say its name backwards! I'm not sure if they'll get it right away, so I'm going to bring some sidewalk chalk with me in case we have to have a volunteer write it down for us.

So if you're in school on April Fool's Day and you saw this in time, grab the freebie by clicking here. If not, you can always pin it to remember for next year!


Can't wait to blog about our bird finding adventure :)

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Care for a brown-e?

     I am a huge believer in the old adage that you catch more flies with honey than vinegar, at least most of the time. So I do my best to maintain a very positive approach to classroom management. This worked to my advantage when setting up my little innocents for a great April Fool's prank. They fell so hard for it that it almost took the fun out of it - almost.

The Set-up
Me: You guys have been so awesome lately. You know how I always tell you how lucky I am to be your teacher?
Kids: Uh huh said with the "we've heard this a thousand times" tone
Me: Well, I have decided to bring you all a special treat tomorrow. I'm going to make you all my special homemade brownies.
Kids: WAHOO! YEHAW! loud cheers erupted along with one particularly happy little guy who actually fell out of his seat with wild abandon
Me: Wow, you guys don't usually get this excited over a treat! Well, these are very special. I only make them once a year. I'm so excited to share them with you! When you walk in tomorrow morning, there will be a brownie on your desk.
Kids: More cheers and random clapping, pats on the back, WAY too much enthusiasm for a brownie
Me: Feeling a bit bad about what they'd really find on their desk You guys are awesome & more teacher-y stuff about settling down, packing up...

The Prank
I did go home and make homemade "brownies", but not the kind they were expecting. I cut out some brown letter E's from my Cricut machine in the craft room in about 5 minutes as opposed to baking up a batch of brownies in the kitchen. As they walked in, they looked a little bewildered as they picked up the E on their desk. They were unusually quiet. One little guy finally looked at me and said, rather sadly, "Are these our brown-e's?" Clever kid!
Me: Yes, do you like them? I made them myself, just for you!
Kids: random rumblings & not so happy faces
Me: Oh, did you think I meant brownies...like the dessert??
Kids: Yes, yes we did.
Me: Well, it's a good thing I brought these too! pulling a box of brownie bites out of a bag April Fools!

In the end, they were just happy to get the brownie. And I was happy to make them happy.
At least I didn't send them on the hunt for the elusive LirpA Loof bird who only shows up on one special day in Spring. Maybe next year...

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