0 April Fool's: Fun in the Classroom

Sometimes you just need to be a little silly in the classroom. Having fun helps to build relationships with the students. April Fools Day is a favorite in middle school. Students are just at the right age that they like little pranks and silliness.

This year, I did two jokes that went over pretty well. The students had fun with it and so did I. Before you do any jokes with students, it is important to make sure that your jokes are appropriate and kind (not sarcastic, mean, or inappropriate). I came across this article that offered this advice:

Do

• Use humor to enhance classroom joy
• Use humor to develop a sense of community
• Use content-related humor
• Use age-appropriate humor
• "Sandwich" humor between instruction and repetition.

Avoid

• Sarcasm
• Cruel or inappropriate humor
• Forced humor
• Off-topic humor
• Too much humor.

With that being said, here are my April Fools pranks today...

In Excel (homeroom), I wrote my students "detentions" that were actually positive notes home. Students were excited to take the note home and trick their families into thinking it was a detention before they realized that it really was for "being awesome" or for "being respectful and kind."

For my math classes, I assigned this on my blog. Students freaked out before they realized that it was a joke... Calculus for 7th graders?! :)

Happy April Fool's Day!