Time to Fool Some Little Peeps!

April Fools Day in second grade is kind of awful, right?   Second graders get that it is April Fools day,  but they don't get how to really be funny yet.   They try to pull off  HORRIBLE "pranks"  like, pretending to cry and saying,   "My dad got bit by a pit bull and died last night" (not kidding I really had a child use this one last year), screaming, "my hand fell off" (whilst holding their hand inside their sleeve) and last year one of my partner teachers even had a kid slap her in the face and yell, "April Fools"!   I used to dread this day until I read about the Loof Lipra - and learned how to turn the day around on them!

Some seriously genius person made this up and last year I ran with it.   I laughed so hard I almost peed.   So,  I have every intention of repeating it this year.   

The Loof Lirpa (read it backwards)  is an amazingly rare bird that has been sighted in the area.   He or she loves carrots and has a very distinct call.   I wrote this little "newspaper article" about him last year and passed it out to all my kids.   

http://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Loof-Lirpa-April-Fools-Prank-642344

I let them talk about it for a while and then I sent them out into the yard with carrots. They were calling,  "loof, loof, wheeee, loof, loof, ahhhhh" and tiptoeing around for a long while.    Of course,  a few kids saw him.   They had so much to say about him.   I was cracking up.   The kids who didn't see him were pretty sure they might have seen him flying away... it was great.

Once we were back inside the kids wrote about him,  drew him and wrote cinquain poems about him.

Once they were finished,  I shared MY poem.   

Loof Lirpa

Imaginary, Make-believe

Pranking, Joking, Fooling

I GOT YOU!

April Fools

My kids were MAD at me for a few minutes,  and then we laughed about it for the rest of the day.   Some of my kids even told me it was their favorite activity of the year at the end of the year.

I have shared my "article" on TPT.   It is in PowerPoint so you can edit it as you wish.   I changed the date to this year but I like to make it more specific by putting in our school name and naming the paper after our town. http://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Loof-Lirpa-April-Fools-Prank-642344