I love April Fools day. I worked at my after school art program, a group of mostly second grade students, and I couldn’t just ignore this special occasion. So, I pranked my students today!

First, I handed out a piece of paper to everyone and told them that I was talking to the school principal and people at the office, and that they had expressed concern over the quality of art, so they wanted me to give the students a test. I was pretty serious about this and made sure they all wrote their names down on the paper in the top left corner. I told them that they had to stay quiet and if they had any questions they had to raise their hand, but that I could not help them answer because it was against the law. The students were confused and didn’t really know what to do, but went along with it. Some of them answered by writing “yes” or “no“, others actually did drawings. There were five questions in all, they were as follows:

1: Can you draw a face?
2: Can you draw a cowboy face?
3: Can you draw a boy-cow face?
4: What month is it right now?
5: What is another word for “trick“?

The last question they found confusing, so I said “As in, I tricked you into writing this test. April Fools.“

A stunned silence filled the class room for a brief moment, until the students finally erupted. I laughed, it was great. Some complained but I know they thought it was fun.

I remember when I was in 6th grade and the teacher handed out a math test on April 1st at the very beginning of the day. It was packed with long, nearly impossible questions. At the very bottom of the page there was some small print that said the test was fake and that we didn’t have to finish it. I remember really liking that prank and today was the opportunity to share it with my students. I got ’em good too!

Sayonara.