Have you ever fibbed to or tricked students in fun? I'm thinking mainly elementary here. This would be something that brings happiness and joy and doesn't pose a risk of upsetting students. (Think Elf on the Shelf). ETA: Maybe a better way to describe it would be "playing pretend" with the kids, but the kids not knowing it was pretend.
Definitely depends on what your doing. I remember being in kindergarten or 1st grade and our teacher did a scavenger hunt with a leprechaun for St. Patrick's Day. If its something like that, then go for it cause its sounds like fun.
Lots of times...the leprechaun has visited, the friendly ghost in the closet, a color fairy one year... My kids know my sense of humor...usually they aren't fooled...once in a while though, they are uncertain and they play along because something good always follows.
The only thing I can think of is telling them to wear their pj's inside out and do a snow dance the night before possible snow days.
I once told them, at the end of the day on an April Fools' Day, that their homework for that night was to read and memorize the entire dictionary. Then I QUICKLY let them know that was an April Fools' joke. I can think of no other tricks/fakery I've done -- no elves, no Santa, no nothing.
I have two "fake" students - Stinky Bumblson and Maximus Dinglehopper. They often appear on any semi-official list of students. For example, they are both on my Classdojo and earn and lose points with the rest of the class. The story behind each student is as follows. Stinky Bumbleson never comes to school. Every year, he is on my class list as a first grader because he's always in the first grade. I use Stinky Bumbleson whenever I need a negative example that uses a student's name. One year, I actually got him into the school yearbook. I used a portrait of Sir Arthur Guinness. Maximus Dinglehopper, on the other hand, is really smart. He only spent five minutes in first grade because he already knew everything. Same for second, third, fourth, and so on. By now, he's probably in high school. But only seven years old. These are not "imaginary students." They're more like the characters on TV shows that everyone talks about but who never actually appear, like Vera on Cheers or Maris Crane on Frasier.
Lucky the leprechaun paid us a visit on St. Patrick's day... He messed up our room, sprayed green silly string all over, and left a silly note for the kids. They loved it!
I have done this often-at all different grade levels! In K, I had reindeer leave reindeer dust on their tables; in 2nd & 3rd it was a leprechaun, and in 4th and 5th I have done April Fool's day jokes. My classes have always enjoyed them!
When I was student teaching, I handed out a "pop quiz" on April Fools Day. The first direction was to write your name at the top of the paper. Next direction was to read all of the other directions before starting the quiz. The final direction was to skip all directions other than 1 and 2. I handed out the quizzes with a stern face and told them to work silently and make direct eye contact with me when they were finished. Sure enough, some students were drawing circles and poking holes in the paper while others simply wrote their names and stared at me in utter confusion or amused conspiracy. Once everyone caught on, I was able to laugh and explain this was an assessment about their ability to follow directions, and also a grand April Fool's joke. How my earlier classes kept this secret until my last class was done was beyond me, but I will never forget it.
I've done the leprechaun from Preschool on up to 2nd grade. My students have always had fun with it. We also have a bus driver who plays Santa for our kids who are in the MD class.
My first grade teacher used to sprinkle "magic dust" on us so we would be quiet while walking down the hall. We all definitely believed it, and used to beg her to use it. That was 30 years ago and I remember it vividly!
One of my students suggest I spend the night at school to catch the leprechaun rather than depending on traps. I came to school in Pjs the next morning and laid my head down on a desk like I had fallen asleep and missed the leprechaun. The funny part is none of the students would come into the room while the teacher was sleeping. They milled around outside while other teachers were keeping a watch. Finally one teacher was able to convince them to go inside. They still wouldn't wake me up! (My eyes were slightly open). I had to eventually just pretend to wake up on my own.
I gave the kids a word search with no answers this year and the previous 3. We did Elf on a Shelf this past Christmas. My first year here at this school we had a clean desk fairy.
I like to be vague and keep them in suspense. A few weeks ago, I told them to line up. They were going crazy- it wasn't 'time' for anything. We walked a lap around the outside of the school, came back and I asked them what they heard. We were starting sound. After our discussion, we did ANOTHER lap around the school- this time trying to hear as many sounds as possible, and had another discussion. Way more fun that telling them the first time
