I teach a class of high school freshmen and I’m looking for some harmless, yet funny pranks to pull on them tomorrow (April Fool’s!). I’m sure they are going to try it on me, so fair is fair, right? 
Tell them they have a pop quiz.
Then tell them, “April Fools!”
Then go, “Seriously, take out a pen and paper, you have one.”
And then give them a quiz.
List all the students names on the board, and put random information next to each name - dates of no signfiicance, random letters of the alphabet (excluding A-F), compass directions etc.
Do not explain the list. If they ask you what it is, say, “I’ll explain after lunch.” Watch them sweat.
HA!
Love it!
Obviously, you have to chose your targets with these. Pick people that will be amused, not humiliated.
Zip tie the backpack shut of any student who goes to the bathroom.
Or, when someone goes to the bathroom conspire with the rest of the class to laugh when he sits down, so that he thinks he sat in something.
Start class with “I was so disappointed with how few of you turned in your essay last week. . .”
Prep a referral sheet with “April Fools”. Chew out a good-natured well behaved kid over something slight. Send them from the room, handing them the referral as he goes.
“Prom was canceled” is good with older kids, but Freshmen don’t care.
Start asking really stupid questions about football, and explain you just found out you’re coaching next year.
I think the kids will be expecting an April Fool’s Joke, so I nominate this one.
I once gave an April Fools day quiz with the typical admonishment to read all the questions first before starting (you may see where this is going). I pointed out that that as it was April fools day the questions would be silly. I then added that that the first one to finish with all questions right got a candy bar (this encourages extra speed and, thus, carelessness). In fact many of the questions were impossible (name the 46th president of the US, who is the king of England, etc) and the rest were ridiculously time consuming. The last question was the old “Do not answer any questions. Just put your name on this and turn it in.” My students seemed to get a kick out of it. However success depends on how well your students follow directions. Mine weren’t so good at it and so I was greatly amused.
I did some other stuff as well but they wouldn’t work on High School students.
I used to mess with them pretty regularly anyway though in order to make them actually use their brains so April 1st wasn’t too special.
If anyone has ideas for second graders (besides “Easter’s canceled, the Easter Bunny was found dead of a parasitic infestation in his burrow last night”), please lemme know!
You could switch some of the desks at random. Taking the cover off the pencil sharpener, putting tape over the hole, and replacing the cover might work too. I also arranged that the office make a fake school wide announcement to my room only canceling recess due to a stray dog on the playground. That depends on having whoever makes the announcements like you though. I also once gave out a calculus quiz in place of a real math quiz were were having. Though if your kids are still a bit worried about tests and such (I know the lil ones can be at times) something like that might turn out poorly.
This is what a teacher of mine did to me. Like a dumbass, I did not read the directions and spent my whole class time answering the damned questions. I was not amused.
However if I were on the other end of that stick…
If a teacher told me to read all the questions and directions carefully, I’d just go to the last one to see if it was a trick. It’s always the last one. I always hated this trick because I consider it a case of the 5th panelseen here.
I’ve returned phony/non-existent rough drafts back to a third of the class (the bright, good-humored, non-gullible ones). The paper just says “it’s April Fools - play along”. Then I berate the rest of the class in general for failing to bother with an assignment that’s worth so many points. If I can stretch it further, I start a discussion with the third that’s in on it about their paper and the quality of their writing. “You really impressed me with the topic you chose. Did you guys have a hard time with this draft?” It’s fun to watch the ones being fooled sweat and squirm.
Leave the room ‘for a moment’. Once you’re out, let a hungry tiger into the room. Lock the door. Hilarity ensues.
I’m not seeing how that trick could be seen as being smug over being misunderstood. It says clearly, “Read all the questions before answering.”
They really should have read the directions.
If you can pull a student you’re “friendly” with aside before class (meaning a generally good student, one that’s a good sport, probably needs to be a good actor) see if you can arrange an “argument.”
It’s by far the most effective school April Fools joke if the teacher and the student usually get along.
Possible starters:
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Have the student come up a little later in the lecture and “whisper to you.” Say in an inside voice (but loud enough so everyone can hear) “No! I already told you that you can’t leave early today!”
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Have a student “correct you” on something that’s you got “wrong.”
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Have a student, out of the blue, just say “I’m tired of this <expletive> class, <whatever insult could be applied to your class if one was sufficiently angry.”
Improv from any of those, much yelling and frothing is needed (but not immediately, work your way up). Have the student end with “<School Appropriate Expletive Here> it, I’m leaving, I’m going to complain to the administration too and hope you get fired” (or something similar, maybe without the last part) and have them storm out of the room, count to, oh, about 6 - just long enough for everyone to be bewildered and have that “did daddy just hit mommy at the dinner table?” face on them, but just before anyone will have a chance to actually figure out what just happened - and walk back in, timing an “April Fools!” together as soon as you see them enter the room.
Well they seemed to find it funny enough even though most (all-1) fell for it.
The real trick is to hand out a 50 question test and make it number 39 or something. Of course, this requires planning ahead (like putting a test on that day on the syllabus or announcing it a couple weeks a ahead) so that a big test doesn’t ping their alarm bells.
Should you have time and money to set it up…
What? A quiz. But not an ordinary quiz. Each question correct will earn a raffle ticket. 1 winner would be picked at the end of class for a nice prize… the more expensive the better. I’d say about $100 would be good. You’re students will love you after finding out it was real. It’ll be worth it.
How you pull it off…
Get some raffle tickets at Office Depot or something tonight and a jar or some sort to place them in. Create a quiz of about 20 questions. Each question must have a defined answer. Maybe do something fun like a “How much do you pay attention to your surroundings” quiz. E.g. questions: On a stop light, is red or green on top? etc…
The quiz itself must be optional and won’t affect their overall grade in the class. It’d only be for April Fool’s…
The more questions the better. You’ll also need to hit up Kinko’s or something also to print out the quizzes, unless of course you have your own printer…
Why would it be interesting? The kids who don’t take the quiz, or think you were pulling their leg and only answer a couple of questions, will in turn be kicking their selves in the ass for not taking the quiz. That is the joke they don’t see…
Should you do this just keep in mind you’d have to grade papers so there’d need to be a set time limit for the quiz. Then just give them a regular assignment while you grade. I’d say about 20 questions and 20 minutes for the quiz would be fun…
I think you get the general idea… Can’t think of anything else at the moment.
Act like there’s a joke coming (mention the date; look at the clock a lot; suddenly stare at the door).
Then don’t play one. :eek:
:smack: