Happy April Fools!

I have never been a huge fan of April Fools' Day. For one thing, I don't want to be exposed as gullible. (I have snopes.com bookmarked on every device I own.) For another thing, I'm not a creative prankster.

On the morning of April Fools' Day this year, I was driving to work, and I happened to glance in my rear view mirror. I was being followed by a woman driving a hearse. A casket was in the back, and a skeleton sat on the passenger side. I'm not kidding. A smiling skeleton with one hand suspended in the air sat on the passenger side. It was the strangest sight. April Fools' Day joke or daily routine? I have no idea. Keep Boise weird, folks.

During my first year of teaching on April 1st, the principal announced over the intercom that we were going to have a "flood drill."

"Everybody grab a chair and stand on it until I give the signal!"

Then she walked around the building to see which classrooms were following her instructions. No comment on whether or not I participated. (Keep in mind, I was a first year teacher. I had no idea what kind of crazy emergency procedures the District had established, and I didn't want to get fired.)

I am not a prankster. Even after a dirty trick like that, I couldn't come up with a decent revenge plot.

I get a lot of advice from my students though.

"You should put a rubber band around the spray nozzle on your sink," a fourth grader suggested one year. "Then when Mr. Duggan washes the dishes, he will get water everywhere!"

This year, my second graders were the merry pranksters. The classes earn points in music based on their behavior. This particular class earned five points on April Fools' Day, the highest score possible.

"Let's April Fools' our teacher!" one of the students called out.

They all put a single finger in the air, indicating that they had only earned one point.

"You have to look sadder than that if she's going to believe you!" I told them. "Stop grinning . . ."

They tried with all their might not to bust out laughing, and when the teacher appeared in the doorway, the line leader immediately gave her a huge smile and shouted, "Just kidding! We got a five!"

"Wait don't tell her yet! You've got to milk it a little longer!" I said.

In other words, their delivery needed some work.

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