April Fool's Week: Rotten Tomato... Final Update

So here we see the fake tomato perched on the wall about an hour before it was discovered. Yes, it took exactly a week. Chantal, you were right.

So how did they figure it out? Well, I knew something was up when one of my students was obviously trying to distract me while his classmates attempted to move the tomato. They had decided to make the game more interesting by moving it somewhere different each day. I guess they were getting bored waiting.

Needless to say, they were a little surprised when the picked it up and figured it out. I got all sorts of reactions from "you got us good" to "I figured you knew". One student suspected I was switching it out with another real one on a daily basis. Another thought this one looked slightly shorter than the origional so the figured it must be rotting.

They all asked how long it took for me to discover it. They were disappointed that I had found it halfway through the first class and that I immediatly replaced it with a new one the next day.

So I discovered from them that I wasn't the only teacher hit. One teacher said nothing and another got a good laugh, but not I. I took it to the extreem and got them back and I have to admit, it was fun!

Rotten Tomato: Update #3

This is what a student drew on the back of his quiz yesterday. Seriously...with hints like this who wouldn't have known?

Rotten Tomato: Update #2

When life throws you a tomato, make salsa. Here is a before and after of the OT (Origional Tomato).

Rotten Tomato: Update #1

Today one of my students had a particularly strong smelling snack in class, I think he said it was jalapeño chips. Honestly it smelled like rotten green peppers. I hope none of you have had the unpleasant experience of smelling rotten peppers. Anyway, I thought it would be worth it to mention something smelled bad. At first they started to point their fingers to the boy with the strong smelling chips but one girl paused to ask if the "smell was there all day or since their class arrived." I know what she was getting at, but as of yet there has been no discovery on the case of the tomato.

Rotten Tomato

An April Fool's Story It isn't bad enough that I have these particular students that like to play tricks on me, but to have them in class on April Fool's Day was not something I was looking forward to.

It wasn't until the morning of of the blessed day that I even realized that I should try to do something to them before they could do something to me. I think it actually came to me as I was walking down the main hallway to check my mail. First I checked my mail then paid a visit to the ISS (in school suspension) teacher. I made a few arrangements and then went on my way.

I let the students come in and do a couple of things like put a post-it over the light on my mouse so it didn't work and put a picture of Antonio Bandera's face over my mural of a Quetzal bird (they do this from time to time so it is nothing new). But when the bell rang I told them I didn't want to put up with it and sent two of them, with passes that I had already made, to the ISS room. They thought I was joking and laughed, ripped up the passes, and threw them away. It took me some time to convince them I was serious and to take the passes out of the trash can and send them on their way. I had to assign a student to take them because they didn't even know where it was.

From various reports I have learned that the ISS teacher was sufficiently mean to them for over 10 minutes and then sent them back to class with a "happy April Fools Day" note from me.

So where does the tomato come in?

In the meantime, I have one brick wall in my room that has a window ledge about 10 feet from the ground and someone had perched a tomato on it. The student's kept making comments like how long does it take a tomato to rot or look above your head. I decided that I wasn't going to give them the satisfaction of looking up every time they pointed or seeing my reaction when I figured it out. I waited until they were all gone to lunch to look around to discover what they had done. Honestly is that even creative?

After school I removed the tomato from its perch, went to the craft store, bought a similar looking fake tomato, then the next day placed it in the spot where the real one had been.

During the next class I saw student's look up and realize it was "still" there. I could almost see them wondering if they should say anything or not. There were comments throughout the class about how unaware I was and that I might have an "unpleasant" surprise come Monday. I played along by saying that I knew what they were talking about and that "maybe I am smarter than they think" but I said it in a way that would lead them to believe that I was trying to get them to believe that I thought I knew something that I really knew nothing about. They were laughing at me because it was still there and I clearly had done nothing about it.

To be continued...

In Perspective

So I was stuck in traffic, thinking about how a 20 minute trip had become 60 and that I was glad I had decided not to stop at home first or I would have really been late to where I was going. I was complaining slightly, while talking to a friend on the phone, when I remembered this youtube clip my brother had sent me. I told my friend all about it and smiled and even laughed at myself driving on the highway at 15 miles per hour. Afterall, I sure couldn't have run that fast.

And the Winners Are...

In a follow up ot my "homemade giveaway" contest I wanted to announce the winners.

Bethany ...you're a winner!

Miss L ...you're a winner!

Goat ...you're a winner!

So, for my winners, I will have to get some addresses, you can e-mail them to me sometime, but don't forget I just have to follow through within the year, so don't expect anything too soon.

As for the other two winners ...the academy has decided rather than the first five they are only selecting three. Ok, so only three responded and followed up.

I guess that is what I get for giving people cookies for nothing. Friends who think they never have to work for it.