Telling the World

Okay, so it wasn't the whole world, but I did tell my 80 fifth graders today that I am expecting.  It's kind of the same thing.  It went just like I had planned.  Well, almost.

I made my kids a Valentine's Day word search.  A word search with a special hidden message.  The leftover letters spelled out "Mrs. Angie is going to be a mom!"  I gave them blanks at the bottom to spell it all out. 

My first class of the day gave the best reaction.  They actually let each other discover the message on their own.  They were very excited.  However, I did have  to send one kid on a wild goose chase while the rest of the class worked the puzzle.  He is the nosiest child I have ever met and he was eavesdropping outside my door yesterday and "overheard" me talking to the janitor during my planning time.  He then went straight to the teacher next door's room and asked her about it.  She denied it (lied to him, really), and I decided he could be excluded from the activity.  So, I wrote a note asking my teacher friends to occupy him for just a minute and wrote several names on the bottom.  I asked him to take it to Mrs. so-and-so and they passed it along...courtesy of my little messenger.  He may not have learned anything from it, but at least he didn't get to ruin my surprise.

One kid from the first group leaked it to the second group, so their reaction wasn't quite as genuine as the first one.  Then, the last group was doing just fine until about the third kid got finished with the puzzle.  He blurtedthe out, "You're going to be a mom?"  Then, it was pointless for anyone else to finish the puzzle, but most still did.  Sweet.  They were excited, though. 

A couple of the most memorable reactions were from my first group--my own homeroom.  One student, the second one finished, stared at his paper wide-eyed and nearly shouted, "Oh my gosh!"  I shushed him, hoping he wouldn't spill it before the others discovered it for themselves.  Another little boy read the message and said, "I'm gonna be a papaw!"  I assured him that he was not.  A little girl just looked at me and said, "And I thought you were losing weight!"  (I thanked her and told her I hadn't actually gained any yet.)

All in all, I suppose it was a success.  I should have expected some leaks and imperfections.  But at least it was a unique way to share my news with my li'l darlings.  That's what I was going for, anyway.

Happy hearts day!

Hugs and love,