Fools and Fun on April One

Practical jokes, good-humored hoaxes, harmless tricks, general silliness, and... perhaps some springtime snowflakes?  Today, the joke is on all of us!  April Fools' Day, sometimes called All Fools' Day,  is celebrated around the world every year on April One.  It's a day for Fools and Fun!

In some countries-- the United Kingdom, Australia, Ireland, New Zealand,  and South Africa- April Foolery traditionally ends at noon.  Newspapers in the United Kingdom, for example, print April Fools stories only in their morning editions. In other countries-- Brazil, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, The Netherlands, Russia, South Korea, and the United States--  the celebration lasts all day.  Today, Poetry on Parade joins in the fun:

April Fool

The maple syrup's full of ants.

          A mouse is creeping on the shelf.

          Is that a spider on your back?

     I ate the whole pie by myself.

The kitchen sink just overflowed.

          A flash flood washed away the school.

     I threw your blanket in the trash.

          I never lie ----- I -----

                                             APRIL FOOL!

-- from Celebrations by Myra Cohn Livingston

 April Fools Day has been celebrated around the world and for many years.  Some historians trace the origin of the holiday to sixteenth-century European calendar changes that caused widespread confusion... but there is evidence that the foolishness has been going on for longer than that: Geoffrey Chaucer's fourteenth-century Canterbury Tales mentions April Fools Day!  Today, Lafayette School celebrates April Fools Day with an original poem by two talented fifth grade Poetry Paraders:

My Pranks

When I put bugs in the cereal,

     My sister started to scream.

And on my way to class today,

     I shot a laser beam!

I put a tack on my teacher's chair;

     Now we won't see her soon.

And on the bus on the way home

     I set off a rapid balloon!

When I got home I ran upstairs

     And let out my pet snake.

My mom found out and it was not fun...

     And now I swear I shall not prank.

-- Sophia S. and Jenny B.

Finally, as Poetry on Parade marches into Spring Break Week, let's share some rhyming riddles from Riddle-iculous Math by Joan Holub... tricky mathematical poems designed for Fools and Fun on April One! Don't peek... the answers to our rhyming riddles are at the end of this blog post:

Spider?  What Spider?

What's the number of states

in the U.S.A.

minus the number of days

in the month of May

minus the number of paws

on a grizzly bear

minus the number of legs

on the spider in your hair?

Spider!?! Eeeek! 

Snack in a Sack

Selfish Irene had a sack

of 20 jellybeans (her snack).

Juan wanted 1.

Drew begged for 2.

Dee asked for 3.

Thor pled for 4.

Clive picked out 5.

That left how many jellybeans

in that snack sack of Irene's?

Bon Voyage!

As I was going to Paris, France,

I met 11 elephants.

Each elephant had 7 plants.

Upon each plant were 7 ants.

Can you guess by any chance,

how many ants wound up in France? 

Answers:

Spider?  What Spider?

50-31= 19

19-4= 15

15-8=7

Snack in a Sack

5?

No. 20. Irene was selfish, remember?

Bon Voyage

11 x 7 x 7 = 539?

Nope. None.

I'm the only one who went to France.

The elephants, plants, and ants

were all going the other way.

It's all in good fun!  Happy April Fools Day!