The final weeks of school are always difficult. The weather is nice, and most students have their minds on summer activities, not school work! Okay, let’s be honest, that applies to teachers and staff too!

So how do you keep your sense of humor and not turn into a grouchy teacher? The answer is to have a sense of humor! Having a sense of humor is defined as being able to say funny things and see the lighter side of life and situations. So how do we appropriately bring a sense of humor into our classroom?

1. Smile! Even when you don’t feel like it, look for something to smile about! My students always say something or do something hilarious that can put a smile on my face. That’s the good part about my job. There is always something to smile about if you truly look for it!
2. Laugh with your students and teacher friends, not at them. When students or friends are being not so nice, it’s very hard not to join in. Take the high road with the old adage of “If you can’t say something nice, don’t say anything at all”, or try to turn the situation around to add a bit of appropriate humor to it. Everyone has bad days and hard things going on in life.
3. Plan fun events for students the final weeks of school. In my music classroom we do a lot of folk dancing, singing favorite songs or songs from the past year. Another idea that I’ve tried before was making instruments from recycled items like water bottles with popcorn or beans, rubber band and shoe box guitars, etc. and having a recycled band. Another idea is to choose a favorite story and plan a puppet show. The children can make shadow puppets or sock puppets for the show, and it can be presented in class or for a more formal program.
4. Plan times to get together with other teachers and enjoy some social time. Since the music teachers from our school system rarely see each other during the year, we met for early dinner once a month at a local restaurant. It was fun and gave us all a chance to get better acquainted. Just be careful not to turn the time together into a gripe session!

The last super power word that we sing and discuss at the end of school is “Sense of Humor”. The tune is to the finale of “The William Tell Overture” by Gioachino Rossini. This classic tune was the opening of the TV show “The Lone Ranger” back in the late 1940’s  and has been used in countless other movies, TV shows, radio shows, and more.

While singing and discussing sense of humor, my students and I like to tell “knock knock” jokes. I ask my students to tell their favorite “knock knock” jokes.  I have a list of jokes for the students who don’t know any jokes and we all enjoyed laughing together! We discussed how you deliver a joke and get to the punch line.

It’s been scientifically proven that laughter is good for us! Spend those final days of school showing a great sense of humor. Smile, laugh, and be happy! You’ll be glad you did!

“Laughing with your friends is something that we all should learn to do.  Having a good sense of humor makes life fun for me and you”

-Becky Muncy