April Fool’s Day Prank Freebie

Combine April Fool’s Day shenanigans with something a little educational. This is a fun activity for combining procedural writing with pranks. Read on to see what’s included and download this freebie for yourself!

Do your students love April Fool’s Day pranks?

This activity covers a variety of concepts. Students will walk through the steps of procedural writing as they plan out a piece describing how to pull off the best April Fool’s Day prank.

Students will

• write explanatory texts to convey ideas and information
• develop a topic with details and examples
• link ideas using sequencing words and phrases
• use precise language and specific vocabulary to explain a topic
• provide a concluding statement or section related to the explanation presented 

How to Use This Resource

To begin with teach your students what Procedural or “How-to” Writing is. You can either hand out the printable anchor chart that is included or create an anchor chart with your students to display in the class. This anchor chart truly helps to break down everything that goes into a Procedural Writing piece. It helps make a tough topic easy-to-understand for students.

You can see the printable anchor chart below. This is a great reference for students while you teach procedural writing.

Next, introduce the “How-To” printable to students. This will help students clearly see each step of a Procedural Writing piece.

After introducing and explaining each step to your students, they can work independently on their writing. Make sure they work through the planning steps before writing!

What’s Included

Students will start with a pre-writing activity helping them choose their topic. The printout will help students brainstorm ideas for pranks they could play on their friends or family. Students will then list the material needed to pull it off. 

Next, they will plan their steps and put the steps in order. Each step will be written on a sticky note so students can easily organize their thoughts and move them around as needed. 

Students will then begin some pre-writing writing. They will plan a good hook to catch the reader’s attention, and think about how they will restate their thoughts in a conclusion. There are also reminders to use transition words and descriptive details before they begin writing. 

I’ve also included several types of printable pages for students to do their final writing on. There are two types of line spacing available, and a couple options for organizing their steps within their writing. Students can “publish” their writing as is, include more illustrations, or attach to fancy paper to make a unique display. A rubric is also included. 

You can also set aside time for students to share their writing with a partner, group, or whole class. 

You might consider having a list of “family friendly” pranks that students can use as inspiration. I used “Brown-Es” as my example, which is also included in the resource!

This freebie is a fun way to get students writing and celebrate April Fool’s Day at the same time. Grab your copy by clicking here or opting in below and let me know what your favorite kid pranks are in the comments below!