My Excuse? I was helping Santa!

Firstly, MERRY CHRISTMAS EVERYONE!

I hope you are enjoying your day with your families and having a wonderful time. Personally, I’m writing this two weeks in advance because I know I’ll be busy all day long with my family. I’ll be up to open presents with my parents, my sister, and her puppy (it’s the dog’s first Christmas!!!) and then it is prep time for the family Christmas Brunch.

Here is one of my greater excuses that occurred last year around the Christmas season. I was a minute late to class and my fifth graders got on my case, yet again. When asked where I was and what my excuse was, the answer? Santa needed me.

I had to spend the morning traveling back from an emergency trip to the North Pole. See, Santa had a mix up. I had told him that my students had all been good that week, BUT HE PUT THEM ON THE NAUGHTY LIST. I got a letter from Santa saying he was shocked that my students would all make it on the list. He was getting ready to check the list twice, and we all know it is finalized after that. Since that was the case, I was worried that none of my kids would get presents because he messed up! So I few up to the Pole, made the correction, and i was one minute late coming into class that day.

Obviously they didn’t buy it, but it made a fun story.

Enjoy your Christmas! I hope you made the Nice List!

Alien Abduction!!!

Just in time for Halloween!

This was one of my favorite excuses for why I was late to class. This one stemmed from a student’s recommendation.

Here is my amazing excuse with help from a former fifth grader.

I was late today because I was abducted by aliens. It was the worst! I was on my way to work today when all of a sudden I was hit with a huge white light! I was shocked! Then I felt like my car was lifted off of the ground. I went so high up. IT TOOK FOREVER! When I finally got to the top my car was set down and I was yelled at in a weird language. I yelled back that I didn’t understand and then this computer voice yelled back at me “GET OUT OF YOUR SHIP!” I got out of the car to see a room full of aliens. Well I didn’t know what to do! So I told them that I was a teacher and I needed to get back to my students. Well the aliens didn’t like this because they wanted me to stay with them. So I did what I always do in the classroom when students aren’t doing what they were supposed to do. I threatened to take away their free time. The aliens actually thought I was serious! I gave them the teacher look and told them that if they did not take me back to my school right then I would take away free time for a week! Well it worked and here I am.

Most of this was from the student. He thought my teacher look was so scary sometimes that it would have to work on aliens. Guess that is something I don’t need to work on.

The Zoo Keeper

This was one of the first of my excuses for being “late”. I’d just come from setting up my students in the class before for lunch. One of my kids had animal crackers and was the inspiration for this excuse.

I was late today because I had to help the zoo out. There was a lion that had gotten loose and found its way into our classroom. I had to lead the lion outside with a chair and wait with it until the zoo keeper got here to take him away. Thankfully he was a nice lion so I didn’t get clawed at.

And that’s it! The stories you give have to be funny but short. It needs to be clearly made up but something that will get them to not ask later on why you were late.

Hope the lions stay out of your classrooms!

About This Section

This might be my favorite section of the blog! This is where my thinking on the fly really comes in.

In the mornings I spend my day in a elementary level classroom doing language arts. After that I move to elementary math. But my transitions for myself are not always the smoothest. Some days I arrive a few minutes late to class (it is also because their homeroom teachers dismiss them early). So my students started asking where I was. I was tired of giving the fifth graders the same answer all the time of “I was working with my second and third graders. I left the room a little late.” I started to come up with different stories of my crazy adventures moving between classrooms.

So here I’ll share my silly excuses. I love these since they are a fun way to stretch my creativity while making my students laugh.