Reveal

I had been trying to figure out a way to reveal my pregnancy to the staff and my students.  We didn't have a staff meeting last week so telling the staff at a meeting wasn't really going to work.  I didn't really feel the need to tell this week, I was hoping to wait until next week, but the people at work that knew about the baby were telling me that I was starting to show.  My instructional coach and I have been brainstorming for a while of fun ways to let the staff know.  She came up with the idea to post an ultra sound picture on the board in the staff lounge and have people guess "who's the mama?"  We decided to do it Wednesday because I was going to be out of the building for most of the day at Shadow Day at the middle school for 6th graders.  It was too perfect that I was gone.  The staff turned into super sleuths for the day.  They were hounding all of the possibilities all day.  I wasn't there so I didn't get asked any questions!  Here is what the board looked like when I returned from the middle school....

You can tell they pretty much figured it out.

Here is what I wrote for the reveal.  It was also announced over the intercom at the end of the day.  It was so much fun to announce it to the staff this way!

I had decided that the day I told the staff would be the day I needed to tell my students because I knew that the word would get around to the community in a matter of hours!  I thought of a fun and creative way to tell my students.  I typed the sentence "Mrs. Henderson is going to have a baby in November."  Then I cut up the words and gave each table a word or two to unscramble.  They were able to figure out the words pretty quickly.  Then I told them that the words made a sentence and they needed to figure out the sentence.  As they were going around the room sharing their word/s, we got to the table that said 'baby' and one of the girls screamed and said "oh my gosh I know!"  I should have video taped their excitement when one student told the sentence to the class.  They were ecstatic and clapping and screaming!  Their excitement brought tears to my eyes.

 Those 6th graders sure know how to spread gossip (which I've known all year).  The entire student body now knows.  It's funny when a 3rd grader I don't even know sees me in the hall and says "You're pregnant!"  I love being able to share this news with the world and having the world be just as excited as we are!