Tom-A-to, Tom-ah-to; leprechaun, apricot.

So a few weeks ago, the school had a St. Patrick's Day celebration. They have no idea what it means, they just know they have to wear green and they get rainbows painted on their faces, pieces of chocolate, and large, green, construction paper hats. I tried my best to explain to them what St. Patrick's Day was, and described how the leprechauns are the little men that guard the pot of gold and leave treats for good little kids. Apparently I didn't speak clearly enough in my descriptions....

 

I gave all the kids coloring pages on St. Patrick's Day and had them write "Happy St. Patrick's Day" on the front. One girl, Ashley, raised her hand and asked how to spell "Apricot". I saw on her paper that she had written "A-P-R" and I thought, that's cute- she want's to name the little red-headed fellow Apricot. So I wrote the word "apricot" on the board. At the end of the day, I started checking the papers to see which one I should display in the hallway, and saw that more than one kid had written "Apricot" on their paper. I thought it was a very cute coincidence. A few days later, one of my students saw some glitter on the floor (left over from the Leprechaun's shiny footprints that I placed all over the classroom) and said "Allie Teacher! Glitter from the apricot!" I said, "You mean the leprechaun?" and the young, innocent child replied, "Yes, the apricot". Apparently, when I say "leprachaun", the kids hear "apricot". I started laughing hysterically. All of the kids were writing the word "Apricot" thinking that it was the name of the jolly little person that guards the pot of gold at the end of the rainbow. 

Classic.