BARTLETT, Tenn. (localmemphis.com) – Every Friday at Ellendale Elementary, students start their morning with a laugh.
During themorning announcements, one student is selected to share the joke of the week,over the intercom.
“We put asmany jokes as we want in the box,” said Mara Espey, who is in fifthgrade.
“The peopleupfront, close their eyes, and plucks out one joke,” said Ian Ashurst, athird-grade student at the school.
“The ideastemmed from wanting to build community and what better way to buildrelationships than to make them laugh, get them to tell a joke,” said EllendaleElementary Principal Michelle Bardos.
The joke boxfeatured some classics.
“Knock,knock. Who’s there. Interrupting cow. Interrupting cow who? Mooo,” saidAshurst.
They featuredjokes about food.
“What didthe banana say to the ice cream? Let’s split,” said Ashurst.
The goal here isno joke. It’s to get kids excited to see that school and learning can befun.
“Once wehave them excited about what they are doing, we can teach them and tell themwhere we need them to go,” said Bardos.