March 32nd, aka Lunar Leap Year

So I was in a 3rd grade classroom today, the students entered all wild up and ready for the hijinx that is associated with the traditions of April Fools' day.

But I had beaten them to the punch and had posted..

March 32nd, 2015

Lunar Leap Year

...on the board. They immediately tried to tell me it was wrong and they were onto my rouse of an April Fools' prank.

I quickly explained to the whole class That it was not and everyone had forgotten the Lunar Leap Year. I went on to tell them that it occurred every 40 years to balance out the lunar calendar similarly to the the other leap year that happens every 4 years.

They were slightly hooked, and you could see some believe starting to set in. So I explained some more about planet rotation and axial tilt, and orbital length. Explained some abstract concept about waxing and waning gibbous moons and their effects and how adding a day every forty years made up for the shift in tides and currents on earth. 

SOLD, they were now fully hooked....for about 5 minutes.

One astute individual looked on the computer and saw the date and the con was starting to unravel...until I explained that since personal computers have only been around and commonly used for about 20 years, the technology has not caught up to adjusting for Lunar Leap Year, but people were working on an app to correct it...game back on.

Even a few other teachers that stopped by the room confirmed the Lunar Leap Year and the students spent the date dating their papers...3/32/15. 

This lasted most of the day, until they needed to take out their planners and record their homework for the day...pat myself on the back for a well played swindle.