How To Tell Elementary Students You’re Pregnant

As an elementary school teacher, you’re the first to understand that young minds are quite delicate. Therefore, breaking the news that a person they adore and look up to is going to have a baby isn’t something to be done lightly. So, how do you tell elementary students that you’re pregnant?

Here are 5 tips on how to tell elementary students you’re pregnant:

Have a baby-themed lesson.

Have an activity using treats with baby-related names.
Let them figure it out with puzzles or riddles.
Involve them in name suggestions and gender reveal vote.

Be prepared for their questions.

In this article, I’ll dive deeper into the helpful ways you can inform your elementary students of the new life growing inside of you. If shared the right way, your tiny tots will be delighted with this news.

Table of Contents

1. Have a Baby-Themed Lesson

The upside for pregnant elementary teachers looking to break the news to their students is that most grade school lessons can be tweaked to accommodate such an exciting announcement.

A series of math problems involving the addition of persons can be the tip of the iceberg while your students can wrack their brains for synonyms of the word “baby” for English class.

Another excellent clue is having a lesson on the terms for the offspring of various animals. You can go from the common puppy and kitten to exploring the young ones in the animal kingdom.

After learning the names of the progeny of creatures on land, air, and sea, you can arrive at the name of Ms. Teacher’s very own offspring. Wouldn’t that be a delightful surprise for the kids?

2. Have an Activity Using Treats With Baby-Related Names

One of the great things about teaching in an elementary school is the freedom to have activities tailored to specific occasions. This also means being able to squeeze in some snack time.

When Shakespeare penned the eternal “What’s in a name?” line, he probably wasn’t thinking of pregnancy announcements and grade school kids.

But citing such a scenario would be an excellent way to point out to Juliet that names carry important meanings.

In this case, sweets with the word “baby” in the name are your friends and will help you get your announcement done in a fun and tasty way.

You’ll first have to figure out an appropriate activity that can perfectly justify chowing down on sweets that come in wrappers with “baby” emblazoned on them.

Then you’ll have the simpler task of picking out the treats to convey your message to the kids. Here are some ideas:

Baby Ruth: The Baby Ruth chocolate bar is a popular tool in pregnancy announcements, even for adult audiences. But it’s also simple enough for grade-schoolers to figure out. You can also use these Baby Ruth Fun-Size Bars from Amazon to hint at how things (and people) can come in smaller versions.
Cry Baby: An alternative you can go with is the Cry Baby sour candies by Tootsie Roll Industries. Their colorful Cry Baby Extra Sour Tears and Cry Baby Extra Sour Gum (both from Amazon) would also be more visually attractive to kids. And if you prefer not to employ teeth in this activity, you can opt for the Cry Baby Extra Sour Drinks (also from Amazon). Just like their candy and gum counterparts, they come in a variety of flavors.
Novelty Sweets: You could also kick it up a notch and go for novelty sweets like the Baby Bottle Pop and Sour Pacifier Pops (both from Amazon) for an even bigger hint.

Whichever of these you eventually pick, your students will enjoy the activity and sweets. And sugar high aside, they’ll also be genuinely excited for you.

3. Let Them Figure It Out With Puzzles or Riddles

Humans have an inherent desire to solve mysteries. Everyone just loves the satisfaction of putting two and two together, and kids are no different.

Figuring out your pregnancy through puzzles and riddles will be most rewarding for your elementary school students.

That eureka moment about a bun in your oven will have them brimming over with excitement and even leave them feeling that they had an important role to play in these events of your life.

This sense of accomplishment will further amplify their happiness for you and fuel their anticipation for your baby.

4. Involve Them in Name Suggestions and a Gender Reveal Vote

Kids love feeling like they’re an important part of something. So another great tip when breaking the news of your pregnancy to your elementary students is to involve them.

Gender Reveal Activity

One way you can do this is by setting up a gender reveal vote for your class if you already know the gender of your baby.

The class can cast their vote on whether they think your baby will be a boy or girl, or what they prefer your baby’s gender to be.

You can go all out on “It’s a Boy!” and “It’s a Girl!” decorations to make it even more exciting for the kids as they eagerly wait to find out whether they guessed right.

This activity can also be an opportunity for you to enlighten kids on gender and help lay a solid foundation for an inclusive generation.

Baby Name Suggestion Box

Another fun activity that can get your elementary students involved in your pregnancy announcement is having them suggest baby names they like.

But first, you’ll have to make them understand that suggesting names for their teacher’s baby is nothing at all like a name for a class pet that is decided by the most show of hands.

Their suggestions are more than welcome — and they may even give you some great ideas — but you will ultimately decide what goes on the birth certificate.

Once you’ve made that clear, you can bring out a Baby Name Suggestion Box, and your students can write out the names they’d like mini Ms. Teacher to have and drop them into the box.

It will be a win for both parties. The kids will feel involved and fulfilled, while you will be sure to break out into a smile a couple of times when going through the slips of paper in the suggestion box.

5. Be Prepared for Their Questions

If one could rank adjectives for describing kids, “curious” would certainly take the top spot, and for good reason.

Those early grade school years are filled with wonder at anything and everything. Each moment is an opportunity to ask questions and learn something new — moments like your pregnancy announcement.

Make no mistake, no amount of fun activities or tasty sweets will diminish their curiosity, and a pregnancy announcement will set you up for a barrage of questions.

Some of these innocent queries may be a bit sensitive, such as the all too familiar “Where do babies come from?”

So, as you’re planning out those pregnancy reveal activities and ordering those sweets from Amazon, don’t forget to prepare yourself for questions your students may raise after learning a baby is growing inside of their teacher.

Be sure to keep your answers concise, factual, and age-appropriate. A pregnant teacher is still a teacher, after all.

When To Announce Your Pregnancy

The positive indicator on your pregnancy test is a pretty big deal, especially if you’ve been trying for some time.

In your exhilaration, a part of you may want to shout out to the world that you’re with child.

But before you post a series of Instagram stories or waltz into your classroom poised to break the news to your students, consider the gold standard for the best time to announce a pregnancy: after the first trimester.

Wait Until After the First Trimester

The first 12 weeks of your pregnancy make up the first trimester. It’s typically after this period that expectant mothers begin sharing the news of their pregnancy with family and friends.

Most people choose to wait for the first trimester to end because the risk of miscarriage is significantly less at this point in the pregnancy.

Moreover, the first prenatal checkups are scheduled no earlier than the 8th week. And it’s during successive checkups that doctors can determine the state of health of both mother and child. Hearing the fetal heartbeat and seeing the ultrasound images also make the pregnancy more concrete, if you will, and an announcement should be in order shortly after.

But at the end of the day, you’re the one who decides the exact moment when you’ll announce your pregnancy. It may be after the pregnancy test reads positive or in the third trimester. Whatever factors are in play, your decision should be made based on what’s best for you and what makes you most comfortable.

However, when it comes to sharing the news with your elementary students, it would be prudent to wait until after the first trimester. The kids will most likely share in your joy and anticipation. And should you suffer a miscarriage in the high-risk early weeks of pregnancy, they will also share in your sorrow.

In this case, waiting 12 weeks before revealing your pregnancy to your class would be the best course of action. This adorable YouTube video by elementary school teacher Trophie Douglas should give you an idea of what to expect when the time finally comes:

Final Thoughts

Students make up a big part of any teacher’s life. Sharing the news of your pregnancy with them, especially with the younger ones, is certainly a big deal and should be given careful thought and planning.

Elementary students’ minds run on a different frequency, but with the proper preparation and execution, they’ll all be thrilled at your announcement, even if it means knowing that their teacher will inevitably leave school.

Sources

Healthline: When Is the Best Time to Announce Your Pregnancy?