jumping elephants.

during guided reading yesterday, we had just finished a book called "I Like to Jump!".  this book talked about different animals that enjoyed jumping.  at the end of the book, i asked the 4 cute boys in front of me, "so tell me, what are some animals that jump?"  it started out right - "kangaroos!" "frogs!"  "jumping spiders!" "flying squirrels!" "elephants!"

wait, what?  elephants?

i started laughing, thinking it was a joke... then he said it again, "elephants!  really!  they jump!"  we all burst into laughter, then i told him the interesting animal fact that actually elephants are one of the few animals that cannot jump, even if they try.

to which another boy replied, "yeah, think about if they jumped.  we would have a earthquake like.... like.... i don't know, like every month."  we all laughed some more thinking about elephant earthquakes, when another boy chimed in, "my babysitter's dad went to africa and saw a elephant jump into water and it caused a su-nay-me"  "you mean tsunami?" i asked.  "no, a su-nay-me," he was certain.  "the video is on youtube, if you want to check it out for yourself."  so we did.  turns out it wasn't on youtube, go figure.  BUT we did find this gem of an elephant jumping on a trampoline.  (ok ok it's a fake elephant... but entertaining nonetheless).

the best part of this story was today when the same small child who was convinced that elephants did indeed jump came up to me and said, in a very serious and down-to-business tone, "miss ence.  do you know what the funniest thing in the entire universe is??"  "uh... tell me, what?"  "an elephant jumping so high on a trampoline he jumped all the way to outer space and got stuck there because he couldn't come back down, then at night we would see the moon and the elephant in the sky."

now picture that. 

could you die??!!  i love my job.