Do elephants swim???

That was the question one of my 5 year old student asked me last week. I was sitting in the front playground watching them have a discussion next to the see-saws. I decided to approach them after a while and investigate what was happening. As I got closer, one of them told the rest of the children that he would ask me and I was going to solve their problem. I was very sure I could help them, I mean, they are 5 year olds after all. Antonio came close to me and said "Miss Mariana, we want to know if elephants can swim". I smiled. I had no clue. It was a simple question, nothing out of this world. I did a quick mental review, I could even see the elephants playing next to a river, in the middle of Africa, but as much as I tried I could not come with an answer. I took a deep breath and told them the truth. "I have no idea, that is a very good question, I had never thought about it before, but I guess we will have to find out". I quickly went and got an ipad and told them that we would research their question in internet. They all looked at me while I typed the question. As soon as I got to the web page Google sent me to, I read it out loud. "Yes,   elephants do swim, almost all of the mammals have swimming skills. Elephants love swimming. They can swim long distances and  they can do it fast. " They all smiled. I even showed them videos of elephants swimming. We decided we needed to learn more about elephants so we went to the library and checked some books out about elephants and other animals so we could compare. At the end of the day, they seemed satisfied and I was relieved. We both learned something new that day.