Zucchini and the Easter Woodchuck

Palm Sunday fell on April Fool's Day this year, and I couldn't resist playing a trick on my students, but what?  I'd planned a small party to celebrate Easter just before the end of class, so Chuck suggested I tell them I'd brought whole zucchinis to pass out for a snack.  Or, how about telling them about the Easter Woodchuck?  

The Easter Woodchuck reminded me of Christmas around the world, and how Santa rides a surfboard to Australia in bathing shorts and sunglasses, and how it's the Three Wise Men who deliver gifts to kids in Mexico (Ebram learns about this in Ebram's Story: The Haunting).  Impressed with Chuck's ideas, I decided to use both.

At the beginning of class, I told the students I had something to show them and pulled out a zucchini.  I asked if they knew what it was but met with blank stares.  I walked down the aisle so they could have a closer look, and--surprise!  They thought it was a cucumber. 

"The zucchini is very special to some kids in South America," I said after informing them that it was not a cucumber. "They're not familiar with the Easter Bunny; they have an Easter Woodchuck.  On the night before Easter, they leave zucchini for the Easter Woodchuck so that he'll stop by their house and leave candy and small gifts on Easter Sunday."  

At this point it was hard to keep a straight face.  "The Easter Woodchuck eats as much of the zucchini as he can and gives away the rest to orphans and poor children." 

This is NOT a cucumber!

The students were very quiet and I thought they might actually believe this tale. "April Fools!"  I said to deafening silence .  "Look, I wrote April 1st on the whiteboard; it's Palm Sunday, the first day of Holy Week, and April Fool's Day!"  Finally, a cracked smile or two.  Had I let them down?  I guess I'll never know.