Student Reflection

by Lydia Fleming

This week at the International Prep Academy they were still celebrating International Reading Day. This is a day where schools all around the world celebrate the authors, illustrators and books.

Today the bell rang and there was an announcement about the Read Across America and International Reading day. Once the announcement was over that meant the classroom had 8 minutes of reading and then there would be an activity to follow. I arrived at a momentous time. The children hurried over to their spots on the mat and the teacher got a digital book ready on the screen.

All the children were eager to read the new book of the day. I had never seen them so calm and controlled on the mat. I was filled with content to see that children still enjoy reading new books and not only focus on video games or apps on their devices.

The book was about a child and her favorite object, a pebble. This pebble was her best friend because it was always there for here during their hard time. The family was living in a war-torn country and not allowed to leave. Throughout the story the girl became more and more attached to her pebble. She then became friends were her neighbor. She, the boy, and the pebble were an unbreakable trio, until one day her parents received news, they could finally move to a safer country. The girl was upset because she would be leaving her new friend and he was upset because he would be alone. The morning she was going to leave the girl decided to leave the pebble at her neighbor’s house. Once the boy saw the pebble, he was no longer sad because a part of his friend would always be with him.

After the story was finished and the 8 minutes of reading time was over, the teacher announced the assignment. The assignment was quite simple. They were each handed a sheet with a “pebble” drawn on it. On the pebble, they were supposed to write words of encouragement or kind words you would want someone to hear. As I walked around the room the kids pulled out their crayons and markers and began writing away. I saw the words, “you are beautiful”, “be kind”, “you are smart and funny”, “I like your smile”. All of these were great and perfect for the assignment.

Then the teacher called me over to one of the students I work with individually. She asked me if I could read what he had written. I looked down at him and explained I just wanted to read his pebble and he handed me the paper and put his head down. I read the paper and he had written in Spanish, “Yo quiero leche” and “no me gusta su dibuja”. I translated this to the teacher, and she realized he did not understand the instructions and asked if I could translate these instructions to him. I got him a new piece of paper and repeated the instructions to him in Spanish. He began laughing because he realized he did the activity wrong the first time. Once he knew the correct instructions he began writing in Spanish, but he was writing kind sentences. We translated those sentences to English together and he was happy to have done the assignment correctly.