Berkeley Leader

Fun fact: a biblioburro is a traveling library that distributes books to patrons from the backs of two donkeys.

Cainhoy Elementary’s youngest readers know all about it; they recently read the story Biblioburro: A True Story from Colombia, a story about a Colombian man who loves to read but has so many books that he decides to distribute them to children in faraway villages from the backs of his donkeys.

This was one of many stories read aloud to Cainhoy Elementary students by students from Philip Simmons High’s Spanish Honor Society, who came out to read children’s books that highlighted Hispanic culture and/or were written by Hispanic authors as a way of celebrating Hispanic Heritage Month.

National Hispanic Heritage Month begins on September 15 and ends on October 15. The month was created to honor and recognize the contributions and influence of Hispanic and Latino Americans.

The observation began in 1968 under President Lyndon Johnson as a week-long celebration of history and cultures. It was expanded in 1988 by President Ronald Reagan to cover a 30-day period.

The Spanish Honor Society students had plans to visit all three feeder elementary schools this week to read with the younger students. Cainhoy Elementary reading coach Jennifer Rutledge said the whole experience of having the older students read to the younger students is a positive one for both age groups.

“Our students were excited and hung on every word of the high schoolers as they read,” Rutledge said. “During Hispanic Heritage Month, we feel it is important to share stories of Hispanic culture. We also feel it is important for Cainhoy to celebrate diversity and inclusion so that all of our students can see themselves reflected in inspiring stories.”

This fun read-along activity was not just about highlighting Hispanic Heritage Month; Berkeley County School District’s high school students often meet with their elementary friends to help the little ones sharpen their reading skills.

An added bonus from this particular event is that the books contain many Spanish vocabulary words; hopefully hearing them will get students excited about learning a new language when they get to high school.

Rutledge said her school is always excited to have the Philip Simmons High students come out for a visit.

“Our students look up to the high schoolers and we love building a partnership with our feeder high school,” she said.

High school students must apply to be a part of the Spanish Honor Society. They must have at least a 3.5 GPA and an A in all their Spanish classes, and also have to maintain good behavior to stay in the organization.

Philip Simmons High’s Spanish Honor Society is led by Spanish teacher Marilyn Roth, who said student members used to be more involved in visiting the feeder schools to read aloud to the younger students during Hispanic Heritage Month, but the trips had to go on a hiatus because of the pandemic. Now, they're eager to get back to visiting the feeder schools.

Roth said while talking about the trip with her students, the high schoolers could all remember having cool guest readers come and visit their classes in elementary school.

“That’s what they remember – the fun guest readers and activities like that,” she said.

Roth’s students who came out to the feeder schools were ones who signed up voluntarily. Senior Luke Roberts got really into talking with the smaller students and showing them pictures from the books while he read to them.

“It was so fun,” he said. “They’re just so cute.”

Seniors Lila Stratton and Haven Howard said the children asked about some of the Spanish words that came up in the stories, like “abuela” (grandmother).

“I just thought it would be cool to read to the kids and have them hear a little bit of Spanish,” Stratton said.

The girls said they were impressed by how open elementary students were to learning the words.

“They’re very good,” Howard said. “Some of them knew (the words).”

Eleventh-graders Blake Rose and Aidan Anderson-Taylor were good at asking the elementary students questions during the reading sessions and keeping them engaged.

Anderson-Taylor is currently taking Spanish 3 and Rose will be in Spanish 3 next semester. They said they joined the Spanish Honor Society because they have enjoyed learning the language.

“Spanish is a really cool language – I want to be fluent in it one day so I can talk to people in Spanish and visit places that speak it,” Rose said.

Both boys said they were happy to see the younger students enjoy their visit.

“It’s good to be a role model to the kids,” Anderson-Taylor said.

 

Monica Kreber

kreberm@bcsdschools.net

Original source can be found here.