RMMS water exercise illustrates plight of book characters

By: 
David Peck

It might have seemed like an odd sight last week when Rocky Mountain Middle School sixth graders were seen walking around the halls holding a water bottle atop their heads, then rounding the track outside while performing the same act.
The students of RMMSa sixth grade reading teacher Ilene Henley were performing an object lesson after reading the book “A Long Walk to Water” by Linda Sue Park in which the characters have to walk 10 miles to get to a water source, then return 10 miles with the water, the jugs balanced on their heads in southern Sudan, now the nation of South Sudan.
Henley said Park used an interesting story structure in her book, with two time periods and two storylines in each chapter but one. The first is set in present time in South Sudan and tells the story of Nya and her long walk to water. The second storyline is Salva’s longer story starting in 1985 in southern Sudan when rebels force him to leave home and become a “lost boy” who searches for his family and safety in refugee camps and later in America. The two stories finally merge into one in Chapter 18.
The water-carrying exercise is designed to build empathy in the students, Henley said.
“We don’t have any idea what it’s like to not have easy access to water,” she said Thursday. “They’ve been carrying their water bottles in the hallway for the last three days on their heads, trying to not drop them. We’ve also done a variety of research on water scarcity and the number of people in the world without water or sanitation.”
Students said they have enjoyed the book and understanding the situation in South Sudan.
“I read it two times; I like it,” Dane Wilson said. “It’s hard not being able to see their family all day, and they can’t attend school, because they have to walk all day. It would be hard holding a 40-pound jug on your head all day.”
“It’s a pretty good book,” agreed Tyler Crosby. “I can see how it would be hard to do that every day, because they walk 20 miles every day at our age or younger.”
After rounding the track on a mild day Thursday several times holding a small water bottle, students were then given 1.3-gallon, 10.8-pound water bags to carry around the track in relay fashion, each student carrying two of the heavy containers.
Paraprofessional Brandon Kite assisted with the exercise.
For sixth graders at RMMS, it was a lesson well learned.

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