Mr. Felts' 5th Grade Classroom: Gleam and Glow

Set in the midst of 1990 Bosnia-Herzegovinan conflict, Bunting borrows not only a context but also loosely borrows a story of a family forced to flee their home who leave behind some valued fish. In her take, eight year old Viktor watches as his father leaves to join the Liberation Army. As refugees are displaced, many pass through Viktor's small village. One man, who has been carrying some beautiful gold fish, decides to leave them with Viktor rather than carry them further. Their beauty- "like all the light of the world was trapped in that glass bowl" - afforded a needed glimmer of hope in an otherwise dark world. Eventually, Viktor, his sister, Marina, and his mother are forced to join the stream of refugees, fleeing the danger of approaching enemy forces. Viktor releases the fish into the family's pond. After weeks of difficult and dangerous flight from their home to the safety of the border, Viktor and family are reunited with their father. Years pass and the land has been ravaged by war, pockmarked by bombs. Eventually, the family journeys back home and are surprised to see that the fish have not only survived, but thrived. They and their offspring glitter in the pond, juxtaposing the ugliness of the bomb pockmarked landscape with an image of hope and renewal.

During the Bosnian War, cellist Vedran Smailovic plays Strauss inside the bombed-out National Library in Sarajevo, on September 12, 1992.

Theme: Look for beauty amidst the pain of life. In time, this beauty will blossom into signs of hope and renewal.

We spoke briefly about the historical backdrop of the Bosnian conflict, but rather than reading about this violent episode in our history, students had the opportunity to read about modern day refugee children.

Students read about problems of refugee populations around the world and human rights issues related to refugees.

Then students brainstormed a list of rights that they think all human beings should have. After conducting this brainstorm, we compared student lists to the list created under the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and the Convention on the Rights of the Child.

I distributed a list of refugees by continent. We saw that refugees exist on all populated continents, enabling learners to have a wider understanding of the basic human need for dignity that all refugees feel.