The cat and the doc get kids reading and eating
All across San Benito County, school children read the work of
Dr. Seuss last week. March 2 commemorated the birthday of
Theodor
”
Ted
”
Geisel
– who first started using his pseudonym Dr. Seuss when he wrote
articles for Dartmouth’s student magazine after being forced to
resign from the staff.
The cat and the doc get kids reading and eating
The Cat in the Hat caused trouble galore.
Bad tots hopped on pop, he was such a bore.
And Sam I Am, you know what he did?
He ate green eggs and ham – and so did SBC kids.
Mrs. Jones cooked a breakfast, green as could be.
The kids of Presbyterian Preschool cried out “Yipee.”
Gabilan Hills gathered students for a “Read All Day.”
Each reader knew just what to say.
The readers read words from each author’s mind.
They volunteered their time, didn’t get a dime.
Tres Pinos school students crafted their hats –
Striped hats, small hats, hats fit for a cat.
Ladd Lane kids learned of a man called “Seuss,”
A magnificent rhymer, a literary Zeus.
The “Cat in the Hat” birthday comes just once a year,
But lessons continue forever that reading is dear.
All across San Benito County, school children read the work of Dr. Seuss last week. March 2 commemorated the birthday of Theodor “Ted” Geisel – who first started using his pseudonym Dr. Seuss when he wrote articles for Dartmouth’s student magazine after being forced to resign from the staff.
At the Presbyterian Co-operative Preschool and Kindergarten, one teacher cooked green eggs and ham – a breakfast several other San Benito teachers have also served in the past.
Three students in Therese Phillips’ 2nd and 3rd grade class at Ladd Lane Elementary School screeched at the idea of eating green eggs.
“That’s rotten eggs,” said Christa Guzman, a third grader.
Her friends giggled at the thought of Sam I Am’s meal.
“It sounds good, but when you taste it, it sounds gross,” Shiina Suarez said.
Phillips’ students – dressed in pajamas – logged their reading for the day. The school had pledged to read 36, 730 pages as part of March’s “Read Across America,” a National Education Association sponsored event to increase literacy.
Alyssa Echevarria, a 2nd grader, and Victoria Rios, a 3rd grader, sprawled out on the floor in the back of the classroom with “Elligot’s Pool.”
“She reads one page,” Rios said. “Then I read another.”
Each of the students had a log sheet they used to track how many books and pages they had read. Some students were up to 10 books – many by Dr. Seuss – halfway through the free reading period.
In Nancy Wilcox’s kindergarten and 1st grade class at Tres Pinos Union Elementary School, Dr. Seuss books are for more than just fun reading time.
” In kindergarten and 1st grade they do work as primary texts – beginning reader sets,” Wilcox said. “The rhyming, repetitive text and the limited words (helps the students to learn).”
During their mid-morning session, Wilcox set up four stations for the students to work on different activities around the “Cat in the Hat.” At one, students logged onto to the Seusseville Web site (www.seussville.com) where they played games based on books such as “One Fish, Two Fish, Red Fish, Blue Fish.”
Another group colored a hat and created a cat with a smirk. One group connected the dots on “A Cat and the Hat” sheet and completed a maze.
The coveted station made edible “hats” from gummi Lifesavers, a ritz cracker and a little bit of white frosting.
Jesus Garcia, a kindergartener, carefully spread vanilla frosting on each red gummi, licking the plastic knife after each layer of the project.
“Can we eat it now?” he asked, after completing the task.
At Gabilan Hills Elementary School, administrators prepared for their “Read All Day” event weeks in advance. They asked for volunteers to come into the classrooms for an hour or two to read to the children. Some of the volunteers who showed up included KDON radio staff, school librarians and a military man.
Many of the volunteers and children are familiar with the works of Seuss.
At first, Seuss enjoyed drawing and started out as an illustrator before a children’s book press approached him about illustrating a book. He eventually wrote “And to Think That I Saw It on Mulberry Street,” inspired to rhyme by the rhythm of a luxury cruise line he traveled on. As Seuss continued to write, several scholars wrote articles about children’s books being boring. Houghton-Mifflin and Random House commissioned Ted to write “The Cat in the Hat” using 220 new-reader vocabulary words.
While the activities encompassed much more than reading, the goal of all the events was to promote literacy – something Seuss had a hand in when his most famous book was published in 1966.
Melissa Flores can be reached at [email protected].
