Students will ‘drop everything’ and read
By:Eric Schwarz
Children in Weston and Roosevelt schools will celebrate
the life of author Dr. Seuss on Friday with special events, including guest
storytellers who will read to the students to mark Read Across America Day.
At Weston School, teachers and students will do
activities and puzzles identifying Dr. Seuss characters, eat cupcakes, and
wear stovepipe hats made famous by Dr. Seuss’ book, "The Cat in the Hat."
Local officials, residents and professional storytellers will also help
celebrate the late author’s birthday by reading to grades K-3 throughout
the day.
The event is being scaled back from a much larger one
last year, which attracted 800-900 people to an evening celebration. An
evening event was also held in 1998.
But the children in the primary grades still will have
the chance to hear readers tell them favorite stories from Dr. Seuss and
others.
At Roosevelt School, with students in grades 4 and 5,
each teacher will be given a copy of the Dr. Seuss book, "Oh, the Places
You’ll Go!" to read to their classes during the day.
Teachers are encouraging their students to invite an
adult family member to come in and read, and during the last class period
of the day, the classes will "drop everything and read," said Principal
Fred Volpi.
The Read Across America Day, sponsored by the National
Education Association, has a theme of "Oh, the Places You’ll Go!" the title
of Dr. Seuss’ book published in 1990.
The book "gently reminds readers about the endless
possibilities life has to offer," the NEA says on its Web site about the
day. "The message has special meaning for Read Across America, because to
get to the places you want to go in life, you need to know how to read!"
Board of Education member Jeanne Golden and Weston School
librarian Elaine Walters are again coordinating the event at Weston.
The students’ celebration will begin with a 10-minute
commemoration at 9 a.m. asking them to "drop everything and read," Ms.
Walters said.
Then, from 9:15-10 a.m., the guests will each read to two
classes and tell them why reading is important and how it helps them in
their lives.
Saturn auto dealers contributed the posters, and the
school PTA contributed a book for each child to keep.
An afternoon assembly for the entire school will feature
three storytellers from the Somerset County Storytellers Association, Wanda
Goldsworthy, Anne Kistrup and Doris Kinny.
Ms. Golden last week said she had arranged readers to
come to the school including: Mayor Angelo Corradino, Council members Senga
Allan, Stanley Jasiak, Michael Polak and Martin Wierzba, Police Chief Jack
Petrovic, Public Works supervisor Phil Petrone, Assemblymen Christopher
"Kip" Bateman (R-Branchburg) and Peter Biondi (R-Hillsborough), former
Mayor Rudy Nowak, former Board of Education President Michael Fiure Sr.,
Manville Public Library worker Ruth Bielanski, and about 10 senior
citizens.
Dr. Seuss wrote children’s books for about 55 years,
until his death in 1991. Dr. Seuss, born with the name Theodor Seuss
Geisel, was born March 2, 1904, and would be 97 on Friday.
Among the 44 books he wrote and illustrated are: "And to
Think That I Saw It on Mulberry Street," "Gerald McBoing-Boing," "The Cat
in the Hat," "Green Eggs and Ham," and "How the Grinch Stole Christmas!"