Students celebrate Seuss with green eggs and ham
This week, local schools are taking part in Read Across America, a program encouraging students across the nation to pick up a book.
The program is sponsored by the National Education Association, and is also the birthday week of writer Theodor Seuss Geisel, better known as Dr. Seuss.
“While we take a fun and light-hearted approach to our Read Across America celebrations, we do so with a serious purpose in mind: to encourage a love of reading,” said NEA President Lily Eskelsen García. “As educators, we know that students who read—and are read to—do better in school and in life.”
Wednesday, students at Mission Valley Elementary School in Tulare celebrated Dr. Seuss’s 112 birthday.
The children’s book author, best known for stories like “How the Grinch Stole Christmas,” “Green Eggs and Ham” and “The Cat in the Hat,” died in 1991. He was 81.
More than 120 Mission Valley students enrolled in kindergarten and transitional kindergarten spent the morning reading some Dr. Seuss classics.
The six different classes rotated rooms, with each teacher focusing on a different book and coordinating activity.
Stefanie Alldredge’s choice, “Green Eggs and Ham,” was a favorite among the students.
“First we read the story, and then we make green eggs and ham,” Alldredge said. “The kids love it.”
As the transitional kindergarten teacher read the book, the children who knew the rhyme joined in.
“I do not like them Sam I Am,” they recited.
When it was time to make the green eggs, Alldredge had every student take a turn scrambling.
While bright green meal didn’t look extremely appetizing, many of the kids were pleasantly surprised.
“It’s good!” some of them shouted.
At the end of the rotation, Alldredge relayed the underlining message of the book.
“What was the message?” she asked them.
“You just have to try it,” said Leo Lopez.
In Tammy Giuliani’s class next door, students had the chance to try something else dreamed up by the author.
The gooey substance was created by Dr. Seuss in his book “Bartholomew and the Oobleck.”
Giuliani and her instructional aide, Emily Scott, have been creating the green goo for eight years.
The two mix water, corn starch, and green food dye to create the oobleck.
Students got a chance to stick their hands in the goop while Guiliani read the story.
Transitional kindergartener Brennin Elliot said he had fun playing with the oobleck.
“It’s kind of gross,” he said. “I hadn’t felt anything like that before.”
“This is their favorite activity,” Scott said. “The day gives them the chance to do different things in different environments.”
In support of Read Across America, Marina Gaytan, the paper’s Downtown Diva, will read to students at Highland Elementary in Visalia, Friday.
Each year, volunteers throughout Tulare County schools read to classrooms full of children.
“This week is a celebration of reading. We are encouraging students to read and have fun doing it,” said Natali Matta, principal of Highland Elementary. “Reading is so important to our students’ success in their future and the more opportunities we can take to encourage them to read, the better.”