Viewfinder: Lawrence Elementary Schools Celebrate Dr. Seuss’ Birthday & National Read Across America Week

Last week Lawrence Township's four elementary schools honored the late Theodor Seuss Geisel - Dr. Seuss - with guest readers, mass reading, costume contests, games, a production of “Seussical” and other celebrations. National Read Across America Week recognizes Dr. Seuss' birthday, March 2. 

Eldridge Park Elementary School

EPS kicked off the week-long celebration on Monday, Feb. 28, by participating in a program called “Drop Everything and Read” (D.E.A.R.) where students and teachers stopped what they were doing in the classrooms and went into the hallways with a book of their choice and read for 15 minutes. The Cat in the Hat (reading specialist, Judith Weiner) joined kindergarten through third graders reading. Kathy Robbins, principal of EPS, commented that in the lower grades you hear teachers quietly reading to their students, but by “second and third grade you can hear a pin drop, it’s that quiet.” On Wednesday, March 2, under the direction of music teacher Amy Amiet, the first graders performed the junior version of “Seussical the Musical,” complete with Horton the Elephant dancing on stage. The students performed seven songs and entertained the audiences with tales of Dr. Seuss.

Lawrenceville Elementary School

School District Superintendent Philip Meara read “Horton Hears a Who” by Dr. Seuss, to first graders. Prior to reading the story, he drew a picture of Horton in front of the students. Similar drawings were spotted in all of the other elementary schools, which he also visited this week. Rick Miller, past township councilman and current deputy administrator of finance and administration for the state Motor Vehicle Commission, read “The Cat in the Hat” by Dr. Seuss and “If I Built a Car” by Chris Van Dusen to second graders. He started his presentation with a game of telephone by whispering a silly phrase about a fish who swishes. In the end, the sentence was completely different.

Slackwood Elementary School

First-graders at SES participated in Seuss-a-palooza, a celebration that included learning about Dr. Seuss through multi-media, stories, and games. Each of the three first-grade teachers - Heather Ramirez, Penny Starkey and Mary Ellen Wallauer - hosted a station. The classes rotated through the stations. In Ramirez’s class the students watched an episode of "Brain Pop" featuring Dr. Seuss, through which they learned about his life through pictures, maps and stories. Wallauer taught the students about the story “Green Eggs and Ham,” read the story, and had them play pin the tail on the eggs and ham. Starkey challenged students to find the correct “at” rhyming word to complete the game.

Ben Franklin Elementary School

Many readers came to BFS during the week to read stories to students in the library. Two classes came at a time to hear the readers, while the rest viewed on TVs in their classrooms. On Wednesday afternoon, March 2, Lawrence Township Police Detective Dave Burns read “The True Story of the Three Little Pigs” by Jon Scieszka, illustrated by Lane Smith. His daughter, Riley, helped him read the story, told from the wolf’s perspective, to the kindergarten classes of teachers Theresa Krisak and Cindy Zegarski.