While eating green eggs and ham in the cafeteria at New Matamoras Elementary School Wednesday, Caleb McLeish, 12, took a moment to share his thoughts on the man who inspired his lunch.
"I'm glad we're doing this for Dr. Seuss, because he's an idol for a lot of authors and he created a lot of children's books," the sixth-grader said.
All week, the students in every grade at the school - kindergarten through sixth - have been partaking in a variety of activities to celebrate the iconic author and illustrator's life.
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New Matamoras Elementary students celebrate Dr. Seuss' birthday.
"Each classroom is doing individual activities, and all together we had green eggs and ham," said kindergarten teacher Jill Cisler. "My students are picking out their favorite Dr. Seuss book and doing an illustration."
Dr. Seuss was born Theodor Suess Geisel on March 2, 1904. He produced dozens of children's books, some of the most popular being "The Cat in the Hat," "Horton Hears a Who!" and "How the Grinch Stole Christmas!"
In addition to Wednesday being the author's birthday, it was also the National Education Association's Read Across America Day. Cisler said Bob Crawford, a member of the New Matamoras community, read "Green Eggs and Ham" and "The Cat in the Hat" to the students Wednesday morning.
"We try to teach the kids that anybody can be an author and illustrator," Cisler said.
Also on Wednesday, the kids were encouraged to wear hats and they were visited by the Cat in the Hat himself.
On Friday, the students will celebrate another popular Dr. Seuss book, "Oh, the Places You'll Go!"
"They get to dress up like what they want to be when they grow up," Cisler said.
Cisler said the week-long Seuss celebration is jump-starting the school's upcoming family literacy week.
"We'll be having a book fair next week and also we'll have family literacy night, when the parents get to come in and we try to educate them about how they can help their kids be better readers," she explained. "We want to let the kids and parents see how excited the teachers are about reading - if they see how excited we are about reading, it tends to pass on."
Literacy coach Nicole Reed said the students will be encouraged to read books next week that will, based on difficulty level, earn them a certain amount of points.
"If the kids get to 100 points next week in AR (Accelerated Reader books), the principal (Bill Wotring) will dye his hair purple," she said. "I think it's a very reachable goal."
Family literacy night will be held from 6 to 7:30 p.m. Thursday, March 10, at New Matamoras Elementary School.
