Jonathan Garzon and classmates in Fredericksburg Head Start read Dr. Seuss books donated by Kohl's. DANA ROMANOFF/THE FREE LANCE-STAR View More Images from this story Visit the Photo Place

Dr. Seuss still gets readers' attention

Reading emphasized in schools this week

Date published: 3/3/2007

BY JENN ROWELL and KERRI SCALES

In an age of word processors, instant messaging and text speak, 28 percent of Virginia students were below the basic reading level in 2005.

But area schools are trying to make reading fun in hopes of closing that gap.

In conjunction with Dr. Seuss' March 2 birthday, the National Education Association sponsored its 10th annual Read Across America.

Over the past week, area schools came up with ways to bring cats in hats and green eggs to life.

At Parkside Elementary in Spotsylvania County, Susan Sinton's second grade class ate real green eggs and ham in their pajamas with their favorite stuffed animals at their side.

When they finished, the students huddled up to listen to Sinton read a few Dr. Seuss classics.

Delaney Phillips' favorite Dr. Seuss book is "Hop on Pop." Although she doesn't know a lot about the author she does know this, "He like to rhyme things so he started writing rhyming books."

In Fredericksburg, Kohl's staffers visited the Head Start program, bringing books and toys. Each child got a copy of "Cooking with the Cat," a book associated with the Dr. Seuss movie, and a stuffed animal of a Dr. Seuss character--the Sneetches.

The Kohl's staffers also spent some time reading to the students and recognized its importance.

"Your vocabulary goes up, your comprehension improves. Reading really helps," Yorretta Broughton said.

Kohl's volunteers also stopped in to read at Riverview Elementary in Spotsylvania.

"I like hearing them read the books, it's fun," said Dallas Rubsam.

Her favorite Dr. Seuss book is "Green Eggs and Ham."

"It's good because the books have a lot of words that you need to practice in them."

The grown-ups already know how to read, but that didn't make it any less fun.

"It's very infectious," said Kristina Coleman, a Spotsylvania County technology engineer and volunteer. "I better be on the list for next year."

Elementary students in King George County got to jam with the band and hear stories put to music.

The four-person band made up of two juniors at the University of Mary Washington and two graduates, donned the trademark red and white stripped hat from Seuss' "Cat in the Hat."

Ed Dickerson, Matt Bradshaw, Jeremy Cooper and Brian 'Piper' Barbre changed a few well-known tunes to make them more reading focused.

Some revised lyrics were "Hit the books, Jack and don't ya come back till you've read some more, some more, some more."

Jenn Rowell: 540/374-5418
Email: jrowell@freelancestar.com

Children's book author Janet Morgan Stoeke visited Family Literacy Night at Chancellor Elementary in Spotsylvania on Tuesday to talk to about writing books. She asked the students to help her create a special character. By group brainstorming, the students came up with Bob the wolf who was a vegetarian, guitar- playing football star. Bob the wolf plays for the Redskins and while on the field hits a lizard with his guitar. The guitar breaks into pieces, but the story didn't end there. The lizard apologizes and Bob the wolf is sorry, too. Then an alien brings Bob the wolf a new guitar and the students cheered for their happy ending. In the spirit of reading week, third-graders at Parkside Elementary in Spotsylvania got a special delivery yesterday. Aric Wagner of Davenport & Co. asked his company to sponsor the school so that each student could have their own dictionary through the national nonprofit Dictionary Project. Seated on the library floor, the students flipped through their new dictionaries and tried pronouncing big words. "One of the reasons we wanted to give you a dictionary is that it's very important to use the right word," Wagner told the group. Principal Tom Eichenberg told the students to take good care of their dictionaries. "Anytime you get a book it's a gift, but a dictionary is a gift that will last a lifetime," he said. Each of the 150 third-graders got a dictionary that Eichenberg called a tool. "They're taught dictionary skills and we have class sets, but for them to be able to take one home, it just affords them another tool," he said.

Follow us on

Date published: 3/3/2007