Read Across America / Dr. Seuss Week at Prospect Elementary
To honor Dr. Seuss - whose birthday is March 2 - and observe the national event called Read Across America, Prospect Elementary School holds a big reading party during the first week of March. It is a party with a purpose: to develop the joy of reading. Since the first celebration in 1998 the National Education Association’s Read Across America event has become an annual tradition for readers of all ages.
At Prospect Elementary, activities are planned for every day of the week featuring various Seuss book characters: students have worn their pajamas to school for Dr. Seuss’s Sleep Book, and crazy colored, mismatched socks to school for the book Fox in Socks. They have dressed up as what they want to be when they grow up to reflect Dr. Seuss’s Oh the Places You’ll Go. The Cat, Thing One and Thing Two from The Cat in the Hat have greeted children as they arrived at school and green eggs and ham are always served for lunch by Sam I Am. In 2010, Prospect school's events were so extensive that WGRZ TV 2 sent their feature reporter, Kevin O'Neill, to cover it for their morning Daybreak program. Click on the row of books below to view that WGRZ TV2 video.
“Drop Everything And Read” or, DEAR time, is a feature of the week. Everyone grabs a book and heads out to sit in the hallway and read at least once every day. Imagine halls lined with quiet students intently reading their favorite books. It is impressive.
The teachers and staff at Prospect Elementary bring their love of reading to the children all year long; most especially during this week. Their hope is that the excitement of the week's events will encourage the students to continue reading not only Dr. Seuss books but those by other authors as well.
