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Schools

Tinton Falls Dad Celebrates Reading and Daring to be Different at Atchison School

Steve Rogers tags along with his daughter to second grade at Mahala F. Atchison School for Read Across American fun.

At the beginning of March each year, school children across America celebrate the birthday of Theodor Seuss Geisel by following what Dr. Suess would surely have prescribed himself—a healthy diet of reading and daring to be different.  Read Across America, a reading initiative created by the National Education Association and supported by many local school districts encourages children to read more. 

Geisel’s birthday marks a week of celebrating reading and the program.  This year, to celebrate Read Across America, the Mahala F. Atchison School in Tinton Falls designed a week of fun self-expression mixed with an emphasis on books. 

Last week, each day at MFA was themed on a different Dr. Seuss Book.   To kick off the week on Monday, Feb. 28, students, teachers and administrators alike all wore red, white and black, an homage to Seuss’ signature Cat in the Hat.  To mark Geisel’s birthday on Wednesday, March 2, and his emphasis on unique expression, the school population exploded with color, polka dots, stripes, buttons, suspenders, scarves, gloves—anything and everything that let students express themselves. 

My third grade daughter wore a rainbow of color and a bright, lemon yellow shirt that her mom had airbrushed last summer for a lemonade stand.  The hallways and classrooms looked like a Seuussian dream and it got me thinking: just as we make an effort each year to wear red, white and blue on the Fourth of July and green on St. Patrick’s Day, why not follow the lead of the kids at MFA and pull out the clothes from the back of our closets every March 2nd to celebrate being different?

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MFA invited parents to the school on March 2 to participate in the 100 Book Challenge instruction and I took advantage of the opportunity to spend time is my daughter’s classroom.  The program is an independent reading and accountability system, which basically means school children read in school and at home and log their reading time in a folder. 

MFA’s Principal Mary Polese suggested that through inviting parents to participate, it was the school’s goal that their support would encourage their children to become better readers, as well as giving parents more insight into how the 100 Book Challenge program works in the classroom.

100 Book Challenge is one of the first things the children do each morning at MFA.  They are given the opportunity to read independently or to read to a partner.  They are also given the opportunity to select books from their reading level to bring home as well. 

“We were excited to share one of our favorite parts of the day with parents,” said Katherine Black, third grade teacher. “We wanted to share the fun that we have on a daily basis during 100 Book Challenge, with them. It is also essential to foster the connection of school and home, especially when it entails the importance and enjoyment of reading.”

On this day, Mrs. Black’s third grade class was busy into their reading with moms and dads sitting beside them, intently listening as their child read.  Dr. Seuss books were on display and many of the children had chosen Seuss to read to their parents. 

“Did you know,” my daughter Willow asked, “that Dr. Seuss wasn’t actually his name?  His real name was Theodor Geisel, and ‘Suess’ isn’t pronounced ‘Seuss’ with an ‘s’—it actually sounds like a ‘z’ as in ‘Zeus.’”  I was surprised by the observation and pleased to hear her read Thidwick the Big Hearted Moose to me with nary a slip in what is always a tongue-twisting reading experience. 

Mrs. Black concluded that this week was important to her and her students and warranted  starting each day off in a special way.  “As we celebrated Read Across America,” she said, “we started the morning off with a pledge to read. The students enjoyed reading the pledge and truly grasped the message, ‘to make reading my way, of feeding my brain, what it needs every day.’”

As we grow old, we take for granted the magic of reading.  It comes simply to us and often, short of magazines and newspapers and online articles and emails, we give up the time to utilize our ability and privilege to read for enjoyment and enlightenment. It truly is a magical spell, a skill that stretches our mental abilities as children and delights our hearts and souls to have accomplished it and to use it through out our lives.

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My own heart was full to hear my daughter read, to see the sense of accomplishment on her face when she closed the back cover and asked, “So, what did you think?—remembering what it was like when I first learned to read.  It is like learning a different language, like knowing the way out of the darkness or your way around foreign lands where anything is possible, even visits from strange cats in hats.

Mrs. Black asked her students to offer their opinion on Read Across America, as well as their book challenge and of course, Dr. Seuss:

  • “I wish we could have our parents come in more times [for 100 Book Challenge]. And for a longer time. I really liked that a lot of parents came in to take time to read with us. They…gave us their time.”
  • “It was a good idea because the parents can come to see what the teacher does with us and I got to spend time with my mom.”
  • “Parents like to see what you're doing in school.”
  • “I could tell and show my dad what I do in the morning.”
  • “I think Ms. Polese wanted the parents to come in to show them how good we are at reading.”
  • “Dr. Seuss is cool because before him, kids weren't having fun reading and now they are. When you read Dr. Seuss you can laugh and smile.”
  • “Dr. Seuss was a really good author. He used a lot of imagination to put fun in reading.”
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