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A day for celebrating Suess
By PAULETTE LASH RITCHIE © St. Petersburg Times, published March 8, 2001 INVERNESS -- Theodor Geisel would have been 97 on his birthday March 2, and first-grade children at Pleasant Grove Elementary School did not let the celebrated writer's birthday go by unnoticed. Teachers Julie Jones and Sharon Miller and their students had a Dr. Suess birthday party last Friday where red and white striped hats abounded and green oobleck flowed. The fun began on a serious note as Circuit Judge Barbara Gurrola led the children in a reader's oath: "I promise to read each day and each night. I know its the key to growing up right. I'll read to myself. I'll read to a crowd. It makes no difference if silent or loud. I'll read at my desk, at home and at school, on my bean bag or bed, by the fire or pool. Each book that I read puts smarts in my head, 'cause brains grow more thoughts the more they are fed. So I take this oath to make reading my way, of feeding my brain what it needs every day." The children visited 10 centers throughout the day. They made oobleck, the green slime from Bartholomew and the Oobleck. "Oobleck is a weird name," observed Andrea Coutu, 7. They went to writing, puzzles and drawing centers. There was a birthday cake and juice table. Six-year-old Alyssa Vick's favorite stop was the computer center, "because we get to play on them," she said. One table had 20 Dr. Suess books on it. Seven-year-old Ryan Labrador's favorite was The Cat in the Hat Comes Back, and his twin sister, Sarah, liked There's a Wocket in my Pocket. Another table had a green eggs and ham tic tac toe game, and at another stop, the children had to write about what they would do if oobleck fell from the sky. Gregory Thaler, 7, really enjoyed making the oobleck out of cornstarch and water. "It felt so good," he said. "It felt like macaroni."
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