GAINFIELD ELEMENTARY SCHOOL STUDENTS CELEBRATE DR. SEUSS’S 100^TH BIRTHDAY

Children to Read 500,000 Minutes During Reading Program

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The children at Gainfield Elementary School wore red and white stovepipe hats, teachers played a trivia game on stage, and the cheering was deafening as the school community gathered in the auditorium on March 2^nd to celebrate an author’s birthday. An annual event at Gainfield, this year’s reading incentive program coincided with the 100^th birthday of Theodor Geisel, better known to readers as Dr. Seuss. Kathy Nelson, Gainfield Elementary School reading consultant, and Heather Messina, Gainfield’s library and media specialist, worked to put together a reading program to promote the value of reading.

 “We want to encourage our students, from kindergarten through fifth grade, to read for pleasure at home. The more reading the children do, the better readers they’ll be,” said Mrs. Nelson. “Good readers are those who read or are read to often.”

 As part of Gainfield’s reading incentive program, the students were divided into two groups. This year, in celebration of Dr. Seuss’s 100^th birthday, the groups were named: Cat in the Hat team and Grinch team. Each team will read a total of 250,000 minutes, or a school-wide total of 500,000 minutes, over the next month and a half. Each Friday, the teachers will post that week’s accumulated minutes on the school bulletin board, which depicts a road, alluding to Dr. Seuss’s first book And to Think I Saw it On Mulberry Street. The team that reads 250,000 minutes first will be declared the winner and Gainfield will hold a celebration.

 “The students can read at home by themselves, with a parent, or have the parent read to them,” said Mrs. Nelson. “Ultimately, the goal is getting children to practice their reading. They love the reading, the competition, and the sense of community within their school.”