BETHEL PARK CELEBRATES READ ACROSS AMERICA DAY ethel Park
The IMS Readers pose for a fun photo in the Franklin lobby rotunda .
BETHEL PARK CELEBRATES READ ACROSS AMERICA DAY ethel Park
BETHEL PARK SCHOOL DISTRICT
Every year on March 2 , Bethel Park elementary students celebrate Read Across America Day , a day which celebrates the birthday of beloved children ’ s book author Theodor Geisel , better known as Dr . Seuss .
Students came to school dressed as their favorite Dr . Seuss character , with the Cat in the Hat and Thing 1 and Thing 2 among the favorites .
They participated in a variety of fun activities , all designed to promote a love of reading .
A group of Independence Middle School Student Council Students , who call themselves the IMS Readers , got the ball rolling by visiting four of the elementary schools to rotate through the classrooms , reading their favorite story books , serving as reading role models and talking to the students about the importance of reading on a daily basis .
Washington students enjoyed the IMS Readers , but especially enjoyed coming to school dressed for the occasion . For example , all the female students in Mr . Dressler ’ s room came to school dressed as one of the “ Things ” from The Cat in the Hat .
William Penn students wore either red , white or blue to school on March 2 or dressed as a book character , while the staff wore matching t-shirts commemorating Dr . Seuss and Read Across America Day .
The Bethel Park High School Drama Club visited to perform their updated “ Feed the Need to Read ” original assembly , which brought to life some of the younger students ’ favorite book characters to life in skit and song .
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Fourth graders in Mr . Dressler ’ s room all dressed as one of the “ Things ” from The Cat in the Hat on Read Across America Day .
( Left to right ): Ella Korb and Grant Gealey work together to create as tall of a Cat in the Hat hat as they can , using red plastic cups and note cards .
At the end of the day , the teachers participated in a “ Teacher Swap ” where they visited classrooms other than their own to read their favorite stories to the students .
First graders in Mrs . Clancy ’ s room at Franklin enjoyed a week of Dr . Seuss STEAM-themed activities that tied in with several of his books .
After the students read Bartholomew and the Oobleck , they made their own oobleck and discussed the phases of matter to discover how this non- Newtonian fluid quickly changes from a liquid to a solid under pressure . After reading Green Eggs and Ham , the students were given a green “ egg ” made of a mystery ingredient , in this case , baking soda , and the students used pipettes to add vinegar to the egg to observe a chemical reaction that created bubbles from carbon dioxide . Then the students discussed how different ingredients can be mixed to cause different reactions .
A highlight of the week was the building of Cat in the Hat top hats using red plastic cups and white note cards after reading The Cat in the Hat . The students worked in pairs and used their engineering skills to build their hats in a variety of ways .
To incorporate math , the students measured their hats to determine which structures were the strongest and which were the weakest .
In addition to the STEAM activities , the students incorporated Dr . Seuss books throughout the week for a variety of language
arts activities such as reading , rhyming and phonics practice .
Read on , Bethel Park !