Tatham School embraces 28th annual Read Across America

Police Chief Jay Gearing read “Fox in Socks” to second graders at Tatham Schools Read Across America Day event.
Reminder Publishing photo by Sarah Heinonen

WEST SPRINGFIELD — Each year, the National Education Association’s Read Across America campaign encourages children to read with a week of activities and reading.

The event takes place around the March 2 birthday of children’s author and Springfield native Theodor Geisel, better known by the pen name Dr. Seuss.

At West Springfield’s Tatham School, reading teachers Karen Danforth and Lily Rosario helped organize the week with support from the school’s parent teacher organization.

Each day of the week was themed after a different Dr. Seuss book. Students and teachers were encouraged to wear animal print on Mondays in honor of “If I Ran the Zoo.” Tuesday‘s “Cat in the Hat” saw people wearing hats. “Fox in Socks” was the theme for Wednesday when people wore interesting or funny socks. The school was awash in a sea of green clothing for “Green Eggs and Ham” on Thursday. Friday’s theme was “Oh, the Places You’ll Go,” when staff and students wore shirts from their favorite destinations.

While themed around Dr. Seuss, Read Across America encourages children to read books by whatever authors they prefer.

Each classroom in the K-5 school received a guest reader at some point throughout the week. The guest readers included Mayor Will Reichelt, Fire Chief Christopher Bartone, members of the School Committee and town councilors. On the afternoon of March 4, when Reminder Publishing visited the school, Councilor Kira Thompson was reading one of her children’s favorite books, “We Don’t Eat Our Classmates,” to a kindergarten class, while Police Chief Jay Gearing read “Fox in Socks” to some second graders. Danforth said some readers choose books they thought the students would enjoy, while others left the titles up to the teacher

Danforth said students get engaged and excited about Read Across America, no matter what their grade. “Big kids also love to be read to. It’s kind of magical,” she said. The experience is also rewarding for readers. “There’s something about being able to share a book,” she said.