Read Across America week can be approached in many different ways, especially since it is concurrent with Dr. Seuss’s birthday. At Belgreen, librarian Melissa Cox decided to take an artistic approach with the celebration.

“Last year we did STEM activities, but this year we went with a more artsy theme,” Cox said.

Students and teachers dressed up in themed clothing throughout the week, as usual with Dr. Seuss’s birthday celebrations. Monday each class made silly hats and wore crazy socks to go with their books of the day “The Cat in the Hat” and “The Foot Book.” They had a silly hat and crazy sock parade.

Tuesday the theme book was “If I Ran the Zoo,” and everyone was encouraged to dress up as a zoo animal or wear animal print. Each grade had its own guest speaker from the community, like Superintendent Greg Hamilton.

“Wacky Wednesday” was all about magic. Mister Porkpie the Magician put on two magic shows, and the dress code was simple: wear as many different, wacky colors as possible. The theme book was “Bartholomew and the Oobleck.”

Performance or Skit Day was Thursday. Everyone wore Read Across America T-shirts, and two skits were staged. “All of the students did great, and the skits were so good,” Cox said.

Kindergarteners sang the song “There is a Wocket in my Pocket.”

First-, second- and third-graders performed a skit about “Green Eggs and Ham.” The first-graders made the background artwork for the story; sound effects were created by the second graders; and third-graders read the story and brought it to life.

Fourth-graders provided sound effects, sixth-graders created background art and fifth-graders performed for “The Cat in the Hat” skit.

Friday everyone was encouraged to dress as their favorite Dr. Seuss character. Since it was Seuss’s birthday, the theme book of the day was “Happy Birthday to You.” Home economics classes made cupcakes for the Pre-K through sixth-graders under the direction of instructor Mimi Wood.

“I think they made 320 cupcakes total,” Cox said.

Cox also gave challenges to the students. Every classroom that read at least 10 Dr. Seuss books during the week received lollipops, and each student who earned at least five Accelerated Reader points from Feb. 20 to March 1 was given a strip of duct tape – to tape Principal Ann Scott to a wall in the gymnasium.

“We went through so many rolls of duct tape. The kids really enjoyed it,” Cox said.

Cox said reading specialist Michell Lane and other teachers were integral to organizing the week’s festivities.

Read Across America was also celebrated at Tharptown Elementary. In Monica Elliot’s second-grade class, for example, students were treated to special guest readers and tried their hand at making “green eggs” in honor of Dr. Seuss.

“I would like to extend a huge thank you to Mrs.Susie Stockton, Mr. Jamie Kiel, Mr. Jonathan Odom and Mr. Todd Elliot for taking time to read to my class,” Elliot said. “It is such an awesome experience for my students to witness men and women in our community and school who take the time out of their busy schedules to read to us. We had an exciting week.”