Read Across Grapeland

Elementary Tours City to Read

By Will Johnson
Messenger Reporter

GRAPELAND – On Friday, March 1, Grapeland ISD was closed for business so students could go cheer on the Sandiettes in the State Semifinals down in San Antonio.

Unfortunately, for Grapeland elementary students, Friday, March 1 was also the National Education Association’s Read Across America Day and a celebration of the birthday of Dr. Seuss.

The day is actually celebrated on March 2, but because the second fell on Saturday this year, many area schools celebrated on Friday.

“There is a program called ‘Read Across America’ and it is to celebrate Dr. Seuss’ birthday,” Grapeland Elementary Principal Cassie Satterwhite said on Friday afternoon, March 8.

“We were out of school for the state tournament so instead of doing ‘Read Across America,’ we did ‘Read Across Grapeland.’ We took kids to different businesses around town,” the principal explained.

Satterwhite said another part of the ‘Read Across Grapeland’ program was also held on the elementary campus.

“We had two local authors come and read to our students. One was Michael McCall, from Crockett, and one was Rosa Davis, from our SPED Co-op. They came and read their books to our students and told them how they became an author because this (writing) wasn’t their first job,” she said.

Later in the afternoon, Satterwhite explained, the older students teamed up with the younger students so they could read to them.

The students also had a little bit of fun with the program as they got to wear a variety of Dr. Seuss-themed attire throughout the week.

“All week, we have done dress-up days to celebrate Dr. Seuss. On Monday, we did stripes or your favorite hat. On Tuesday, we did fox and socks, where we wore crazy socks. Wednesday was ‘Whacky Wednesday,’ where we all dressed whacky. Yesterday, we did our ‘things.’ You could either dress as thing one or thing two or you could have a twin. Today, the students could either wear red or blue for the book ‘One Fish, Two Fish, Red Fish, Blue Fish,’” she said.

Some of the teachers even got in on the act as Kindergarten Teacher Jessica Stafford assumed the role of Cat-in-the-Hat on Monday and passed it off to First Grade Teacher Kay Hamill on Friday.

Will Johnson may be contacted via e-mail at [email protected].