A breakfast of “green eggs and ham,” the dish made popular by the Dr. Seuss book of the same name, was served to students at North Bergen’s Robert Fulton School Tuesday morning in honor of “National Read Aloud Day.”
Theodore Geisel, better known as Dr. Seuss, would have been 105 on Monday, March 2. Schools across the country celebrated on Monday, but local districts were closed due to snow, moving the day to Tuesday.
Tuesday morning, around 360 eggs were made green with the help of food dye and a dedicated PTA. Then they were served to first through third graders to celebrate the importance of reading.
A seventh grade student, Danny Fernandez, volunteered to dress as Dr. Seuss.
After breakfast, students from the upper grades read books by the whimsical author who still captures readers of all ages.
“I have 17 [Dr. Seuss] books,” said second grader Diego Morales. “It’s silly.”
Lee Perez, a teacher’s aide at the school and PTA president, said she decided to organize the event locally after researching what other schools were doing. She said that she wanted to explain the books by including a visual element.
Perez, who also has two sons and a niece at Robert Fulton School, explained that it’s sometimes hard to organize activities on a large scale because the PTA only has a few regular members, but that her “aggressive” phone calls have been getting more people involved.
“We don’t get a lot of people showing up at our meetings, but the people showing up are productive, and it’s working,” said Perez.
Principal Patrick Capotorto said that the PTA is essential for making programs like this possible. He said that everyone should feel “important” at Robert Fulton, including the parents.
“They all have kids here, and if the parents in the surrounding area here see they’re involved with their school and they’re children, we’re hoping more and more people will … know that they can be a part of the school,” said Capotorto.
Promoting literacy
Betsy Rodriguez, who has a son in seventh grade at the school, as well as other children who are now in college, was once the school’s PTA president. She runs the town’s recreation snack bar during the warmer months and tries to stay as involved as she can.
Rodriguez started cooking green eggs at 6 a.m. because of how important she thought Dr. Seuss for these students.
“I think it’s a really nice way to celebrate Dr. Seuss’s contributions to schools and reading,” said Rodriguez. “[He] promoted reading for the kids and made it fun for them. We’re here hoping that not only will [the students] eat, but that they will find a fun part of Dr. Seuss, because he always tried to make it fun.”
“I hope that they don’t just remember that they had eggs and ham this morning, I hope they had something much more special.” – Betsy Rodriguez
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Capotorto agreed and said that educators aim to “attack” all of a child’s senses.
He said that they stress the importance of reading not just on that day, but throughout the school year. He said a student with strong reading comprehension skills is more likely to achieve in other subjects.
He said that the skill would not just be needed in elementary school, but throughout high school, to college and beyond.
“I hope that they don’t just remember that they had eggs and ham this morning,” Rodriguez said. “I hope they had something much more special.”
Seuss for a day
Fernandez, the student who volunteered to don a Dr. Seuss costume for the morning, explained that he was once a fan of the books as a child.
He explained that Perez asked him to help with the day, partially due to his height.
Fernandez said that he believed the Dr. Seuss books will help students become stronger readers, and that they will progress to chapter books and beyond.
“They’re going to be good readers when they grow up,” said Fernandez.