Jaeshaan Thomas, a second-grader at Sollars Elementary School, Misawa Air Base, Japan, wears a "Cat in the Hat" hat on Wednesday. (Jennifer H. Svan / S&S)
Jaeshaan Thomas, a second-grader at Sollars Elementary School, Misawa Air Base, Japan, wears a "Cat in the Hat" hat on Wednesday. (Jennifer H. Svan / S&S)
Sollars Elementary School second-graders Alexis Beshears, left, and Faith Moss read Dr. Seuss' "The Foot Book." (Jennifer H. Svan / S&S)
Parent Melissa Aston reads a Dr. Seuss book to second graders, from left, Jaeshaan Thomas, Vanessa Jacos and Akyra Ingalls at Sollars Elementary School. (Jennifer H. Svan / S&S)
Jonathan Gray, a second-grader at Sollars Elementary School, reads a passage from a Dr. Seuss book Wednesday. (Jennifer H. Svan / S&S)
Teneka Mason, a military spouse at Misawa Air Base, Japan, reads a Dr. Seuss book Wednesday to Sean Atrsada, left, Caleb Rhoton, top, and Stephen Lampa at Sollars Elementary School. (Jennifer H. Svan / S&S)
MISAWA AIR BASE, Japan — Second-graders at Sollars Elementary School wore pajamas and tall red-and-white paper hats to school, ate green eggs and made a sticky goo on Wednesday that would make their mothers shriek.
The fun was all in the name of celebrating the 101st birthday of children’s author Dr. Seuss.
Just as Seuss told life lessons through wacky creatures and plays on words, teachers Stephanie Bullard and Cynthia Schwartz made the unusual day about education.
“They really get the message that learning is fun, that we can enjoy school,” Schwartz said.
Bullard said that many schools celebrate reading and Seuss’ birthday on March 2 through a National Education Association initiative called “Read Across America.”
Seuss not only made reading fun, she said, “but every story also has an underlying theme and kids can understand that. He brought it down to their level.”
For Bullard’s and Schwartz’s 31 second-graders, the day started with a breakfast of scrambled eggs colored with green food dye — an image from Seuss’ book “Green Eggs and Ham.” The students later had a lesson in math by graphing the 50 words in the story. It was on to science after that. Using corn starch, water and more food coloring, the children created oobleck — a green, gooey substance from Seuss’ “Bartholomew and the Oobleck.”
The most important lesson of all from the experiment, according to student Faith Moss: “Remember to have three napkins under it because it sticks on your tablecloth and it sticks forever.”
The claylike concoction was a popular conversation topic among the pupils.
“When you put your finger on it, it melts on you,” said Jasmin Przysucha.
“It looks like ghost slime,” said Preston Miller, who was then at a loss to explain exactly what ghost slime was.
The students also made “Cat in the Hat” top hats out of red and white construction paper and read their favorite Dr. Seuss books in the afternoon.
Seuss, born Theodor Geisel, died in 1991. He wrote 46 books.
Faith said she liked “The Foot Book” best. “It rhymes with words you can remember,” she said, reciting, with help from classmate Alexis Beshears, “Left foot, left foot, right foot, right.”
