A ‘Seuss-tacular night for young readers

The Exeter Township School District held its first ever Literacy Night at Reiffton Elementary School last week, bringing the district’s K-4 students together with the characters from “Seussical the Musical.” The characters were the performers in the Junior High School’s production, taking the stage this weekend.

“We want to encourage reading as much as we can, and what better way than with the Seuss characters,” said Julie Kline, district Reading Supervisor. “The students know these characters. For many of them, Dr. Seuss books were their first books.”

Kline said the idea for Literacy Night came from Junior High School Chorus teacher Melissa Crotty shortly after “Seussical” was chosen as this year’s play.

“We started working on this over the summer,” she said. “Tonight we have all 50 cast members here, doing activities with the kids.” Each of the activities featured reading in one form or another, whether it was reading directions to make a snack, playing Seuss Bingo, or reading aloud with cast members.

“A group of teachers spent hours coming up with the activities; with everything focused on encouraging reading,” Kline added.

As Exeter School Supertintendent Dr. Beverly Martin walked around the cafeteria she said she was impressed with what she saw.

“It is really cool. The Junior High kids are really awesome,” she said. “They are doing a great job with the younger kids.”

Kline and Crotty both said they are looking forward to future Literacy Nights, perhaps with themes tied to future school productions. Based on the smiles on the faces of those K-4 students, they are looking forward to it as well.