If someone had walked into the library of the Millbridge Elementary School March 2 and saw members of the board of education, councilmen and the superintendent dressed in colorful clothes and big wacky hats, they might have thought they were backstage at a Delran spring musical.
If they had listened to sounds coming from the hallway, they might have guessed teachers were singing.
Eventually, they would realize it was just Delran celebrating the National Education Association’s Read Across America Day or, better yet, Dr. Suess’ birthday
Several members of the Delran community gathered at Millbridge Monday to read “The Cat in the Hat,” “Green Eggs and Ham,” “The Lorax” and several other classic tales meant to foster a the love of reading.
“It’s truly a tremendous thing to instill the love of reading into children,” said Principal Jennifer Lowe. “I don’t think there’s a way to send a better message than to have such important and distinguished people showing them that reading matters, they matter and how important it is.
“Dr. Suess said you’re never too old, too wacky or too wild to read to a child and by doing this and allowing [themselves] to go back to childhood and enjoy those famous words, we’re really going to make a difference for our students,” she added.
Superintendent Brian Brotschul shares Lowe’s sentiments and claims instilling the love of reading is the main goal, especially at Millbridge.
“Here at Millbridge, we get the youngest learners and the most active learners in the whole district,” he said. “Really engaging with the students and instilling the importance of learning is job number one, and having such a dedicated group of local residents and leaders is a great way to reinforce that.
“It really is no better feeling than coming into Millbridge every day and interacting with the kids,” Brotschul added. “This event is just another great opportunity for us.”
After an introduction, each adult separated into his or her own classrooms and read one of the classic Dr. Suess books to the class. Brotschul and Board of Education President Glenn Kitley teamed up and read “The Cat in the Hat” to both a Pre-K and second grade class.
“It was terrific reading to the kids,” Kitley claimed. “This is such a fun thing. I mean I love what I do on the school board. We get to do a lot of cool things to help the district, but to actually come in and see faces and to come into a classroom and see the purpose of what we do is the best thing we can do.
“The younger kids were like, ‘Wow, these are big people,’ but the second graders are big men on campus here so they get to see adults they may not have seen before and they see that we genuinely care about what we do and that we care about them.
“That’s also what’s cool, and to see their progression from just staring at you to interacting with you.”
