S.S. Palmer has been celebrating reading all week, and with March 2 marking Dr. Seuss' birthday, teachers and students busted out their one fish, two fish, red fish, blue fish and oobleck to get in the spirit.

"Read Across America is the most important weekday in reading," reading specialist Shanna Israel, dressed as the Cat in the Hat, said. "We just thought, we've got to go big, and celebrate as best we can, and make sure we really promote the importance of reading this week, since it is Dr. Seuss' birthday today. We thought it would be a great opportunity. The second-grade classes came up with their own activities."The school's hallways were covered in truffula trees and other Seussian spectacles, creating a fantastic representation of the author's wild worlds."We spent the past month decorating this hallway for Read Across America, because we know how important it is for the kids, and we just want to make it fun for them," Israel said.Second-grade teachers Melisa Beahn and Val Hunsicker combined their classes for a variety of Seuss stories and activities.Beahn enthralled the students with the tale of "Bartholomew and the Oobleck," wherein the king of Didd orders his magicians to create a new type of weather. The resulting slime, oobleck, ends up coating the kingdom, with only the titular Bartholomew able to help save the day. After the book was finished, the kids got a shot at making their own oobleck out of cornstarch, water and green food coloring."They enjoyed the reading, making it, getting messy and having fun. We coated the room, but it's cleaned up already," Hunsicker said with a laugh.As groups of second-graders mixed up the sticky slime by hand, gleeful giggle and gross-out noises abounded."The oobleck was my favorite thing," Hunter Sell, 8, said. "It was fun to see my friends freak out about it."A later reading of "One Fish, Two Fish, Red Fish, Blue Fish" was tied into a graphing exercise. Students received a handful of colored goldfish crackers, and were tasked with graphing the different fish on a piece of paper, totaling the amounts, and answering a few questions concerning the number of fish.Of course, the kids were particularly motivated when the knew they could eat the fish after the math was done.Lastly, the kids made a few illustrations based on places they would like to go, things they would like to learn, people they would like to meet, and what they wanted to be when they grew up. This little exercise pre-empted the highlight of the day, a reading of "Oh, the Places You'll Go" with the whole school.Students were especially ecstatic for reading after getting a chance to peruse a book swap that was hosted in the PTO room, featuring picture books up to young adult novels."I'm trying to get to be a better reader," Shyanne Kresge, 8, said. "I just got 'Dork Diaries' today, it's kind of like 'Diary of a Wimpy Kid.' "The day's activities seemed to stimulate the kids' interest in reading, with the large group of students hanging onto each and every word of Beahn's readings. The icky, sticky, slime may have helped as well."We've had a lot of fun. It was a little messy, but very Dr. Seussy," Beahn said of the day's activities.