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Pupils dress to define words
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SOMETHING FISHY - Anthony Lefore a 4th grader demonstrated a GAR as part of his word description
Dobbins School Word Parade
Video
By Denise Dick
Read Across America Day marks Dr. Seuss’ birthday.
POLAND — Fourth-grader Michael Mastoris wore blue- and teal-striped pants, a red hat with a purple feather, red scarf, big white sunglasses, green and yellow shirt, a rainbow-colored boa and a poster with the word “bodacious” across his chest.
“It means bold and showy,” explained Michael, 10.
He and the rest of his classmates at Dobbins Elementary School participated in a word parade Monday afternoon to commemorate Read Across America Day, a program sponsored by the National Education Association that focuses on motivating children to read. The day coincides with the birthday of Theodore Geisel, more commonly known as Dr. Seuss.
Clothing worn by many of the children highlighted their words.
The parade of words included nouns, verbs and adjectives with some Spanish thrown in.
Michael’s teacher, Elaine Morlan, chose her pupils’ words, and they decided how to show that word and convey its meaning.
Michael’s bold and showy get-up was a collection of borrowed and reused items.
“My sister had these pants, and I had this [the rainbow-colored boa] from a hat project that I did,” he explained.
He borrowed the oversized sunglasses from his sister. The red hat came from his mother’s co-worker, and he and his mother bought the purple feather to put in it. The red scarf was part of a pirate costume, and the shirts came from his summer wardrobe.
Fourth-grader Zach Jacobson, 9, dressed in a black mask, hood and cape to convey his word: “nefarious.”
“It means very wicked,” Zach said.
The mask was part of a Halloween costume, and his aunt loaned him the cape.
Peter Koulianos, 10, also in fourth grade, was assigned “dilapidated” and dressed in ripped jeans and a torn flannel shirt with his brother’s old T-shirt underneath. He carried a cane that his brother used when he broke his leg.
It means something that’s shabby or old, Peter explained.
A piece of tape wrapped around the nosepiece of his glasses.
“We bought them at the dollar store and popped the lenses out,” Peter said. “We tried to put tape on a lot of the items.”
Morlan plans a test for her pupils next week on the words they learned.
Second-grade classes chose Spanish words to match recent lessons about Costa Rica. One third-grade class selected math vocabulary words for their parts in the parade.
Kindergarten classes dressed as a variety of adjectives — sparkly, muddy, glamorous, glittery, slimy.
Riley Jo Norris, 5, dressed all in white from the ribbons in her hair to her shoes to display “snowy.”
Strips of cotton glued onto a card spelled out the word surrounded by snowflakes.
Mommy helped her, she said.
Grace Economus, 6, picked “graceful” as her word. She wore a pink Barbie ballerina dress from a Halloween past to illustrate the meaning. Like Riley Jo, Grace’s mom helped with her outfit too.
At the end of the assembly, Principal Cheryl Borovitcky unveiled a Cat-in-the-Hat print to be hung in the school’s library. It’s one of several pieces of art, all related to children’s books, that will be displayed in the room.
denise_dick@vindy.com