Tootin’ Hills Students “Paws” to Celebrate Dr. Seuss

March is National Reading Month, a celebration of reading that naturally embraces beloved children’s author Dr. Seuss. Tootin’ Hills Elementary School’s faculty and staff came up with a unique way to encourage a love of books—by enlisting the services of four furry friends and two guest readers of the human kind, Simsbury First Selectman Eric Wellman and Simsbury Board of Education Chair Susan Salina.

NEA (National Education Association) Read Across America is an annual reading motivation and awareness program that calls for every child in every community to be reading, on or near March 2nd. This date marks Dr. Seuss' 116th birthday. Salina, who donned a red and white Dr. Seuss hat for the occasion, read Green Eggs and Ham and One Fish, Two Fish, Red Fish, Blue Fish. She shared that her own dad shares a birthday with Dr. Seuss, so she is always aware of this special occasion.

Tootin’ Hills families signed up almost 50 children for a special evening event, which took place on February 27th. Thanks to the organizations of Intermountain Therapy Animals and Pet Partners, therapy dogs Jake, a two-year-old English Cream Golden Retriever; Beau, a “bassador” originally from Tennessee; Teddy, a shaggy dog mix who loves bananas; and West Highland White Terrier Bella, the senior member and only female of the bunch, were able to visit Tootin’ Hills School with their handlers, Laurie Olson, Marilyn Douglas, Heidi Hubert, and Linda Pereira, respectively.

At the Library Media Center, families were welcomed by Principal Maggie Seidel, Library Media Specialist Susan Locandro, Secretary Lori Blomberg, and Language Arts Consultant Sharyl Panyard. As the guest readers read aloud some favorite Dr. Seuss books, several of the children softly stroked the therapy dogs, who clearly were doing the job they were trained to do, being handled by many little hands with infinite patience. When Wellman concluded reading a tongue-twisting Hop on Pop, Douglas said to the children, “You were such good listeners! Did you notice the dogs were, too?”

After the books were read, the children got the chance to pet the dogs, see what tricks some could do, ask questions of the handlers, and learn about how to safely approach a dog they do not know.

Tootin Hills students also celebrated Read Across America by wearing pajamas to school on March 2nd and reading with classroom “book buddies.” The school also collected gently used books and pocket change to purchase books for a partner school in Hartford. Particularly for the month of March at Tootin’ Hills, the message is getting across about the importance of reading every day. As Principal Seidel wrote in a communication to Tootin’ Hills families, “Reading regularly has been linked to the development of positive mental health throughout our lives.”

Clearly the Tootin’ Hills community and its canine partners are doing their part to encourage such a healthy practice!