Sneetches teach valuable lesson
By Scott Mitchell Johnson
Staff Writer
PRESQUE ISLE — Sneetches are Sneetches. And no kind of Sneetch is the best on the beaches.
That was the moral of the Dr. Seuss book “The Sneetches” which was read to fourth-graders in Angela Kelley’s class and fifth-graders in Melissa Buck’s class at Zippel Elementary School Friday as they teamed up to learn the harmful impacts of bullying in a fun, creative way.
Staff photo/Scott Mitchell Johnson
In the book, the Sneetches with stars on their bellies think they are better than the ones without stars. They act like snobs and leave the others out of fun activities like playing on the beach or having a barbeque. When Sylvester McMonkey McBean comes to town with his Star-On machine, everyone can have a star on their belly for a price and nobody should be snooty anymore. This begins a “war” between the Sneetches as they all keep going back to McBean to either get stars removed or put on, and in the end they can’t figure out who was an original star-bellied Sneetch and who wasn’t.
According to Kelley, the book fits in with the school’s anti-bullying theme.
“We felt that even though this book was originally written on racism, there’s still teasing and bullying in it that the students could identify with,” she said. “It teaches tolerance of others no matter their differences; how not one person is better than the other. It’s a great lesson for kids this age as bullying, peer pressure, being popular and teasing hits hard.”
Staff photo/Scott Mitchell Johnson
ZIPPEL ELEMENTARY SCHOOL fourth- and fifth-graders in Angela Kelley’s and Melissa Buck’s classes, respectively, were read the story “The Sneetches” Friday and then asked to write something positive about their partner on a paper star to be placed on a mural in the hallway. Pictured with their stars are, from left: fourth-grader Taylor Novak and Carley Robbins, grade 5. “The Sneetches” teaches tolerance of others no matter their differences.
After hearing the story, the fourth- and fifth-graders paired up and were asked to have a conversation and learn more about their partners and write a compliment about them on a paper star. The stars were then taped to a Sneetch-themed mural in the hallway.
“We’re looking for something more than saying ‘You’re nice.’ We tell the kids to look deep in their heart and soul to see what they can find about the other person,” said Kelley.
The students enjoyed the activity, which also included watching “The Sneetches” video.
“It was fun and I love ‘The Sneetches.’ Sometimes I read that book on Dr. Seuss’ birthday,” said fifth-grader Christina Plummer. “The purpose was for us to learn that it doesn’t matter what’s on the outside, it’s what’s on the inside that counts, and that no one is different; we’re all the same.”
“Dr. Seuss always had a lesson in every one of his books,” said Riley Roderick, a fourth-grader. “I had never heard ‘The Sneetches’ before, but I learned that you shouldn’t judge each other by peoples’ looks, and you can do what you want because it’s a free country. I thought it was a very good book.”
Kelley and Buck have been doing the activity for three or four years.
“I hope this is a reminder to the students to be kind and accepting of one another. I find that bullying and name-calling really start to begin in third, fourth and fifth grade,” said Kelley. “It increases as the students get older, but these are the ages where it starts, and if we can show them that it’s not OK to do that, then maybe we can help prevent that from happening.”
