ti To Me

ELIZABETH APPLEBAUM ASSOCIATE EDITOR

put on a pan,

toilet paper

and (gasp) a

girl's dress.

Jayshree Mahajan

1:11

Green Principal Kathy
Sheiko designed the program
with her friend Sandy Kaplan,
assistant activity director at
Fleischman. "We always try to
think of special activities for
Reading Month," Ms. Sheiko
said. "This one has been a real-
ly nice experience for the young-
sters."
In Mrs. Neubacher's class-
room, students huddled in the
middle of the room as Mrs.
Dunn read Poppy the Panda. At
the side were desks
stuffed with mimeo-
graphed worksheets,
plants the boys and
girls are growing
from pinto beans,
and the class "pets,"
stuffed animals
named Elmore and
Spikey the Iguana.
Among the stu-

are Amanda Kanter, Matthew
Moss, Kristin Olivier, Alex
GrushIcy, Monica Yaldo, Melis-
sa Gold, Bradley Dembs, April
Dalton, Wayne Hsueh, Eddie
Hall, Leslie Binno, Matthew
Lefkowitz, Andra Lutzky, Matt
Cash, Marissa Neuman,
Jayshree Mahajan and Aaron
Siegel.
Six-year-old Aaron said he
loves reading time with Mrs.
Dunn and the other guests.
Jayshree, also 6, agreed. They

said the best book they've heard
so far is Grandpa's Garden
Lunch.
"It's about a grandpa who
planted a garden," Jayshree
said.
"And then they ate every-
thing in it," Aaron added.
Senior readers are Ernest
Sanders, June Cole, Mildred Er-
dos, Betty Lamer, Ruth Feig,
Louis Citron, Sylvia Shapiro,
Ruth Podolsky, Jean Stolsky
and Sophia Dunn. ❑

Andra Lutzky

Bloomfield invited seniors
from the Jewish Home for
Aged's Fleischman Residence
to read a book a week to the stu-
dents. Sophia Dunn picked Pop-
py the Panda. Ruth Feig read
Stone Soup. Louis Citron se-
lected The Field Beyond the
Outfield.
"I used to sell hot dogs at
Tiger Stadium," Mr. Citron ex-
plained of his choice.

dents is Michael
Burda, who sat be-
side Mrs. Dunn, his
great-grandmother,
as she read. Other
first-graders in Mrs.
Neubacher's class

Mrs. Dunn reads Poppy
the Panda as great-
grandson Michael Burda
looks on.

Photos by Gle nn Triest

Why Poppy

oppy was not happy.
The little panda
couldn't help but no-
tice that all the dolls in Katie's
room were beautifully adorned.
Except him.
Poppy told Katie he want-
ed something special, too.
Katie tried a fruit bowl as a
hat, but that wasn't what her
bear had in mind. She suggest-
ed a doll's dress, but Poppy
said,"No! I'm a boy." Finally,
Katie wrapped her panda in toi-
let paper.
Toilet paper?
That was about the silliest
thing students in Mrs.
Neubacher's first-grade class
had ever heard. They laughed
out loud and, long after the book
was finished, they would still
be laughing.
As part of March Is Reading
Month, Green School in West