Deer Park Elementary and PTA Salutes Dr. Seuss

Deer Park Elementary's PTA used last Thursdays meeting as a chance to celebrate the life and work of Dr. Suess. The famous children's book author's birthday was earlier this month.

Rhymes and songs, a special Dr. Seuss birthday cake as well as gift baskets were among the treats at the special meeting. About 250 students and parents filled the Deer Park Elementary school cafeteria for the event.

"This was the best turnout I've ever seen at a PTA meeting," said Deborah Reeves whose son Donovan, 10, attends Deer Park.

Andrea Callison, vice president of PTA programs, organized the Dr. Seuss birthday party. She wanted to find something special to celebrate what has become an annual event at Deer Park.  She was thrilled to find children's author and songwriter, Darrell House, who performed for the audience.

"It took several months to set up and I wanted to find someone whose style was similar to Dr. Seuss and that's when I found Mr. House," Callison said.

House, who originally started writing songs to amuse his two little girls when they were in the first grade, has been delighting audiences for 15 years with his songs. His titles include "Tattletales," "Clean Up Your Room" and "Speed B-B-B Bumps."

House made the audience laugh and think about the importance of setting goals by telling the rhyming story of Miller the green Caterpillar, a story that was published in 2004.  The story follows the journey of Miller, a caterpillar who wishes he could fly.  Miller, after some doubts about attaining his goal, eventually becomes a very happy butterfly. 

"I used to wait outside of my daughter's elementary school and there was this butterfly garden there," House said. "I'd sit in the car and come up with ideas to make my kids laugh when they were little and now I spend my time doing that for other children, and I love it."

"My favorite song was the one about the couch," said 1st grader Joey Lechman, refering to House's song "Underneath the Cushions of the Couch."  The song is about all the things people might find underneath the cushions of their couches.

Kindergartner, Julia Rueda, echoed the same sentiment, "I think we have crumbs underneath the cushions of our couch at home," she said.

Emily Royster and Julia Melendez, both fifth graders, liked the messages in House's stories and poetry.

"The songs were cute and creative," Melendez said.

Principal Shirley Porebski was excited about the turnout and was particularly fond of the song, "Ice Cream For Lunch."

"I think that's a great idea," said Porebski, who noted how much the children enjoyed House's style and enthusiasm for performing.

The evening included a rendition of "Happy Birthday" to Dr. Suess whose 107th birthday was on March 2.