Pupils and faculty at Rockburn Elementary School in Elkridge went out of their way yesterday to throw a birthday party bash, honoring the contributions that the late Theodor Geisel -- better known as Dr. Seuss -- made to the world of children's literature.

Dr. Seuss' books were spread across the children's tiny desks. Teachers and pupils showed off T-shirts depicting popular Seuss characters, and third-grade teacher Dee Walsh mustered enough courage to come to work dressed as the Cat in the Hat.

The daylong celebration of Dr. Seuss' birthday -- he would have been 95 -- focused on the importance of reading. It was one of many similar events that took place across Howard Country as part of the National Education Association's Read Across America program.

"We're trying to help students realize how important and relevant reading is to everything we do," said Walsh, who organized the event at Rockburn.

The pupils in Linda Norris' first-grade class crowded together on the classroom floor and listened attentively as Howard County Executive James N. Robey read the book "True Story of the Three Little Pigs" -- written from the wolf's perspective.

The pupils asked Robey what role reading plays in his job. "I read between three and four hours each day," the former county police chief responded. "I read reports, letters, e-mails. If I couldn't read, I couldn't have been elected as county executive, and I couldn't have been a police officer for 32 years."

Robey, who read last month to a group of third-graders at Ilchester Elementary School, said it is important for community and political leaders to volunteer in the schools to stress the importance of reading and a good education.

"This is really critical," Robey said. "It is not just the responsibility of the teachers to help students become better readers, it is all of our responsibility."

Robey was joined yesterday by James Heller, chief of Howard County Fire and Rescue Services, as well as school board members Sandra French and Jane B. Schuchardt. Two members of the Baltimore Blast soccer team also read to pupils.

Jeff Akers, father of first-grader Emily Akers, thanked her for allowing him to read to her classmates. As Akers read from one of his favorite Dr. Seuss books, the pupils hung on every word, often chiming in with rhyming answers.

"Kids are only this age for a short time," Akers said. "Everyone's busy, but we have to fight to slow down and find time to read to our kids. We all have to remember that in some way we're still kids, too." he said.

"We promote reading all year round and these students are making great gains," said Norris, who encourages parents to read 15 minutes each night to their children, and review vocabulary words that the students learn in the classroom.

"Our parents are very involved with what's going on at the school," said Norris, who has been an elementary school teacher for 18 years. "That's what it takes in order to get our students excited about reading."

The pupils seemed to enjoy having guests read to them for the day.

"It was really cool. All of the books that were read to us had an important lesson that we were able to learn from," said second-grader Chelsie Cash.

"You learn so much stuff from reading, which makes you want to read more books," said Jonathan Vandemerkt, also in the second grade.

Walsh said that yesterday's event is one of many programs that help students prepare for the Maryland State Performance Assessment Program test, which third- and fifth-graders will take in May.

"Everything we do is in preparation for that test," Walsh said. "We try to gear everything to real life and get students ready to perform the task that they're asked to perform on the exam."

Pub Date: 3/03/99