EudoraNews.com

Autumn Foster was singing and swaying as she waited at the table with her friends.

"Green eggs and ham, green eggs and ham," Autumn sang quietly. "I like mine fried, nice and brown. I like mine turned upside down."

She finished the final verse doing some hand gestures: "Flip 'em, flop 'em, don't drop 'em."

Autumn was among about 120 kindergartners from Eudora's Nottingham Elementary School who took part in an annual event last Thursday -- a feast of green eggs and ham in honor of the Dr. Seuss book of the same name.

"We've been doing this for 10 years. It helps us teach rhyme to the kids," said John Woodward, a kindergarten teacher who originally had parents serve up the green fare at the school.

But three years ago, Woodward asked Jason Gray, who teaches high school culinary classes, to help with the cooking.

Since then, Gray has incorporated the event to honor the memory of the late Theodor Seuss Geisel, whose birthday was March 2, into a culinary arts class for high school students from Eudora, De Soto and Lawrence.

The older students get practice planning, cooking and serving a banquet meal. And the kindergartners get to go on a field trip to the Eudora-De Soto Technical Education Center to get a taste of one of Dr. Seuss' best books.

Dressed as Seuss' Cat in the Hat, Derek Scrimsher, a Eudora sophomore, read "Green Eggs and Ham" to the kindergartners.

And then the feast began.

How were the green eggs and ham? Some students took a taste and pushed them away.

But others were more adventurous. Some even ended up with green tongues.

Bobby Lounsbury held up a fork of green ham, smiling as his mother snapped his photo.

Sitting next to him, Cecelia Baise took another bite of green eggs.

"This is delicious," she said.

The Seuss-themed fun continued Friday at Eudora West Elementary.

The students spent all afternoon moving from class to class taking part in reading and craft activities as part of the "Read Across America" program.

As a special treat at the end of the day, four guest readers showed up to read Seuss' "Cat in the Hat."

District planning director Janell Barnow led a rhymathon after reading the book to the third-grade classes.

Eudora High School Principal Dale Sample prefaced his reading to the fifth-grade class with a biography of Geisel.

Assistant Superintendent and Curriculum Coordinator Don Grosdidier simply explained his memories of the book to the fourth-grade before reading it to the students.

---- Eudora News reporter Patrick Cady contributed to this story.