"The bigger the better," laughed the King. "Oh, what a day! I'm going to make it a holiday! I want every man, woman and child in my kingdom to go out and dance in my glorious oobleck!" - Dr. Seuss' "Bartholomew and the Oobleck."

HOPE — In the 1949 book by Dr. Seuss, a boy named Bartholomew had to rescue his kingdom from a gooey green substance known as oobleck.

With a little bit of Borax, glue, water and food coloring, the sticky goo took over Hope Elementary's family reading night Thursday as well.

"I love this," said Hope kindergartner Hannah Majors, her hands turning green as she mooshed the ingredients together. "It's like monster goo."

Fifth-grader Eloise Shelton said that making the oobleck was the highlight of the evening, which included lots of fun and games for students, their families and Hope staff to enjoy on Dr. Seuss' birthday.

Hope Elementary principal Sherri Hatley said the schoolwide Title I and Partners in Education event puts an emphasis on family learning in a fun atmosphere.

"We want parents to enjoy it with their kids," Hatley said.

The goals of the event are to get kids more excited about reading across subject areas — geography, writing and science, as well as others — and for students to see family supporting their learning and their school. Families experienced the fun of learning alongside their children, saw how they could make reading fun by implementing it into everyday life, had an opportunity to give feedback and share ideas with administration and staff, as well as develop a relationship with other families in the community.

All of the games and activities were related to a Dr. Seuss book. In the "Green Eggs and Ham" rhyming hunt, kids were given half of a plastic green egg and had to hunt for its rhyming match. "Would you rather be a Bullfrog" was a game where kids sat on a bouncy ball and hopped around colorful cones while "Thing 1" and "Thing 2" followed them around asking questions. Some of the other games included a Thing 1 and Thing 2 relay, a "Cat in the Hat" book walk, and a map game based on "Oh, the Places You'll Go."

Dr. Seuss trivia, online Dr. Seuss games and the oobleck making were some of the other activities. As a reward, the kids got Dr. Seuss dollars, which they could use to buy items like pencils, pens, bookmarks, snacks and more.

Kindergarten teacher Jenny Shelton, who helps organize Title I events, said the teachers sent home a packet with the students the week before the event for the family to fill out. For the first part, "Thing 1," families were asked to write a narrative story with their kids in "true Cat in the Hat fashion." For "Thing 2," they were asked to write an opinion article based on "Oh, the Places You'll Go," inspiring families to visit a local place to learn together and have fun.

"They bring it back to me and get a prize," Shelton said. "Then we type up what they do and publish it for the other families to read."

The event not only brings families and staff together, but volunteers from around the community helped out for the evening as well. Some of the volunteers included students from Clark Fork Junior/Senior High School.

Clark Fork senior Max Icardo, donning the iconic hat from Dr. Seuss' "Cat in the Hat," was helping out in the oobleck room. Icardo attended the Hope school when he was younger, but often missed out on the Dr. Seuss night.

"This is my first time doing the Dr. Seuss night, but I'm actually having a lot of fun," Icardo said. "It's really cool to see the smiles on the kids' faces."

School staff also reached out to their families to help out, which is how people like Margaret Wiggin ended up volunteering.

"I enjoy it," Wiggin said as she instructed kids they had five minutes on the tablets to complete the game. "I taught high school, but younger kids are fun."

"We have some amazing volunteers," Hatley said.

Hope was not the only school in the area to celebrate Dr. Seuss' birthday. Sandpoint Christian School had a costume contest, and other schools made masks or T-shirts, including Kootenai Elementary and Farmin-Stidwell. Each of the teachers at Washington Elementary celebrated in their classes throughout the day, and Sagle Elementary, like Hope, held a Title I reading event where students received books and visited different centers with their parents focused on reading activities and reading skills.

Perky Smith-Hagadone emailed the Daily Bee with this message from Northside Elementary:

"We here at Northside had Thing 1 and Thing 2. Not one single person was even a little bit blue.

"Our Kinder students worked with their fifth grade buddies. Fun fictional characters were developed in their studies.

"Fun was had by all. We are glad they had a ball."

Mary Malone can be reached by email at mmalone@bonnercountydailybee.com and follow her on Twitter @MaryDailyBee.