POTTSTOWN PA – Seuss fans made a weekend celebration out of the good doctor’s birthday, both locally at Lower Pottsgrove Elementary School and across the nation.

The late Theodor Seuss Geisel, better known to millions of children worldwide as rhyming author “Dr. Seuss” – the creator of The Cat In The Hat and other memorable characters – would have observed his 108th birthday Friday (March 2, 2012). That’s when many schools, including Lower Pottsgrove, used the opportunity to re-emphasize the importance and fun of reading.

That was followed by reports Sunday (March 4) regarding the animated movie version of Seuss’ book, The Lorax. It earned $70.7 million during the weekend, making it the biggest box-office debut of the year to date.

• Watch a movie trailer for The Lorax, above, or see it at the YouTube artist channel for Dr. Seuss.

Lower Pottsgrove third-grade teacher Shari Costanzo has coordinated the school’s “Read Across America” Day activities, which honor Seuss and reading, for several years. On Friday, she said, the hulking members of Pottsgrove High School’s Falcon football team, some dressed in sport coats and ties, showed up to read to classes filled with eager youngsters.

Other teachers and administration members juggled fun stuff and reading too, Costanzo said.

Health teacher Melissa Vishio taught a unit that referred to The Lorax and its interest in preserving the environment. The third-graders cooked up green eggs (taste great, look questionable) under adult supervision, and while dining listened to English-as-a-second-language teacher Jennifer Godinez read Seuss’ Lorax in Spanish.

As a special treat, some students will attend the movie as a group March 30 during a sort of field trip, Costanzo reported. They’ll be watching a bona fide winner; the closest competitor to The Lorax movie’s weekend haul was for the teen comedy flick “Project X.” It made only $20.8 million.