Humphrey the hamster unites Ridgewood school’s community
OCTOBER 17, 2014 LAST UPDATED: FRIDAY, OCTOBER 17, 2014, 3:35 PM
BY JODI WEINBERGER
STAFF WRITER |
THE RIDGEWOOD NEWS
A hamster named Humphrey has taken over at Somerville School.
All the students in kindergarten through fifth grade, along with their parents and teachers, the administrators and custodial staff are reading a 144-page book about the furry rodent called “The World According to Humphrey” by Betty G. Birney.
Parents received a letter earlier this month explaining the project, called “One School, One Book,” which will run until Thanksgiving and has the children and their families reading two chapters a week of the book.
“One of the biggest parts of our jobs as elementary school people is to really promote kids loving reading,” said Somerville Principal Lorna Oates-Santos. “We want to create lifelong readers.”
Birney writes the story from the perspective of Humphrey, a hamster purchased from a store by a teacher to be a class pet. Through the book, Humphrey learns to read and write and has many adventures both in and out of the classroom.
There is no homework assigned with the book, but there will be weekly trivia contests at the school during the project and other activities, like a Humphrey healthy snack day where kids are encouraged to bring in snacks that a hamster might eat like carrots and cucumbers
– See more at: https://www.northjersey.com/news/education/humphrey-unites-somerville-community-1.1112094#sthash.YnnpCltY.dpuf
Humphrey – now that’s a WASP name if ever there was one. Perfect for Ridgewood.