Superintendent Dr. William McKersie is making his rounds at Hillside Elementary School!

As part of a program spanning the school year, Superintendent McKersie will be visiting K-4 students to read books recommended by their teachers that coincide with classroom learning.

A recent visit was to Tasnim Nagrath's kindergarten class. The book of choice: The Napping House, written and illustrated by Audrey Wood and Don Wood. Fun Fact: Audrey and Don are married.

Napping House is a silly cumulative tale, where, in a napping house, there's a cozy bed piled high with a snoring granny, a dreaming child, a dozing dog, a snoozing cat, and a slumbering mouse.

All is at peace until a wakeful flea crawls into the mix. One beastly bite from him and the entire pyramid of sleepers might topple. Is he getting ready to nibble?

Humorous and inviting, Dr. McKersie encouraged the children to read along and make predictions.

"What do you think The Napping House is about?" he asked.

In their normal "turn and talk" fashion, a technique they learned from Nagrath, students turned to one another in little pods to chat about their guesses.

"Maybe the house topples down," said one of the students.

Dr. McKersie began to read and with each turn of the page, his little listeners appeared more in thrall.

Halfway through the story, Dr. McKersie asked, "Do good stories change or stay the same?"

Students motioned and shouted, "Change!" And with that, came the flea.

The Napping House is designed to help children begin to understand growing patterns. As they read, they learn about the characters in the story as well as adjectives describing those characters.

When the arch of a rainbow illuminated the house where everyone was now awake, students were left with joy and wonder.

Another book to add to the list for our youngest learners!