On what should have been quite a regular day, some Roanoke students were dressed a strange way.

They wore tall hats, striped white and red. Some even wore bright blue wigs on their heads.

And they read stories about wockets in pockets, a Grinch and Whos, too. They had parties and goodies on this odd day of school.

Many Roanoke schools had quite the to-do, to celebrate reading and, of course, Dr. Seuss.

This year marked the 10th anniversary of Read Across America and the 50th anniversary of "The Cat in the Hat" by Dr. Seuss. Since 1997, Read Across America has been held March 2, Dr. Seuss' birthday, according to the National Education Association Web site.

Many Roanoke Valley schools celebrated the day with parties or by reading Seuss' books. Some schools' activities extended to the rest of the week.

At Cave Spring High School, for instance, students had pizza and other treats during a party in the library. Student and faculty volunteers read Dr. Seuss books to other students. There also was a special breakfast that morning.

The primary goal of Read Across America is to promote literacy in schools, and most local schools held celebrations within their own walls. Some, however, used the opportunity to help others.

Glenvar High School raised money for Louisiana high schools that were damaged by Hurricane Katrina. The school's goal was to raise $200, but the students raised $1,090.30. The money was donated to the American Library Association Hurricane Relief Fund, and the school is asking that the money be given to a high school affected by the storm. Bonnie Keenan's MS Office class gave $302, the highest donation. Cheri Burton's English 10 class, Sherri Agee's English 12 class and Debbie Marsico's Spanish class had the next highest donation amounts.

The top classes had a breakfast celebration March 12. The food was donated by Hardee's, and the orange juice was provided by Principal Curtis Hicks.

The following are some of the Read Across America activities that were held at area schools.

• Roanoke City Schools Superintendent Marvin Thompson and members of the school board visited elementary schools March 9 to celebrate Read Across America. Thompson read to pupils at Morningside Elementary School. School Board Chairman David Carson and Vice Chairman Alvin Nash read to students at Virginia Heights Elementary.

• Mount Pleasant Elementary School's Student Council Association had a "Hats Off to Dr. Seuss" celebration. The pupils and faculty members wore Dr. Seuss hats and ate ice cream. Meteorologist Robin Reed read "Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs" to the crowd. Other guests also read books aloud.

• Hidden Valley High School had a "mystery readers" contest, which was broadcast on Titan TV. Teachers wore disguises as they read passages from well-known children's stories. The students had to guess the titles of the stories and the mystery reader. The winner received a gift certificate to Barnes & Noble. The teachers also rewarded students they saw reading for pleasure that day.

• Teachers at Bent Mountain Elementary School integrated the celebration into their class lessons. The activities included graphing results from a class survey of their favorite Dr. Seuss book and serving green eggs and ham. Principal Karen Mabry read to each class. Everyone at the school was given hats like the one worn by the Cat in the Hat.

• Cave Spring Middle School English teacher Paige Mitchem took her pre-AP class to Cave Spring Baptist preschool, where her students read to the children.

• At Herman L. Horn Elementary, each classroom had guest readers who were from the school system's central office, some specialty teachers, administrators and Salem Avalanche staff members. After the reading sessions, the guests and staff members were served birthday cake in the teachers lounge. The pupils were served birthday cake in the cafeteria, donated to each grade level by Food Lion.

That afternoon, the school had "Drop Everything and Read." Students and teachers were encouraged to dress up like a Dr. Seuss character or wear red, black and white.