NEISD educators rap along to Dr. Seuss to get kid excited about books
In the building located behind Serna Elementary School is the North East ISD Behavior Support Center.
At first glance, many might hear the music coming from it and think it’s some kind of music studio, but soon realize something familiar about the lyrics.
“’Like the yeller and the deller and the beller and the weller and the zeller and the cellar,” a woman’s voice echoes into a microphone.
Yes, that is a Dr. Seuss book that is being read by educators from NEISD who are rapping to every single word of ‘There's a Wocket in my Pocket’.’’
“We have three so far and one of them was the ‘One Fish, Two Fish, Red Fish’,” Briddney Fasci explained.
Fasci is a paraprofessional in NEISD’s Behavior Support Center who works with kids from kindergarten through fifth-grade across the District.
“We basically work with kids one-on-one providing support for challenging behaviors. We come in here with a goal for the students that way can come back to school and they transition back to their classrooms,” she explained.
Fasci said the idea to do something a little bit different came while she was creating a virtual ‘Bitmoji’ library called Miss Bee’s Library, for students learning from home.“We had someone very talented that could rap Dr. Seuss books and that’s where we got the idea like, let’s just rap them,” she said.
And, after a local hip hop music producer Paul Trinidad offered to help with the beats, Fasci teamed up with fellow NEISD educator Kimberly Martinez to make it happen.
Martinez is a Special Education Paraprofessional in NEISD’s Behavior Support Center.
“I actually have three children of my own and they enjoy rap music. They enjoy different kinds of music and I was like; you know what, let me try something different, something fun. So, Briddney and I spoke about it and went from there. The first moment that I started rapping, I got it in the first take,” she explained.
They said the response has been very positive from students and parents.
“We’ve had a few parents say they were very impressed and the kids were very excited and trying to sing along. It was fun for them and they were engaging into the story,” Fasci said.
The pair said reading books online doesn’t have to be boring.
They hope that by creating experiences like this for kids, it will encourage them to click on more and more books.
“To get them excited about reading; to get them excited about listening to books. Because of this pandemic, we really needed them to enjoy it again. That’s why we decided to do this,” Martinez said.
They also said the Behavior Support Department is an amazing team and this musical project couldn’t have been possible without the help from Tracy Guller, Alexandria Arriaga and Catalina.
You can find the full version of the Dr. Seuss books being rapped by Martinez, along with other books voiced by Fasci, here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MZyTDCLdqvI&feature=youtu.be
Because #NEISDcares!
