DECKERVILLE - Michelle Osentoski's kindergarten class sits in a circle on a multi-colored carpet, discussing the topics of the day - a wocket in the pocket, a bug in the rug, a wocker in the locker.

As they have their discussion, students adjust the tall red and white hats they created themselves in the likeness of a famous, fictitious hat-wearing cat.

Osentoski's class is in the midst of studying the wonders of Dr. Seuss, the beloved children's book author who wrote "Cat in the Hat" and "Green Eggs and Ham." And the children are eating it right up.

"I'm reading a book every day," she said. "With every book I read, we're doing a project."

The current book is "There's a Wocket in My Pocket," and Osentoski had her students write some extra pages that could be added to the book, based on their imaginations. Whatever they came up with had to rhyme, so students learned the concept of rhyming.

In the future, Osentoski would like her students to make a mural mimicking Dr. Seuss illustrations and make another book based on "Oh the Things You Can Think." She's not sure what she's going to do with her favorite Seuss book, "Green Eggs and Ham," but she thinks it will have something to do with food.

The first year teacher said she hopes the writing exercises will pique their interest in writing so they'll want to read and write on their own.

"They're also learning about what an author is, what an author does, and that they can be authors," she said.

To add to the Seuss experience, Osentoski had her students make "Cat in the Hat" hats to wear whenever they're working on a project.

"They're our thinking caps," Osentoski said with a chuckle.

Osentoski, who has two half-day sections of kindergartners, said a majority of them didn't know who Seuss was until a student brought in the book "How the Grinch Stole Christmas." The popularity of the book made Osentoski realize her students would like a whole unit on Seuss.

When Osentoski reads Seuss to her students, they think it's the funniest thing they've heard.

"They hold their stomachs laughing," she said. "They have a lot of enthusiasm."

She said she'll keep the Seuss author study going as long as the students are interested. From the students' reaction so far, Seuss is likely to hold their interest for a while.

"His books are in the fantasy genre," she said. "Children like the humor in his stories and the silly words he uses."