Jones Head Start held their spirit week recently for Read Across America, and their focus for the week was all about Dr. Seuss.
Christina Patterson, the center manager, said being a part of Jones Head Start is not a job, it is a passion. She said they get to have fun, and she loves watching the children’s faces when they learn something.
“Head Start had a tribute to Dr. Seuss while celebrating his birthday and his success with Read Across America. Three of the five commissioners read to the children and the library came out to read to our children,” she said. “The children were read the books If I Ran the Zoo, Fox in Socks, The Cat in the Hat, Green Eggs and Ham, and One Fish Two Fish.”
She said Jones Head Start focuses a lot on literacy and math, and Dr. Seuss plays a part in learning both. She said Read Across America is important to help implement reading. She said Dr. Seuss has made learning more fun and interesting.
“The teachers read to the children every day, but they really get excited when visitors read to them. They pay attention more, and it ends up being a little different for the children in the end. We have fun here at Head Start with this,” Patterson said.
Carol Mercer, family service worker, said she hopes the children learned who Dr. Seuss is and about different characters.
She said she loves the children’s faces when they learn something new. She said it’s been a fun time, and she’s glad she was a part of it.
“This helps the kids want to read and be read to. Dr. Seuss has some interesting characters and crazy, bright colors we can implement. This is fun,” Mercer said. “When I read to the kids, I put their little finger on the words, so they can follow along. I want them to be a part of the story and participate.”
The center manager said the children dressed in a different color or pattern for the different Dr. Seuss books they read. She said they had fun dressing up each day. She said literacy is important at Jones Head Start, because it helps build a foundation for them to be able to read later and gain a love for books.
“We have fun when we do this spirit week here, and it’s a chance for the children to shine. That’s the most important thing about Head Start,” the center manager said. “We really want these children to participate in different things, and when they do we want it to be memorable for them. Even though the Dr.
Seuss books are silly, they have messages to learn from in each book.”
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that our bats would come in and save the day and erase those runs, and they did.”
Silenced for the game’s first two innings, the Greyhounds bats reacted almost as if on cue. A four-run third inning got Jones County within a run, down 5-4 before single runs in the fourth and sixth put Jones County in front prior to the Greyhounds coming away with a one-run victory which improved them to 4-6 overall entering this week.
The Greyhounds actually had a chance to rally in the first, down 3-0 after Brayden Lampkin drew a walk prior to being stranded at third. That ended up foreshadowing what would occur in the later innings. A bunt by Lampkin put runners at the corners, moving Dalton Lowe, who reached on a walk, to third. After a Colin Evans walk to load the bases, Davis Upshaw cashed in with a two-run single. Upshaw overall had two hits on Thursday and three RBIs.
Jones County’s third inning was not finished. RBI singles by Marlin Mills and Cohen Barfield scored Evans and Mills, with Mills speeding around third to score from second to put JCHS down 5-4 in the third. Unlike in previous losses this season, a rally as the game went on ended up being enough to come back and get a win.
“That’s what we’ve talked about, being resilient and not waiting until the end to get things started,” Paulk said.
Upshaw tied it an inning later when he scored none other than Lampkin, who on Thursday moved to the leadoff spot as a result of an injury to Jonathan Scarbary.
“I’m impressed with Lampkin, with how he has improved from last year to this year. It comes down to the mentality that we’ll get on base no matter what,” Paulk said. “We moved him from the No.9 spot to the leadoff to see how he’d do in that spot, and he handled that well.”
With the game hanging in the balance in the later innings, the Greyhounds kept the pressure on, getting enough offense to move into the lead on an Evans double to drive in Lampkin for the game-winning run. “Hats off to Eagles Landing; they are much-improved,” Paulk said. “We dug deep and found a way to put the ball on the ground; our defense made plays and we capitalized.”
