Happy Holidays!
As usual, the end of the fall semester has been very busy for the early childhood and elementary faculty. My immediate colleagues, Dr. Marilyn Roseman and Dr. Devorah Bozella, and I have been busy grading final exams, portfolios, research papers, observation papers, and projects. We have barely seen each other! We did, however, meet for a wonderful evening at Christmas at the Mount on Tuesday. I had brought my husband, son and daughter. Our children had an awesome adventure spending time in the Winter Wonderland that was designed by the student members of the Children’s Advocacy Association and the Student Pennsylvania State Education Association. All of the students worked so hard to create a Santa’s Workshop where the children wrote letters to Santa, made hot chocolate packets to take home, and painted wooden carvings. After visiting with Santa, the children were given a new Eric Carle book by Mrs. Claus. The education students also collected donations for Toys for Tots. The children of students, faculty, and staff all seemed to have a splendid time! Another highlight of the end of the semester was going to see one of my advisees, Samantha Petak, dance in the Nutcracker with the Johnstown Concert Ballet. She is a beautiful dancer and it was an absolute pleasure to attend the performance. Well, I am off to my public library to return three more books on CD which I checked out and listened to on my 45 minute drive to work each day. One additional benefit of teaching at Mount Aloysius is that it gives me time in the car to catch up on my pleasure reading. I usually spend most of my time reading academic books, textbooks, research articles, policy statements, etc. This month in the car I listened to: The Last Lecture by Randy Pausch, Big Russ and Me by Tim Russert, and Teacher Man by Frank McCourt. All of these books were inspirational in their own ways. I have to admit, though, that my favorite books this month have been the ones that I have shared with my own children. They have consisted of titles such as Frosty the Snowman, Clifford Helps Santa, Franklin’s Christmas Gift, Maisy Makes Gingerbread, The Night Before Christmas and Bear Stays Up for Christmas. I hope everyone has a restful and happy holiday season.
Next Time: The Brown Bag Lunch Series sponsored by the Faculty Affairs Committee
