Vol. 119 No. 18 THE BACK MOUNTAIN'S NEWSPAPER SINCE 1889 May 4 - 10, 2008 The Pati AS POST. SERVING THE COMMUNITIES OF THE DALLAS AND LAKE-LEHMAN SCHOOL DISTRICTS . ] CHARLOTTE BARTIZEK/FOR THE DALLAS POST Student teacher Sara Stull leads Victoria Flynn's morning kindergarten class in the Pledge of Allegiance at Wycallis Elementary School. Stull is completing the second part of her dual placement student teaching requirements in Flynn's classes. She’s teaching to learn By REBECCA BRIA rbria@timesleader.com UN Int com ara Stull was a nervous wreck when she began her first day as a student teacher. Within 10 min- utes, however, her fears were com- To see more photos go to www.mydallaspost Treasure chest rewards behavior ized she wanted to be a teacher. After graduating from Wyoming Valley By REBECCA BRIA rbria@timesleader.com pletely alleviated. “I was very nervous because you don’t real- ly know what to expect,” Stull said. An education major from Misericordia University, Stull is fulfilling her student teaching requirements at two placements this semester. The 23-year-old Dallas resi- dent completed her first placement on March 14 in fourth and fifth grade special education at Main Street Elementary School in the Wyoming Valley West School District and started her second placement in a kin- dergarten class at Wycallis Elementary ) School in the Dallas School District on " March 25. Misericordia University requires educa- tion majors to have dual student teaching placements. Because Stull is also getting her special education certification, the universi- ty requires her to fulfill one of her place- ments in special education. While a student at Wyoming Valley West High School, Stull was required to complete 100 hours of community service for Mary Jean Tarantini’s class. As a volunteer at the Dana Street Elementary School where she read and interacted with students, Stull real- West in 2003, Stull enrolled as an education major at Penn State Wilkes-Barre. But when the time approached for her to transfer to Penn State main campus, her mother had just had a baby and she did not want to leave the area. So, in the spring semester of 2005, she transferred to Misericordia University. Due to credits lost from transferring col- leges, Stull was a semester behind in her edu- cation. Then just two years ago, she decided to pick up special education, bumping her back an entire year. Before her student teaching started, Stull filled out paperwork where she could have requested a district, school and grade. She chose Wyoming Valley West because she had observed and taught a unit there and Dallas because it is near her home. But beyond the districts, Stull kept her options open. “I know where I like to teach; I like the low- er grades, but I didn’t want to block myself into something I liked,” Stull said. At Main Street Elementary, Stull worked with children with learning disabilities un- der the direction of Mary Ann Peterlin. This The children’s eyes grew wide in Victoria Flynn’s morning kindergarten class at Wycallis Elementary School when student teacher Sara Stull told them about the apple tree. Stull explained that every time a student misbehaves, an apple will be removed from his or her tree. If the student does not have an apple moved for four of the five days of the week, he or she can choose a surprise from Stull’s treasure chest. “Are there stickers?” asked one excit- ed voice. “Lollipops?” inquired another. The apple tree is just one of the ways Stull gets her students to behave and participate in class. During the daily morning meeting, Stull took turns choosing helpers to assist with going over activities in- cluding the Pledge of Allegiance, weather, calendar, sound chart, word wall, shapes, money poem and patterns. See TEACHING, Page 7 See TREASURE, Page 7 § lh bs CHARLOTTE BARTIZEK/FOR THE DALLAS POST Elizabeth Prater, 103, of Ply- mouth Township, taught in a one-room schoolhouse in Ide- town during the 1924-25 school year. Only one to three children were in a grade and Prater taught all of the grades. The students sat on a long bench, similar to a church pew, and each had a slate on which they wrote with chalk. A pot belly stove heated the room. Water was accessible only from a pump outside and students had to use _/ an outhouse. By REBECCA BRIA rbria@timesleader.com Elizabeth Prater didn’t think she’d live to see 103. She lived through two world wars, the Great De- pression and Hurricane Agnes. She’s seen “in” fash- ion styles of short and long skirts, platform shoes and flats, bobs and the long, long hair of the 1970s. She also remembers the real “old-school” days when she taught in a one-room schoolhouse. The Plymouth Township woman, who turned 103 on April 6, was the only teacher in a one-room schoolhouse in Idetown during the 1924-25 school year. She was 19 when she started at Idetown. After graduating from Forty Fort High School in 1922, Prater received a college degree in 1924 after completing two years at West Chester Normal School, now West Chester University. “I just like children,” she said. “And at that time, you could only be teachers, nurses or go into busi- ness.” Although she cannot recall exactly where the Ide- town School was located, Prater remembers quite a bit about her time there. The school was a small, white one-room building that housed kindergarten through eighth grade. Only one to three children were in a grade and Pra- ter taught all of the grades. The students sat on a long bench, similar to a church pew, and each had a slate they used to write on with chalk. A pot-belly stove heated the room, water was accessible only from a pump outside and students had to use an out- house. Vi A, At 103, she remembers much simpler life "Some of them came from Harveys Lake and they'd be cold in the winter time. I'd sit and rub their hands and put them in front of the stove." Elizabeth Prater Taught in one-room schoolhouse Since every child walked to school, the students were often cold when they arrived. “Some of them came from Harveys Lake and they’d be so cold in the winter time,” Prater said. “I'd sit and rub their hands and put them in front of the stove.” Every student brought a lunch to school with no drink. The children, and Prater, all drank from the same bucket. “They had a dipper and they drank,” Prater said. “And it didn’t kill any of them. They (people) won't even drink faucet water today. They carry their own bottle. Oh, how concepts have changed.” Prater commuted to work by walking to Bennett Street in Kingston and taking a trolley to Idetown, remembering an uphill walk to get to the school where she was paid $900 a year. Prater says no boss ever came to see her or observe her classroom and she doesn’t think she ever saw her students’ par- ents. See 103, Page 7 ie {i CHARLOTTE BARTIZEK/ FOR THE DALLAS POST Josh Griego places basement blocks in the new foun- dation at the Roaring Brook Church. Rebuilding God's house By: REBECCA BRIA rbria@timesleader.com After 10 years of fund-raising and planning, work on the Roaring Brook Baptist Church has begun. Construction started the week of April 7 and is expected to cost about $280 million. While work is being completed, the congregation is worshipping in the church hall. Located in the Roaring Brook section of Hunlock Creek, the churchis surrounded by the sound of the nearby Roaring Brook Creek. Pastor Daniel Brubaker, who has been pastor of the church for 32 years, says the congregation is growling slowly but steadily. Church members originally hoped to build an entire new church. A kick-off dinner was held a decade ago and members made and fulfilled individual pledges; howev- er, plans for a new church were rejected after church officials ran into problems with zoning and septic ordinances. Instead, the current church will be expanded with money originally raised for the new church . The expansion project is being overseen at no charge by church member Daniel Hudzick and Danny Brubaker, the pastor’s son. Two missionaries from Baptist Builders, a charity group out of Lancaster, Ohio that builds churches, are providing volunteer ON THE WER labor for the expansion. Cn pie Brent Howard, of Baptist Build- To see more photos ers, came tothe areatoworkonthe go to www.mydal church. A resident of Grafton, laspost.com Ohio, Howard brought his wife and two children with him and the fam- ily is staying in a trailer about half a mile from the church where the children are home-schooled by Howard's wife. The Howards routinely move around in their trailer to different church construction sites. “It’s like working for family,” Howard said. Ron Cornell, also of Baptist Builders, is staying near the church with his wife. Pastor Brubaker learned about Baptist Builders from a pastor at Heritage Baptist Church in Clarks Summit. Plans for the expansion include digging out the base- ment, putting up a wall, extending the back of the church by 50 feet, adding a toddler room and expanding the sanctuary and vestibule. Footers have also been placed underneath the vestibule area as none were installed when the church was built. The church presently seats 150 people but the expansion will offer seating for 250. Churchgoers previously had to walk stairs to access the vestibule and sanctuary and, al- though church officials hoped to install a lift, they are being required by the Pennsylvania Department of Labor and In- dustry to install an elevator at twice the cost of a lift. Al- though there is a rest room on the first floor of the church, a second one will be constructed on the church’s second floor. “Primarily, we wanted to be more handicapped accessi- ble,” Pastor Brubaker said. Portable On Demand Storage (PODS) has offered the church a discounted rate on renting storage pods. “After that, several people donated to the monthly pay- ment,” Hudzick said. The construction will be complete in about nine months. Roaring Brook Baptist Church was founded in 1880 by a group of people who had received letters of dismissal from East Union Baptist Church. The Roaring Brook Baptist Church is the only one of six old Baptist churches still oper- ating in the Lehman area since churches in Sorbertown, Ceasetown, East Union, Pike’s Creek and Outlet have closed. In 1915, members built a church hall with stables under- neath. The church was expanded to 30 feet by 36 feet in 1925. A new parsonage and day building were constructed in the early 1950s. The current church hall was added in the 1970s. ¢ 18098 151200798,
Significant historical Pennsylvania newspapers