Edie Buchanan, Montview Preschool Teacher 1985-2013
My husband, Tim, and I were Montview parents and volunteers from 1974, when our first daughter was in Jeanne Mate’s 3-day 3-year-old class until 1981, when our third child left for kindergarten. In March of 1975, Jeanne became the Director of Montview and Ann Breckinridge took her place as our first teacher. Jeanne’s and Anne’s classes were full of dramatic play, art activities, books, water and sand play, singing and laughter and outside play. There were even pianos in all of the classrooms! Jeanne always believed that 3-year-old classes should be limited to 13 children. The children in our class that first year all had fall birthdays and were considered the “Older 3’s.” In the spring, we parents petitioned Jeanne to create a 4-day morning class for them (and others) for the fall and our wish was granted!
Jeanne was a mentor to me; she encouraged me to substitute at Montview and to further my education by taking early childhood classes at Metro to become Director-certified. I followed her advice and became a Young 3’s 2-day teacher at Montview in 1985. At that time, there was just one teacher and a helping parent in each preschool class (no assistants). The BPS all-day class (and half-day Fridays) with a teacher and assistant was held in today’s kindergarten room. We had 7:30 a.m. staff meetings before school started at 9:00. Preschool classes were 2.5 hours long and the kindergarten class with two teachers was a half-day afternoon class held in Room 212. We had at least one mandatory all-school parent-staff evening meeting at the beginning of each year and we enjoyed field trips to Cherry Creek, Karl’s Dairy Farm in Northglenn and to classmates’ and teachers’ houses. Early on, we didn’t start with lemonade socials but we always began with home visits. I remember that Jeanne rode her bike to our house and let our daughter unlock her bike lock after they played together!
My first classroom—in what is now Room 210—was the mirror image of the kindergarten room today. It had an alcove/half room on the west side where we had our book corner and a huge aquarium. On the east side of the room, was a big closet that was the storeroom for the whole school. Our school library was across from the church library today. Pets were plentiful at Montview then. Besides fish, there were bunnies, guinea pigs and hamsters; and all of them visited families’ homes over vacations, some not surviving the visits! Over the summer of 1987, my big classroom was reconfigured into today’s arrangement (Room 210 and the crib room). And Jeanne’s classroom—which had run east and west along the back of the building (across from Room 212) between the two big rooms—was partitioned into two classrooms. The “kitchen”, in what is now Room 214 remained, however, and I remember one holiday season as we were making candles that my pot of hot red wax spilled on the counter in that “kitchen” and red wax remained for a very long time on the backsplash of the counter! I am also fairly certain that we set the fire alarm off then, as well as making a huge mess!
Many of us chose Montview for our children’s preschool experience because of its warm, loving, cooperative, play-based and experiential environment. It has always been a happy, safe first step for young children between home and school, before going on to elementary school. Those of us inclined to teach, stayed on at Montview after our children left because we were dedicated to the ideals of community and the best early childhood practices for young children that Montview espouses.
Montview Community Preschool & Kindergarten is a place where families benefit from their teachers’ extensive knowledge of early childhood development and where lifelong friendships are created among parents, children and staff through their shared experiences in the lives of young children.
