Rory makes The Bee (Reed neighborhood paper)

Puddletown Montessori Preschool children visited residents of the Odd Fellows Retirement Home on Hallowe’en and gave them handmade cards. The preschool is located in the basement of the Holgate Center, a continuing care facility across the street from Grout Elementary School. (Photo by Merry MacKinnon)


Reed neighborhood’s Montessori school brings young and old together for Hallowe’en



By MERRY MacKINNON

for THE BEE






The 45 children enrolled at Puddletown Montessori Preschool by S.E. Holgate and 32nd Avenue in the Reed neighborhood had a very non-traditional Hallowe’en this year. No costumes. No candy. But, for the preschoolers attending school that day, it was a gratifying Hallowe’en, nonetheless – and one that touched the hearts of many older adults living next door.



At noon on Hallowe’en, Puddletown Preschool teachers and school co-founder Andrea Ludlow assembled the children and ushered them out the classroom door for a short walk to the adjacent Odd Fellows Retirement Home. There, the train of children entered the facility and marched down the stairs to the dining room where elderly residents were having lunch.



Then, softly singing “Autumn leaves are falling”, the children wound their way through the room, stopping at tables to give seniors their gifts of handmade Hallowe’en cards. As the little ones approached, the seniors would lean toward them, and smile reassuringly.

“It's good for them. And it’s good for us,” said one elderly woman, waving to the four-, five- and six-year olds as they passed.



One man brightened at the sight of the preschoolers and declared, to no one in particular, “I wish I were that age again.”



That wasn't the preschoolers’ first visit to the retirement home. As reported in the August BEE, a part of the school’s intergenerational program has teachers periodically gather the children for trips to visit the retired residents next door or upstairs. The school is located in the basement of the original Odd Fellows building, now called the Holgate Center, a continuing care retirement facility.



“Bringing younger and older people together is so beneficial for both,” explained Ludlow. “The elders are like surrogate grandparents. They like to tell stories, and the children love to listen.”