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I am so excited to be the SPED teacher at Buena Vista! My goal is to create a classroom community where your child feels welcome, safe, and excited to learn. I am an Air Force brat and grew up living in several states and Turkey. I moved to Colorado Springs from Texas in December of 2022. I love Colorado!!! Having four seasons and mountains is wonderful! I have 2 dogs and 2 cats that are very spoiled. I enjoy reading, hiking, coffee, and teaching.

“If a child can’t learn the way we teach, maybe we should teach the way they learn.” Ignacio Estrada

This quote has been the bedrock of my teaching career whether in the classroom, special education, interventionist, tutoring, public or private, elementary or middle school.  I’ve always known I wanted to be a teacher and have many inspiring memories.

I earned my bachelor’s degree in 1986 from ACU, and stayed in Abilene, Texas to begin teaching special education in a pull-out setting for six years.  After being asked, I changed schools to teach Writing to grades 4 and 5 (departmentalized), then taught grade 4 classroom while going back to school and earning a double master’s degree.

Next, I challenged myself to use my newly earned master’s and moved to beautiful Colorado to become a Literacy Resource Teacher/Coach.  A few years later, I missed having my own students and went back to the classroom where I taught grades 3 and 4 and met many life-long friends from cohorts and families. Then I began to feel stagnant from teaching eleven years in the same grade level, so I moved to a school with different stakeholders and taught special education again.

I was encouraged to move to middle school to set up a reading program, and while in middle school, I taught reading intervention one year and special education another year.  Suddenly, my mom got very sick, and I was needed in Texas more often.  That event brought me to BV as the part-time Reading interventionist.  After one year at BV, I’ve been lucky to obtain full-time work as a Reading interventionist and/or Teaching Learning Coach.

Yes, I was born in Dallas, and am a Dallas Cowboys fan! (Sorry, not sorry) Colorado has been very good to me and I’m grateful to learn more and experience this state.

My name is Chantel Bruce and I have been teaching in Colorado since 2003. I first began teaching for PPBOCES as a Social Studies teacher at West Valley Alternative High School. I continued working in high school settings until I began working for Frontier Charter Academy in Calhan, Colorado as a 5th/6^th grade teacher.  My son's had the opportunity to be in my class at FCA but more importantly, I enjoyed the blessing of supporting their educational growth. I then worked with Roosevelt Charter Academy in Colorado Springs as a Reading Interventionist and the Gifted Resource Teacher. Since 2018, I've had the privilege to work with students as the Gifted Resources Teacher, Reading Interventionist, TLC and SAC at Buena Vista Montessori. 

Outside of the school setting I enjoy hiking, mountain biking, paddle boarding, growing my knowledge about herbs and homeopathy and supporting our community by serving on the El Paso County CC Board. 

I am originally from the Western Suburbs of Chicago. I attended Illinois State University where I earned my Bachelor's Degree in Business Teacher Education. I worked as a high school teacher at Bolingbrook High School for several years. I then earned my Master's Degree in Educational Administration from Lewis University. I moved on from classroom teaching and became the district's first Instructional Technology Trainer and eventually became the Director of Instructional Technology.

In 2020, we moved to Colorado and I transitioned to a stay-at-home mom to our daughter. I also continued working remotely as an Educational Consultant managing several large and small projects.

In my free time, I enjoy reading, exercising and being outdoors. I do not miss the hot, muggy summers or the freezing cold winters!

Miss Kris graduated from Colorado College with an economics degree. Two positions with Fortune500 companies proved not to be as enticing as education.  She went back to Colorado College for her Masters in Elementary Education.  She has taught twenty years in the classroom, five as a literacy specialist, and five as a PE teacher. Her three sons and Canadian husband played hockey-which she enjoys watching, but has never played.  She did, however, ice-skate on the frozen beaver pond in her backyard growing up in Vermont. Now she enjoys hiking, working out, scrapbooking, dog walking, reading, ping-pong, traveling, and, of course, TEACHING and LEARNING at Buena Vista Montessori!

information coming soon

My name is Ms. Melanie 😊 I support the success of students at Buena Vista by modeling appropriate school behavior within the school environment and supporting with behavioral intervention. My goal is to help students reach their full potential in a safe and supportive Montessori environment through responsibility and accountability. I also support our teachers within the classroom, help students come up with positive solutions for dealing with big emotions, and guiding students to resolve conflicts with others by using the Montessori Peace Rose.

This is my second year in education supporting student social-emotional needs and well-being. Before this, I worked in a myriad of behavioral health environments. The Montessori model at Buena Vista aligns with my philosophy of helping students help themselves through accountability and responsibility while promoting independence and choice. After work you can find me crocheting, walking my dog, Bear, and enjoying some down time playing videogames.

I’ve been a special education school social worker for three years now, but I have been working in schools, off and on, for nearly 20 years.  I was previously a preschool special education teacher and have also been a substitute teacher. 

I am most proud of being a mom to three wonderful teenage girls.  They were excited to move back to Colorado Springs in 2021 after having travelled and moved around the world for nearly two decades in the Military.  We were stationed here previously and liked it so much, we decided to come back!  My most favorite thing to do is learn! If I could be a full-time student for the rest of my life- I would.  I love love love learning…. about pretty much anything.  Someday I’d even like to learn how to weld.  Currently, I am in school to gain my EdS in school psychology. When I’m not learning, I enjoy gardening and building things. 😊

Hello, there! My name is Sara Brandow and I am thrilled to be helping this semester at Buena Vista Elementary! I am the speech-language pathologist (SLP), and I enjoy getting to help kids make language and speech sounds a little easier to master. I was here in the spring semester of the 23-24 school year and I loved Buena Vista so much that I wanted to come back and help as much as I can. The teachers and staff (and students!) here are truly remarkable. 

Before becoming an SLP, I worked for about 11 years as a physical therapist assistant; I thought I would work in the medical field as a speech-language pathologist, but the kids won my heart over - so here I am! But I still have a passion for all things medical and anything related to physical therapy.

When I am not in the schools, you can probably find me at home hanging out with my husband and 3 cats, out on a trail (either hiking or dirt biking on my KLX), camping, kayaking, working out, doing yoga, or working on an art project - if not on vacation and SCUBA diving!