Mrs. Kristina Ellenbogen
Third Grade Teacher
Forest Avenue School
Mrs. Ellenbogen has a special connection to third grade. She remembers it as her favorite year in grade school and hopes that she can create the same feeling for her young students. A graduate of Bard College, Mrs. Ellenbogen enjoyed careers in children’s book publishing and retail before studying for her teaching degree at Caldwell College.
After Mrs. Ellenbogen completed her formal training in the Glen Ridge School District, she began teaching first grade here in Verona in 2009. She then spent a year teaching Kindergarten and Reading Intervention in South Orange. Since returning to the district, Mrs. Ellenbogen has taught in grades 1 through 4. She received a scholarship to do a two-year program in dyslexia studies through Fairleigh Dickinson University and is trained as an Orton-Gillingham specialist, teaching this multi-sensory reading method through level IV. Mrs. Ellenbogen recently augmented her OG background with a two-year study in the LETRS program (Language Essentials for the Teaching of Reading and Spelling).
Mrs. Ellenbogen lives in Nutley with her husband, Anthony. When you don’t see Mrs. Ellenbogen at school, she is most likely walking her dogs on the beach, reading a new novel for her book group, enjoying movie night with her family (The Sandlot is a favorite!), or playing Scrabble with friends.
“Go confidently in the direction of your dreams,” is a quote by Henry David Thoreau that Mrs. Ellenbogen keeps on her wall. “I always wanted to teach,” says Mrs. Ellenbogen. “I may have taken a circuitous path, but now I’m doing what I love most!”
