Hello! I am Ellen Hernandez and I am happy to be a part of the 3rd grade team at Pleasant Grove Elementary for track 1.  This will be my eleventh year of teaching 3rd grade. I grew up in Chapel Hill (Go Tar Heels!) and attended UNC Greensboro for my undergraduate studies. Later, I decided to go to grad school at NC State to get my Master’s in Teaching degree. I worked at Leesville Elementary as an instructional assistant while my kids were younger, then returned to Leesville after grad school to teach 3rd grade for ten years on the traditional calendar.  I am super excited this year to start a new chapter and move to the year-round calendar at Pleasant Grove Elementary. 

I've lived in the Raleigh area for 30 years with my wonderful husband, and I am the proud mom of 3 grown children. I enjoy being in nature, going to the beach, and watching Carolina basketball.  I am oddly obsessed with hippos after a trip to the Cincinnati zoo to see Fiona.   I am also a dog lover and have a 2-year-old basset hound named Charlie Brown.