Good Bye Mrs. Beltran

Evelyn has such a great year at school, and most of the credit for that goes to her amazing teacher, Mrs. Beltran. She has worked hard to keep Evelyn challenged and yet keeping learning fun for her, too. Evelyn's love for reading and writing have grown tremendously as well has her proficiency in those areas, mostly due to the encouragement of Mrs. Beltran. The whole class adores her, and her love for teaching is so apparent.

We found out Mrs. Beltran was pregnant at the beginning of the year, and all of the kids have been SO excited for "Baby Gabby" to be born. On Valentine's Day I helped organize a surprise baby shower for her in the classroom. The kids were all in on it, and made her a special book of their hopes for the baby (which we worked on with them whenever Mrs. Beltran had a sub. We even had our principal in the loop and she would let us know when there was going to be a sub in class!). She was quite surprised and a teary mess when she figured out what was going on!

 "No  Way!!"

 Reading the book her students made... she couldn't get thru it without crying and the kids were handing her tissues... it was a sweet moment!

She is quite loved by these kiddos!

She had planned on working up until her due date (Mar 14th) but decided she would make Friday her last day just to have good closure for her and the kids. Although we were sad, I totally get it and respect her decision.

Ev and her beloved teacher.

It turned out to be a VERY smart decision for Friday to be her last day because she actually had baby Gabriella SUNDAY! I got an email with some pictures this morning...both mom and baby are doing well. The kids were SUPER excited and can't wait until Mrs. Beltran and Gabby come to visit the class, which she promised she would!

So as of yesterday, Evelyn has a new teacher. Mr. Culbertson has been an instructional aide and a sub at Fir Grove this year and the kids know him. He seems like he will do a find job carrying the torch. It won't be the same, and Evelyn was a bit anxious about this change, but we are encouraging her to keep on doing what she has been doing and finish the year strong.

That being said, wee are so thankful for Mrs. Beltran and are already plotting to have her teach second grade next year (which is an actual possibility...woohoo!!).