11.18.19 I had every intention of arriving at school by 6:15 this morning. I had a lot to do – grading, planning, photo-copying, cutting, organizing, and prepping. I had a bulletin board I wanted to get up and several emails that I needed to send. When my to-do list gets especially long, I find it’s best to hit the ground running early in the morning. There are very few distractions at school that early. The photocopier is almost always free. And typically, my zone of peak pr

11.14.19 First grader: I saw you crying, Ms. Wiebel. Guilty as charged. I totally cried today. In front of my students and a room full of senior citizens. We went on a field trip today to a retirement living community. Our first graders have been learning all about our country, and in honor of Veterans Day we prepared a number of patriotic songs to perform at a nearby retirement center. The kids have been working really hard to memorize all the words and perfect their songs.

11/12/19 Phonics is my favorite subject to teach. There's something super satisfying about giving kids the tools they need to become readers. There are lots of light bulb moments in phonics instruction, and watching/listening to kids apply their learning in actual stories and books is pretty incredible. The analytical side of me also really likes phonics. Even though English is pretty crazy and filled with lots of exceptions (or rule-breakers as we call them in class), I love

11/8/19 Tonight was Western Round-up at my school. It's a big family event with food trucks and games and bounce houses and prizes and dancing and all kinds of fun. My students and I played classroom BINGO all week -- they covered a square on our class BINGO board each time the entire class followed directions quickly. They were quite motivated because I promised them that that if they got BINGO before the end of the day on Friday I would kiss a pig at Western Round-up. For t