How Do You Plan?

Jessica over at Mrs. Stanford's Class is hosting a linky about planning. I had to join this linky because planning is in my blood. I don't know any other way to do things (OK, a bit of an exaggeration). But really, I love to plan and planning is what I do well. I am always thinking ahead to the next thing. Planning during the school year is a complicated task though. There are so many variables that get into the way: assemblies, music, art, computer lab, P.E etc. I think it is important to be flexible but the most important thing is to have a solid road map to take you on the journey. Here are a few ways that I plan during the school year.

1. My Team Partner:

My team partner and I are like peas and carrots (Forrest Gump reference here!!). We bounce all our ideas off one another. Once a week we sit down and physically plan out our following week. We check in with one another to see how the kids are responding to the lessons, if we are meeting all our goals and discuss any changes we need to make. 

2. District Pacing Plans and Guidelines 

My day to day lesson plans are guided around our district pacing plan. It provides a framework to work from and helps me make sure I am teaching all the necessary standards. What is also great about it, is that I can check off the standards as I teach and assess them to make sure I have covered all of them. This summer, I created a grade level check list of all the Common Core Standards for ELA and Math. Since common core is new, I want to make sure I am teaching all of them. The pictures show how I am using the checklist in my lesson plan book and an example of one of the ELA checklist pages. I have created them for kindergarten through fifth grade. You can grab your grade level checklist HERE.

3. Lesson Plan Book

This is my go-to resource! In this binder I keep my monthly calendars, daily lesson plans and my Common Core Checklists. It is everything I need to plan, all in one place!

On my monthly calendar, I write in important assessment dates and any events that may interfere with our "regular" schedule so that I can adjust my lesson planning. 

I also have a detailed lesson plan for each day. I have completely changed how I view my lesson plans this year. Before now, I always hand wrote in my weekly plans in a planner I found at a local teacher store. Don't ask why...I just don't think I knew any better. I decided that this year I was going to make my own template and type them out. I saw so many ideas and versions on Pinterest and other blogs and this is what I came up with.

The biggest change for me, is that my daily lesson plans are on one sheet of paper, instead of all 5 days on 2 pages. I have planned out the first two weeks of school and so far I like the way it is working. I can add lots of details and still have room to write in last minute changes and ideas. 

That's it in the planning department for now. I hope all of you are having a great start to your planning and getting organized for this school year! 

Don't forget the BIG TpT Back to School Sale happening right now! There are huge discounts on lots of amazing products! Go shopping and get all those wishlist items you have been wanting. Everything is 20% off in my store!