The Planner
Last week, I got an exciting delivery in the mail:
My Erin Condren Teacher Lesson Planner!
I wasn’t sure if I could justify spending that much on a planner, but there was a sale. How was I supposed to turn that down? I’ve always been a Lilly girl, but I found last year that I just didn’t have enough space for everything. Enter Erin Condren. Let me just say, I am in love with this planner and the school year hasn’t even begun yet. I am an obsessive organizer and I don’t go anywhere without my precious planner… which will be especially true this year with wedding planning! Eek.
So, without further ado, here is my review of my beautiful little delivery.
The cover of the planner and the coils seem extremely durable, which is great because there is nothing more annoying than your coil unravelling and having your pages and/or cover half-hanging on for dear life. There is also a plastic ruler attached to the front, and you can customize the cover with your name and school (which I photoshopped out for safety reasons). I ordered the Bloom pattern in yellow, which is my favorite color.
The inside of the planner is super colorful and bright.
It also came with some cute little stickers.
The tabs also seem sturdy and include:
- Dates
- Absent
- Graph
- Tabs for each month
- Lessons
- Checklists
This is a sample of a monthly spread page for December. The planner comes with sticky date dots, organized by month, for you to put in the planner. This can be helpful if you end up not using the planner during the year you ordered it in, but you do need to be careful putting the dots down. I accidentally started March on the wrong day and didn’t realize it until after I had put down all the other dots for that month.
This is your weekly lesson view, organized across the top by subject/period and down the side by day. I type my lesson plans, but I’m planning on jotting down my daily walkthroughs in this section for quick referencing throughout the day.
There is a full-sized, double-sided pocket folder at the back of the planner.
At the very end of the planner is a zipper bag for hanging on to smaller items. It came filled with some freebies and samples from the company.
I opted to have two clear plastic page protectors and an extra set of checklists inserted at the back of my planner, as well (not pictured). Also not pictured are the colorful stickers you can use on your monthly view. Three pages of stickers were included:
- assembly
- IEP
- duty
- staff meeting
- furlough
- holiday
- two pages of blank stickers for you to customize
I plan on using my monthly view pages to keep track of work and personal commitments, and if I have an extra section in my weekly lesson planner view, I may use it as a “personal” column for scheduling wedding planning, half marathon training, and social events.
So long as the planner hold up well during the school year, I definitely think I will be sticking with Erin Condren next year. If you’re interested in ordering one for yourself, here is my referral link. If you order, I will receive $10 towards a future purchase. If you’re not a teacher, don’t despair! There are a ton of other adorable products. I have my eye on a desktop calendar, clipboard, and the wedding planner (so cute)! I haven’t bought a wedding planning binder yet. Other brides I’ve talked to said they never used theirs and instead opted to use WeddingWire or The Knot. However, I am very much a paper-and-pencil type of girl, so I might buy one anyway.
The Freebie
(On a Wednesday…oops.)
When I got into my classroom, I was delighted to find that I have a sink at the back of the room. However, the paper towel dispenser has a not-so-kid-friendly poster about hand-washing on it that looks like it’s been water damaged from years of splashing. I put together a differentiated poster packet for other teachers in the same boat. I plan on laminating the primary level poster from my packet and covering the old poster.
Click the picture below to grab your freebie today! There are options for primary classrooms (Pre-K–first) and older elementary (2-3)! Please remember to rate the product after downloading!
the planning fairy 