Ya’ll… it’s here. The day has come where I have decided that I need to be more organized.
Now I’m typically a very, very organized person. I know where most of everything is at all times, even in my classroom when I have 2 kids in specials, another at therapy, and another in the nurses office. I can keep all of that straight. But lesson plans… now they get the better of me.
Let me just say that I hate lesson planning. Yep, I’m a teacher and I hate lesson planning. I’m more of a fly by the seat of my pants (is that even the correct expression?) person when it comes to lesson planning. I’m notorious for mentally coming in to work on Monday and saying, “Let’s do butterfly life cycle this week!” Now I’m so organized in every other aspect of my life, that I’m told I make it look easy and you’d never be able to tell. But I can tell.
So I ordered something to help me be more organized when it comes to lesson planning. Do you recognize the box?
Enter the new and improved, Erin Condren Lesson Planner.*
I’ve always loved the presentation of your goodies when you open the box. The EC Team really takes the time to make you feel like they appreciate you.
Okay, so I ordered a little bit more than just a lesson planner. 🙂 Let’s take a look!
This is my second lesson planner and I’m on my second life planner… and I have always wanted to try these pens out, but I’ve never purchased them. So I did this time, and I’m pretty excited about it.
I tried them our briefly to write my name in each color, and they are very similar to Flair pens.
Now since you get A LOT of stickers in your lesson planner (without paying extra for them), I didn’t want to order more stickers or customized stickers. I can make them myself and save money.
But one thing I did want to try out was these sticky corner pockets. They are absolutely precious, and I can see how they will definitely come in handy to keep track of the multiple To Do lists I have going on at one time – all the time.
And I had to order matching notepads with my name on them. I still have the ones I ordered from my original lesson planner, but there isn’t much paper left. So these will definitely get used. I like that they come with sticky spots on the back so you can insert them into your lesson planner if you want.
Let me just take a minute to laugh for a second – LOL! This shirt is the reason why I ordered all of the extra stuff. It was free when I spent $100, so of course… I spent $100 to get this free, adorable t-shirt.
It’s super soft and is loose fitting. It’ll be perfect for casual Fridays!
There she is in all of her glory! The new and improved Erin Condren Lesson Planner.
The cover is customizable to add your name and school, and you can also buy extra covers to switch them out if you like.
Among other things before it, you’ll find the year at a glance at the beginning of the planner. I really like this aspect of it because…
… it leads right in to your calendar.
One of the new features is being able to start your calendar with any month you choose. Since we start school in August, naturally I chose August as my starting month. So my calendar goes from August to July.
There are inspirational teacher quotes between each calendar. You could easily turn these in to posters when you’re finished using the lesson planner at the end of the school year.
After your full 12-month calendar spreads, you get to the lesson planning pages!
I like that they are after the calendar. Now I won’t need to use paper clips to keep my page. I’ll be able to flip open right to the calendar or right to that week’s lesson plans.
At the end, you’ll find a dual-sided folder. It’s bound in to your lesson planner, so it won’t fall out. It’s made of thick material, so it shouldn’t tear or bend easily.
It’s also full of color and absolutely gorgeous and functional.
After the folder comes another customizable aspect of the planner. These are sheet/page protectors. You can pay a few more dollars to add more of these, which is what I did to get 3.
I paid to get a few extra so I can include my classroom schedule, student schedules, and other important information that I might need as I’m lesson planning… but probably don’t always bring home with me.
I also bought an acrylic stand for my lesson planner. Wohoo! I had a $10 off coupon, so it was free (at least that’s what I keep telling myself)… and I figured if I could display my planner, it might make me want to actually use it throughout the whole school year and not just the first few weeks. 🙂
So I mentioned I had a $10 off coupon. Well I have one for you if you’d like to order your very own Erin Condren Lesson Planner. Simply click on THIS LINK* to take you there.
*This blog post was not endorsed by Erin Condren and I was not compensated for writing this post. Any opinions within this post are my own. Any link within this post is an affiliate/referral link.*