Plan with me Sunday

... on Monday!

Keeping Up With Mrs. Harris and Kreative in Kinder are doing an Erin Condren Giveaway on their pages for this week's Plan With Me Sunday!

This week is the back to school edition of this linky, so I'm going to show you my teacher planner, and how I have it set up!

I have always struggled to find teacher planner peace.  You can read more about that in my teacher planner post from last year!

I know two things about what I need in a teacher planner:

1. It has to be a physical, I-can-hold-it-in-my-hands, thing.  I CAN NOT do online lesson planning.  I have to be able to write it down.

2. It has to be pre-bound.  Binders or arc systems don't work for me... I end up taking out pages and losing them, or not ever putting them in at all!

This year I am trying the Bloom Daily Planner - Teacher Planner

Find it HERE!

There are a few things that I love about this planner!

1. It meets the above requirements of being a paper-pencil planner and it is spiral bound

2. It is colorful

3. It will fit my needs as a small group teacher (not pre-labeled with subjects I don't teach!)

4. Each monthly spread has a goal setting page before and a goal reflection page after along with space to take notes.

5.  The monthly spreads are all together in the front and the weekly pages are all together in the back.  This is something new for me this year.  Whenever I have made my own I put the weekly pages behind the monthly spread, but I find that I really don't use the monthly spreads that much!  So I'm going to use this cute book clip my sister made me to mark my spot in my weekly plans!

So here is what I did for set up since the planner comes undated!

Step 1 - go to Hobby Lobby for the Following items:

Available Here and Here - or in the scrapbooking section of Hobby Lobby

Step 2 - go to Michael's for the Following Washi Tape Tube:

Not available online at this time - but you can find it in store!

Step 3: Turn on Netflix and get comfy!

Step 4: Using the 'Create your own Calendar Sticker Pack' from Hobby Lobby Date your Monthly pages.

Step 5: Using the Calendar Date Stickers - date your weekly pages.  I only put dates on the weeks I was in school (I skipped the weeks of Christmas Break, Winter Break and Spring Break).  I suggest writing the dates on post-it notes and sticking it to each weekly spread first.

Step 6: Start having fun with Washi Tape!  I used Washi Tape on my monthly and weekly spreads to mark when we had days off or vacations.  I also used the additional stickers from the 'Create your own Calendar Sticker Pack' to mark whether it was a day off or vacation, and to mark holidays!  I also plan to use 4 different colors of Washi Tape to tape the edges of my weekly spreads to mark the 4 different marking periods.  I haven't done this yet though because our marking period dates have not come out yet and while I could make an educated guess - I don't want to be wrong!

Step 7: Start writing lesson plans!  I haven't done this yet either.  I don't start until September so this step will have to wait... but I am ready for it!

What do you use for a planner? Are you a Paper and Pencil or Digital Planner?  Binder? Arc? Spiral? Print it yourself or Purchase?  Color or Black and white?

Are you on instagram?  Link up with me (@michelle_alltogether) to show off your teacher planner and use #MyTeacherPlanner

Here's Mine:

And here's a blank one for you!

And don't forget to check out Keeping Up With Mrs. Harris and Kreative in Kinder to check out everyone else's Plan With Me Sunday!

Plan with me Sunday

Monday, July 27, 2015

Plan with me Sunday!

.... On Wednesday

Ok, so I'm very very late to the party.  But I have a 2 month old and a cold, so you'll forgive me right?

I actually wasn't going to link up, but then Kim from I Teach Stem shared Thing Link on FB.  She used it to create her About Me.  I'm going to use it today to show you my planner supplies!

Just click the little white dots to learn more!

Wasn't that fun!

Go ahead to either Keeping Up with Mrs. Harris or Kreative in Kindergarten to read about everyone else's planner supplies.

Plan with me Sunday!

Wednesday, July 22, 2015

Plan with me Sundays (On Monday) - Make your planner work for you!

Hello friends ... I was so excited when Meghan from Keeping Up With Mrs. Harris and Robyn from Kreative in Kindergarten announced on instagram (my favorite social media site ... FOLLOW ME!) that they would be doing a linky party centered on one of my most favorite things!  My Planner!

You see... I am a #planneraddict.  It all started with my friend Krystina (hey ... she blogs too at Adventures of a Wanderlust Teacher)  One day we were chatting about her new Christmas present the Erin Condren Teacher Planner.  It was pretty, it was colorful and I was jealous.  However it wasn't something I would have bought myself (it's a bit pricey, and I'm not diligent about writing lesson plans - so much of what I do changes no mater what is written in my planner.)

Then she showed me her Erin Condren Life Planner.  Again it was pretty and it was colorful and I thought hmmmmm... maybe that would help me get a bit more organized.  So I thought about it, and I poked around on the website.  I decided it was too expensive.  And I poked around on the website.  And I decided that my husband would give me one as a birthday gift!  That is totally legitimate ... right?

So it arrived!

 Sorry for the terrible lighting - I am not a photographer by any stretch! And it was a rainy, gray day so very little natural light.

At first I had no idea what to do!  But I jumped right in anyway!  At first I tried color coding things.  Home, work, cleaning, blog etc... Here was my dilema... in the morning I'm getting ready for work and during the day I'm at work - those two sections were fairly useless to me

 Then I started following some planstagram accounts (instagram accounts for #planneraddicts in which super talented and creative people post pictures of their beautifully decorated and planned out lives.)  Looking at these accounts brought me to the realization that I could customize my planner to work for me... so that is what I did.

I made stickers (tutorial HERE ... and check out the rest of her site while you're there - she has a bunch of free printable stickers and other things!)  My stickers say "eat and drink" with a water drop sticker to remind me to hydrate, "to do list", "don't forget" and "today".

I used this system for a few months adding in stickers and making some additional ones.  This was also when I discovered that I could buy stickers on Etsy.  This was super bad for my wallet - but super good for my planner prettiness!

I was still using the top box to write down my lunch and dinner, and to track my water intake.  The middle was my "to do list" where I wrote down my tasks for the day... and the bottom my 'don't forget' which was where I kept track of my appointments and my regular weekly tasks.  The very bottom was where I made a quick reflection on what kind of day I'd had.  The left sidebar was for my grocery list!

I was also using a different color for each day as you can see!

I decided I wasn't using my top box efficiently enough (I just don't need that much space to write my meals)  So I made full sized stickers where I could put my meals, water intake and two things I needed to do everyday (this way I wouldn't have to write them in - they were already on the sticker)  I also included a little box at the bottom to track my spending - this was something I was not good at!  The other two sections remained the same.

Then I tried a routines or habits tracker on the left side-bar.  This did not work overly well for me. Especially on Thursday thru Sunday when my planner was folded over and I couldn't see it.  I made the $ section bigger (at the top) to track incomings and outgoings for our banking accounts (kind of like my check register).  The other sections remained the same.

In April I decided the top section would be my school to-do's and I moved my dinner over to the left side.  I still hadn't given up on my routines.

Now that I am home for the summer on my maternity leave I have put the dinner and water tracker back in the top section - with space to track my workouts.  It's kind of my health section.  The other sections are still the same!

So what is my point in this very long winded post.  Make the planner work for you.  My planner did not stay the same from month to month.  I had to change it up depending on what was working for me and what wasn't.  I doubt my planner has reached it's final state.  Chances are good that I will be changing the layout again as soon as this sheet of layout stickers is used up. 

Plan with me Sundays (On Monday) - Make your planner work for you!

Monday, June 22, 2015

Peek at My Week - Jan 12

I am so proud of myself! I am back for another week to link-up with Ms. Wills Kindergarten for a Peek at My Week!

Unfortunately I don't have any pictures or a great deal to say about last week - In my K group one student was absent all week and we had a delay which cancels my first grade group - so basically the teaching I actually did... didn't completely follow my plans.  BUT I felt so much more ready for the week than I have all year!

I will try to remember to take notes and pictures this week so next week I can do a review!

First up this week is Kindergarten.  Bonus - I'm planned out for the next two weeks!  I did this because Monday is a holiday so I took a chunkier unit (body parts) and broke it up into 2 - 4 day sessions with one day at the end to put all the pictures in our dictionary (the kids love doing this!)

You'll notice "Play Simon Says" is on here a lot - The kids love leading Simon Says it's both vocabulary and speaking practice and whenever I do a Body Unit we play a lot! (Even when I did it with 3rd, 4th and 5th one year!)

PDF with Clickable Links can be found HERE

Next up is first grade.  To make up for the fact that I am planned 2 weeks out for K - I am not planned for first on Friday (*sigh*)  Granted I have a general outline for the unit - but no written plans yet.  That is Monday's goal!  (I'm writing it down on my to-do list and everything!)

I have fewer TPT materials for this unit - but I am using my Oxford Picture Dictionary for the Content Areas for Kids a lot this unit.  Folks - this is a great resource for ESL/ELL kiddos.  It is by no means perfect and I find myself adapting or supplementing a lot, but it is a really, really good base!

PDF with Clickable Links can be found HERE

Ok I need to pack my lunch and school bag and get out my clothes for tomorrow!

Head over to Ms. Wills Kindergarten to see what everyone else will be doing this week!

Peek at My Week - Jan 12

Sunday, January 11, 2015

Peek at my Week!

When I started blogging this summer I came across Mrs.Wills Kindergarten's weekly link-up: Peek at my Week, and I said to myself: YES! I will do that! - guess what? It didn't happen.  There were a few reasons which I won't go into, but the good news:  I did it for this coming week!

I only typed up plans for K and 1.  I'm starting off slow...

Click here for PDF with Clickable Links!

Click here for PDF with Clickable Links!

Go To Mrs. Wills Kindergarten to see what everyone else will be up to for this first week for 2015!

Peek at my Week!

Sunday, January 4, 2015

Meet the Teacher Blogger!

Thanks to Stephanie at Falling into First for hosting this linky!  I am new to blogging and I have really loved every moment of this new experience, and getting to know other bloggers!

A little bit about me (a condensed version of my about me!)

I am a wife

I am a daughter

I am a big sister

And mom to two furbabies!

These are a few of my favorite things...

Craft Stores, Craft Supplies, Office Supplies (Especially pens - I love a good pen), Really good cheeseburgers... ICE CREAM... peanut butter

Oh and I suppose my hubs, family and dogs too... ;)

If I weren't a teacher...

I'd want to be a crafter ... scrapbooks are my specialty!

Three little words that describe me...

Finish the sentence "______, said no teacher ever" 

I'm done with all my work...

Summer is too long...

I love standardized tests...

It's my birthday and I can invite anyone dead or alive to my party - who would I invite?...

My family and close friends, and my grandmother (who's passed)

If someone wrote a book about my life the title would be...

In Progress.. and Not Done

If I got to pick one super power it would be...

Gotta go with teleportation - since my family lives 3 hours away and my hubs family is moving across country - I would like to be able to get places in the blink of an eye.

What's my favorite quote or saying?...

"Teachers affect eternity, he can never tell where his influence stops" - Henry Adams
and many others... but that is the first one that came to mind (hence my blog name)

If I had to sing one song on American Idol it would be...

I wouldn't - I'd go to America's Got Talent and hope my scrapbooking skills would get me through.

Morning person? Night owl?

Neither - I'm good from about 7-10, before 7... after 10... I prefer to be sleeping

My favorite resource in my TPT shop...

I only have 3... so they're all my favorites!  However I just made my first sale yesterday which was super-de-duper exciting!

Go Check out my TPT shop!

Something you might not know about me...

When I was a toddler my father was a Vet Student at Ross University on St. Kitts Island.  We lived there during Hurricane Hugo!

Meet the Teacher Blogger!

Wednesday, August 13, 2014

My Beliefs on Education

I've decided to try my first Linky Party!  I loved this topic from The Primary Gal.  It made me think "hmmmm... what did I write in my portfolio?"  So I went to pull it out.  Those of you who know me won't be surprised to learn that my teacher portfolio is..... A SCRAPBOOK!

So I read over my philosophies and most of them I still agree with so without further ado....

I became an ESL teacher because I believe...

1.) Every student is capable of learning.  However not every child learns in the same way so as a teacher I must provide my students with a variety of authentic, meaningful learning experiences.  This learning needs to be engaging. I enjoy the challenge of creating these experiences for my English Learners (ELs).

2.) We need to create comfortable environments where students feel loved and cared for.  At a workshop today it was pointed out that students learn their first language in order to communicate with their loved ones.  For my students learning a second language they are learning that language in order to survive.  Can you imagine how much more difficult that is?! I can't.  So we need to make the environment for learning that second language a loving one.

3.) Students need structure!  A structure and routine will help to lessen ELs anxiety.  Once they learn the routines of the classroom they can focus on the content being taught.  Routines also make life easier for the teachers!  Everyone wins!

Why did you become a teacher?

My Beliefs on Education

Tuesday, July 29, 2014