Lesson Planning

Planning Binder:
I keep my weekly lesson plans and long-range plans in this binder. These are the sections in the binder: Attendance, Lessons, Skill References, Long-Range Planning, and Student Info.

Click for a larger version. This photo shows some of the different sections of my planning binder. Attendance Records and Lessons are the first sections in the book.

Weekly Planning:
I don't buy a commercially made lesson planning book. They do not give me enough space and versatility to record my lessons. Instead, I make templates each year on my computer that have repeating elements built-in so that I don't have to rewrite or retype the same thing over and over. For example, I do a calendar time every day with the same elements, so that routine is a part of the daily templates. This is the "skeleton" of the day. It is where I list the basic focus of my lessons and any special materials that I will need. I often have separate outlines for my literacy block and math time with more detail. Guided reading group plans go on a different form.

Lesson templates 2008-2009 (coming soon)

Lesson templates 2007-2008

Lesson templates 2006-2007

Guided reading planning template 2007-2008

Planning notebook cover #1    

Planning notebook cover #2 (ThistleGirl graphics)    

Planning notebook cover #3 (ThistleGirl graphics)    

Long-Range Planning:
These are some of the pacing guides that I use to plan for the year. The math pacing guide is the one that our entire grade level uses. You will notice on it that the majority of the assessments are workbook pages. We have to use the adopted series' workbook, but we do other "hands-on" assessments as well. Because those differ by teacher, we did not list those.

Math pacing guide (updated version coming soon)

I keep state standards in the Skills References section. I keep pacing guides and grading period/report card deadlines in the Long-Range Planning section.