Lesson Plans and Anchor Charts, Oh My!

It's like Christina from Mrs. Brainbridge's Class read my find because she posted her lesson plans and invited us to do the same.  When I was pondering what to blog tonight, the first thing that came to my mind was lesson plans and then I saw her post. :)

I've been through three lesson plan templates this year.  Three.  The first one was one a colleague gave me when I changed schools/grades.  It was okay.  I didn't love it.  It serve a purpose because I just wrote on it when I did my plans but I grew to hate it.  I previously had typed my plans for four years.  I am a horrible speller and found I just couldn't fit everything in that I needed when I hand wrote them.  So, I went back to my third grade template:

 

It worked for a few weeks and I felt way more comfortable using the template I had used since I started teaching. Although the familiarity was comforting, I wanted something different. 

Then Mrs. Jump started posting her plans for her Penguin unit and I was intrigued.  Her plans were so detailed, it was like I could walk in and teach her class.  Since I'm new to my grade level, everything is new to me, and I really like having more detailed plans.  So I typed this weeks plans like the following picture, which is a screen shot of today's plans.

If it looks blurry, click on the image and hopefully the link will be a bit clearer for you.  While yes, these plans are a bit more detailed and thus take more time, I'm loving them for several reasons.
1. They forced me to get really familiar with this upcoming week's curriculum, so I wasn't running around ragged this morning trying to read it all.
2. I am out every other Thursday for the next three months for Common Core adoption work for my district.  Having detailed day to day plans will make it so much easier to plan for a sub!

I still mark all over my plans, so they aren't as need in my binder.  :)  I love using last years plans to help me refresh my memory and help guide the development of my current plans, so I mark all over them! I found this awesome freebie on First Grade Glitter and Giggles and I'm sure it will make its appearance in my lesson plan book soon.  My assistant principal is obessed with blogs and Pinterest, so I'm sure she'll get a kick out of it!

What type of lesson planner are you?  I usually take a notebook to my team planning meetings and put my notes in the tab for the subject but then go home and spread out my manuals, search blogs and Pinterest and then type away on my keyboard.  With King of Queens usually on in the background because I apparently still think it's 2004.  I used to a lot of my planning at school but that was when I taught next door to my best friend and had a desk to spread all my resources out on.  My desk at my school now barely holds my computer, barely. 

On Mondays, in this case Tuesday, we spend a lot of time making anchor charts of our new learning for the week. Although mine are not very pretty, okay they aren't, I love making them with the kids.  I tried typing out the headers for my compare and contrast anchor chart but had a surprise parent meeting today before school, so they never made it of my jump drive and sent to the printer. Sad times.  Sad times. I'm not a talented artists, nor do I have great handwriting, so they aren't pretty but they get the job done. :)  That's what matters. 

I this isn't a new concept but today I let the kids draw the strategies for our anchor start for double digit addition and subtraction.  They loved it.  Which is awesome because we're making one tomorrow for subtraction!

I'm off to roll over my grades for report cards.  I didn't have a plan today,  I am the adviser for my school's student council and we met during my plan today.  I always kinda dread not having a plan time but always enjoy working with some great leaders from classrooms around the school once it starts.

Have a great evening!