A school year later...Erin Condren Teacher Planner (updated)

If you need a lesson planner to prepare for 2015/2016 school year, the latest edition of the Erin Condren planner comes out July 7th!

This is my review after using the planner for the entire school year.

(Link for $10 off at the bottom of this post)

Previously, I wrote about the phases of my lesson planning. I am sold on the Erin Condren Teacher  Planner. I also had shared the unboxing of my planner and what I liked but I decided to share how I used it and the overall usage now that the school year is completed.

This is my planner after the last day of school. Pages are crammed in and notes are in the planner as my organizational skills whithered away during the last few days.

The planning pages worked well for me. I added Avery 5770 labels to type the start times of my schedule on the headers. This a timely task in the beginning and then during mid year when our schedule changed, but I loved how neat and clean my planner looked instead of handwriting in each block. 

I used washi tape to divide smaller blacks of space for specials and lunch/recess times so that I did not waste blocks.

I did not utilize the monthly calendar as much as I had planned but I like the space to add notes. After each double calendar layout, there are double note pages and then one more note page. I utilized these a lot during staff meetings and trainings.

(Sorry for the blurry picture but I just wanted to give a brief shot of what I did without giving away too much information.)

I added extra checklist pages and got creative with how I used them as the the year went along but it's a pretty standard layout to utilize how you may need.

A few things that I did not utilize from the planner but would like to find a way to use it next school year.

Graph paper

Year Plan pages-I wanted to use them but our district had very detailed curriculum guides that I never added lessons to this section.

Absentee Log-my school has an overall high amount of absences, with an average of 7 days with a few students with up to 18 plus days. I had a hard time keeping up it using the log, so I recorded patterns or long absences. I also used for noting if the student was absent during testing.

Some of the stickers. Like the "furlough" stickers. I don't know if that is common in other areas but in Northern Colorado, it is not so it is not a practical sticker. 

I decided to rip out all of the extra sticker pages that I did not use to add to planner next year. I also trimmed the edges of the pages I did not use and try plan to use them for clipboard checks or data.

Overall, it held up really well. Nothing ripped, snagged, or wore out in any way. $50 plus may be a lot but if it works for you and you enjoy it, it's totally worth it!!!!

Now I am ready for my next planner and prepping it for the 2015/2016 school year.

Out with old and in with the new. I recently purchased a deluxe notebook with calendar (my version of a life planner since I missed the 2015 planner and didn't want to wait until mid summer). 

I ordered a similar cover because I was so attached to it.

https://www.erincondren.com/teachers-lesson-planners

As of July 7th, the teacher planner is back! There is talk of new accessories too!

Follow this link to set up your account and save $10 on your first purchase.

Your Referral Link :

https://www.erincondren.com/referral/invite/amylaney0504-0907

Teacher Planner Reviews and Thoughts

My fourth year teaching is coming to an end. Each year I search to figure out what planner will work best for me and be acceptable if anyone else needed to ever look at my lesson plans.

My Favorite!!

Year One
I tried a traditional plan book, worked well the first few weeks but it just was not flexible enough for me, so I tried an online format but forgot to save previous lessons so it was hard to go back to previous weeks or lessons.

Year Two
I did not teach an entire day, so I created my own format to fit my needs. I had searched through Pinterest and other sites and found what I thought would work best for me. My coworker liked it, so I adapted it to her needs, which she used for at least 2 years. I liked it but it was time consuming to create, print, and organize into a binder.

Year Three
The school year started but I was without a job during the summer so when I did get a job during the second week of school, I scrambled to pull together my teacher planner. I could not adapt my binder from the previous year in a timely manner because I was an interventionist and did not need a traditional binder. So I searched through TPT (Teachers Pay Teachers) and found an entire binder already put together with editable elements. This was easier and more timely to get me going.
I really liked the planner but it just was not exactly perfect and cumbersome the way I was using it.
The product was great but just not exactly right for me.

My 3 in binder...full of everything!

Year Four
Throughout the summer, I kept seeing Erin Condren planners on Pinterest. I watched a few youtube videos and decided to look into it. After finding what I liked and adding a few extra features, I created a $70 teacher planner. My husband thought I was crazy but thought I should treat myself. I found a link at the bottom of a youtube review video that saved me $10. (I am sucker for a coupon!)
The link is like this one:
https://www.erincondren.com/referral/invite/amylaney0504-0907
I am sold and super excited to continue using the Erin Condren Teacher Planner
*important savings note if you read this before May 31st
Erin Condren loves TEACHERS and there is a 25% discount on Teacher Materials.
Follow this link:
https://www.erincondren.com/teachers (code TEACHER25)

ERIN CONDREN TEACHER PLANNER REVIEW
First of all the delivery box is very cute. Every little detail is thought of to make the cost worth it!!

 The planner is well organized by section-

Folder pocket and a ziplock pocket with a bonus of stickers and labels

This is how I used it.

I started the year with color coding my pens to the calendar pages...that didn't last long.

I used washi tape throughout the planner to mark and divide things within the planner.

Double pages after each calendar month were great for meetings.

More washi tape to divide times that did not need an entire black. My favorite addend was the labels for the class section. My school has one early release day and that schedule is different than the other days, so I used Avery labels for the subject and class time. That saved a lot of time!

I added extra checklists but I did not use as many as I thought I would. It comes with 7 but you can choose to do 14 or 21 total pages. 21 was more than I needed but found ways to use them. 

Lastly, the planner comes with one one page protector, but I added two more. I should've just ordered it with one. I only used one page that had testing deadlines and never used the other two pages.

Even though I have designed my own lesson plan pages and downloaded other custom planning, the Erin Condren Teacher Planner is my day to day teaching assissant and goes to meetings and trainings, and keeps me on track. I will use the other binder for data organization.
Super excited to get started organizing my planner for next year but I will be waiting until closer to August!! So until then, I am excited for my newest addtion for the Deluxe Notebook with a Calendar from Erin Condren. It is my transition into a Life Planner but those are unavailable until the fall.
https://www.erincondren.com/deluxe-notebooks