Sunday, November 10, 2013

Lesson Planning


Weekly Lesson Plans
I thought I would give you a little glimpse into what I do for lesson planning each year.  My first year of teaching I started by writing my lesson plans on a store bought lesson plan book.  When I realized how much work it would be year after year writing and rewriting each week’s lesson plans I decided to take things digital! 
 
I created this lesson plan template in Microsoft Word so I could open it up and work on my lesson plans at work or at home - since both of my computers had the Office software on them.  I created multiple text boxes and sized them into what I needed for my daily schedule.  (Each year I sometimes have to refigure my text boxes depending on my schedule and what I am adding to my day.) 

The thought of retyping lesson plans and starting from scratch year after year makes me cringe.  So I save my lesson plans on my computer on a week by week basis.  That way each year I can copy, paste, move, add, delete, etc. instead of retyping.  Here is a look at what my lesson plan files look like saved on my computer:
 
 Displaying My Lesson Plans

I print and place each weeks lesson plans in clear plastic sleeves.  Then I store them in a 1" binder.  I have placed my 1" binder on a plate stand and have it on my desk for easy viewing!

  
2013-2014 Lesson Plans
Thinking back to my first year teaching I remember how helpful it would be just to see a first grade teacher’s weekly lesson plans.  I thought it would be so helpful to see what lessons to teach, what time to teach them, etc.  So I decided to upload my weekly lesson plans here.  Hopefully someone will find them useful!  J

Click HERE to download my weekly lesson plans for FREE on my TpT store!

(I will be adding the rest of my weekly lesson plans as the school year continues.)

Yearly Outline Curriculum Maps
The district that I work in provides teachers with a math curriculum outline that lays out each weeks/days math lessons that are to be taught at that time.  


 
I saw how helpful it was to have a yearly look and perspective on things.  It helps to know if you are on track, behind, or ahead of the game with your lessons.  It was so helpful that I decided that I needed to make my own Language Arts curriculum outline for each year.  This week by week look into the curriculum really helps me coordinate my lessons together.  I try to align certain lessons together.  For example, my reading series story, phonics lessons, and spelling lessons are similar in what new skill is being introduced.



 
I usually work and prepare my curriculum outline map during the summer months in preparation for the upcoming school year.  It helps by giving me a general overview on what I am teaching each week.  It also helps me stay on track with my lessons and make sure I get everything covered each year.
 
When Common Core was implemented and I saw how much writing was stressed I made my own writing lesson curriculum outline as well.  You can view my writing curriculum and outline HERE.
 
I look at all my curriculum outlines each week as I type up my weekly lesson plans to make sure I am on track and covering everything that I need to!  :)
 
Click HERE to download the lesson plan and curriculum outline maps on my TpT store!
 
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12 comments:

  1. Wow! This looks really neat and you are very kind to share these, especially for new teachers. I decided to go digital too after one year of writing and re-writing plans! :)

    Christin
    Shifting Teacher K-2

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  2. We have an online program in my district that we are required to use to submit lesson plans so we have been digital for the past four years. The program is really easy to use. You check the Common Core Objective you are doing for the week (or day) and then just type into the box. We also have several different templates we can choose from. I don't really like any of them so I just do my own. Fortunately, my principal does not really care as long as you have all of the components required. Lesson plans are so much easier and faster now. I know that when I first started teaching I scripted my lessons and they would take four hours per week to write. I am down to about thirty minutes now!

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  3. Hey nice post man! Thanks for incredible info. conversational tone

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  4. This goes right along with what we are doing at my school this year. I have to admit, I was trolling the Oklahoma section on TPT and found you at the tippity top! I am right over in Norman! Following you now:) I love your blog!

    Brandi
    My Teacher Friend

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  5. I love your plans but I'm curious. You don't teach any science or social studies? We are required to here.

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    1. My science and social studies curriculum is intergrated through my weekly themes.

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  6. I was wondering what phonic program you use and spelling. We use Treasure reading but don't feel its enough.

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    1. To teach phonics we use a program called SLB (Structured Language Basics).

      https://www.payneeducationcenter.org/node/12

      The spelling program we use is one I have created. I am actually going to be uploading my Yearly Spelling Unit on my TpT store soon. We have tried to align our phonics and spelling lesson to the Treasures stories the best we could. :)

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  7. Hi. I bought and downloaded your lesson plan template hoping that i could use it as is but the problem I keep running into is that the only 2 days that are the same, are Monday and Friday with my schedule. Also, on Wednesday, we have a minimum day schedule. So, I am hoping that you will make a Template 3 that has a column every day for changing the time?

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    Replies
    1. I made the lesson plan template editable so you can change it to fit your classroom needs. You can move and resize the text boxes to fit your schedule. You can also edit the text. :) Thanks!

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  8. I'm a brand new 1st grade teacher (starting this fall!) and I REALLY appreciate you uploading your lesson plans for the first year, especially your first day of school document! Thank you SO much! I'm feeling a bit overwhelmed, but I think this will help me a lot.
    I love your blog (:

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