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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