Planbook.com ... have you heard of it?

Happy Tuesday {that's what it was to me all day - until my husband broke the news that it was Wednesday!}!!!

No humidity?  I'll take it.  Sunny and blue skies?  Yup - I'll take that too.  It has been so incredibly hot and muggy here in MI it's been unbearable.  You needed to either be in a pool or air conditioning. Holy hotness. But today...was GORGEOUS!

I was talking to a friend on the phone the other day {The phone grows out of my ear, doncha know?  I'm on that thing constantly}and she mentioned that her school district is using Planbook.com to do their lesson planning.  That same day a blogger friend asked about it which piqued my interest enough to check it out.

Have you heard of it?  I think I may just have fallen head over heels in love with it.

Up until now, I've sort of been in this century...sort of. I mean, I don't hand write *everything* I do have a template that I write on and it has always worked for me {and I'm open to defaulting back to it if I fall apart}.  

But having them online, where I can access them anywhere, and easily send them to my teammies, or the office gals when I have a guest teacher, AND can very simply include the Common Core Standards...that's why I'm pretty sure I'm going this route for this coming school year.  

I can even add notes to my lesson plans that help the guest teacher understand our routines and where to find materials.

AND...I can include hyperlinks in my plans or attach docs to them.  

AND...I can make them visible to my teammates, my principal, my parents {there's a homework section}...

OH and it's only 12 buckaroonies a YEAR! Really - that's all. If you're interested in hearing more about it here are a couple tutorials from their website.  You can click {here} to see every tutorial.

It really only took me about 15 minutes to figure out how it works - I'm still playing around under my 30 day free trial... and find cool features each time. Are you like me?  When I find something new and useful for the next school year it makes me all the more excited to get back {don't get me wrong - I'm still enjoying my summer and am so happy we don't go back until the end of August}.

I just went back and re-read this and it sounds like I'm in cahoots with Planbook.com - I'm not. I don't even know the geniuses on the other side of...the...computer {?!} but I think I'd probably hug them if I did. I just had to share with all of you, something that I think will make my life easier and hopefully yours.

I have to share one more thing with you...I walked {like a pep step walk} 8 miles today!!!!  It felt so good...I haven't mentioned it here {uh, I don't think}, but I'm on a quest for a healthier me.  I've been "Instagramming" my progress if you're looking for motivation....

I've walked off 22 pounds so far!!!!!  Holla!

Toodles...

Subs and Lesson Plan Template

Peeeeeeeps!

I'm falling apart over here...okay, not really - right now I'm sipping coffee, blog stalking and praying my oldest who is on DAY THREE of being sick is all better tomorrow because he HAS to be - that's when hubster goes in for his surgery.

Yesterday was like any other day...it moved along at hyper speed, like it always does and then I called Grandma to see how my sick boy was doing and she uttered the words I REALLY didn't want to hear, "Not good, hasn't eaten all day"...

Of course I'm sad he's sick, of course I want him to be better, of course when he hurts I hurt...

BUT....

"Not good, hasn't eaten all day" = another day of sub plans. I already knew I was going to stay late to plan for the two days I'm going to be out for hubby's surgery - tack another day onto that = not getting home until 8:00 PM!!!

Oy.

I'm so lucky to have a retired teacher as my sub. I taught with her for years. She's awesome. She rocks it out like no other.  She knows the kids really well because her granddaughter is in my class.

So...

Why do I insist on compulsively planning?

Seriously, I should have taken a picture of the gloriousness called "organization".  I'm really proud of myself this time. I had three bins, color coded {pretty primary colors} and color coded my plans with the same color sticky note tabs {to match the bins}. They really were a work of art.  You would have been impressed.  Necessary? Probably not. 

Then, I had to organize my room. I had to tidy up. I had to make it look all pretty for my Guest {Guest Teacher}.  Why do I do this? 

Anyhoo - I hope she sneezes on cue...cuz Lord knows I probably put that in my plans.

Christina, over at Mrs. Bainbridge's Class {Click Here} is hosting an "unofficial linky party".  She posted a picture of her lesson plans and others have done it too.  I thought I'd put mine up for you to peruse. 

I'm surprised by how detailed some of the documents are that I've seen. I think I must be pretty bare bones when it comes to this. I'm with Christina, in that I like to pencil in more details, I guess I'm still holding on to a piece of "old school". 

Here are mine:

Click on picture to download PDF - you'll be able to see it better!

I print them back-to-back, three hole punch, and put in a binder. Where you see multiple subjects: i.e. word wall, word study, handwriting or social studies/science - I circle or highlight what I'm working on for that day and pencil in some small details - maybe a page number or a short phrase describing the lesson.  In the small boxes next to the subject I will pencil in more info if necessary, or put the page number{s} there.

With all the changes in legislation and the "threat" of my current principal soon retiring {I'm trying to stop that from happening} I'm guessing my lesson plans may have to change and include something about the Common Core {which Michigan has adopted and our district is fast and furiously implementing}...until then, they'll stay nice and streamlined...

Hope you all had a good day at school..I'm now going to try to squeeze a little school work out of my sick boy.  You miss a couple of days as a fourth grader and OH MY it's hard to unbury yourself!!!!!

{Okay, I'll do that right after this next cup of coffee...promise}

Holly