Erin Condren Teacher Lesson Planner 2017

It’s that time of year again! The new Erin Condren Teacher Lesson Planners are out, and it’s still as exciting as ever! I love seeing the updates and changes that come about every year and comparing the new planner to the previous one. The Teacher Lesson Planner isn’t just for teachers/homeschoolers, by the way. Many planners (planners meaning people) are starting to use the Teacher Planner as their main planner. Since it’s larger it provides more space to plan and make notes which can be beneficial if you’re a super busy person with lots to plan!

Like I did last year and the previous year, I’m going to go over some new products as well as what’s new with the planner and what it’s basic features are. If you’ve never purchased an Erin Condren Teacher Lesson Planner (or any Erin Condren product for that matter), you can CLICK HERE to save $10.00 off your first purchase! (I also earn credit for myself, so I help you, you help me, and I thank you for that!)

I was sent the teacher planner with the Teach cover in colorway Flamingo and Mermaid. It also has a gorgeous rose gold coil. I’ve never had any planner with anything other than the standard platinum coil and oh, my goodness! The rose gold coil really is fabulous! It just really adds something to the planner. It really goes well with the colorway of the cover. I think I might have just fallen in love with the rose gold coil!

A little about the teacher lesson planner (pics of pages on Erin Condren’s website):

• Comes with a removable cover that you can personalize. Many different designs available and some you can customize with your own colorway.
• Wet erase surface on the inside front and back covers. Front cover area has lines to write on. Back cover is blank space to write in.
• 40 weeks of lesson plan pages. These pages are set up with the day of the week down the left side vertically. This allows you to plan horizontally across the two page spread. There are seven columns down which you can plan your subjects/lessons. However, if the setup doesn’t work for you, you can always modify the pages and get creative!
• Two pages to record absences.
• Four graph paper pages (useful for planning our your classroom layout or creating graphs to monitor student/class progress
• Monthly calendar spreads for each month of the year. These come undated. You can write the dates in or use the date dots (stickers) that come with the planner.
• You can choose your start month: August or January
• You choose the coil you want: the standard platinum, black, or rose gold
• Contains a two sided pocket folder in the back.
• Includes one page protector in the back (to add in papers or information), but you have the option to add in more if you’d like.
• Includes a pouch to clip in to your planner to store pens, sticky notes, stickers, etc.
• Includes seven checklist pages that could be used for recording grades, etc. with the option to add in more if you’d like. (There is also a brand new Record Book available!)

What’s New This Year?!

• The planner now has thicker paper! In the Life Planner word, the thicker paper is a major deal and people are super excited about that. Why? Well, with thicker paper you get less (or no) pen bleed through or shadowing. That way you’re not seeing things from the other side of the paper. It depends on the type of writing instrument you use in your planner (or if you even hand write your plans at all). The paper is definitely a higher quality and has a different texture to it.
• The pages have all been redesigned! The Painted Petals design is used throughout and the pages have more colorful accents. I find the pages cuter overall. (And don’t lesson plans need to be cute so we don’t get sick and tired of looking at them?!)
• The Dates tab is gone. In previous planner versions, the dates tab listed out each month of the year and listed holidays and special dates to remember. It had a little space if you wanted to add a date of your own. There was a full two page spread for birthdays that really wasn’t necessary as an elementary school teacher because I would have tons of empty space for fewer kids (than say a middle or high school teacher who would see way more kids during the school year). In the new planner, in front of each monthly view there is a redesigned notes page where dates are listed and there is space to add your own as well as a space to add student or faculty birthdays! (See more about this later)
• There is now a communication log (1 spread= two pages)! Has space to record the date, the name, and the reason for the contact.
• The Year Plan has some changes. The old version ran July – June, with space to write down notes, plan projects/events, etc. but this year’s runs January – December. To me, this isn’t a huge deal. It doesn’t make the most sense for an academic year but it is workable. You could put stickers over or re-label each box if you needed/wanted to or just use it as is and work your way August/September – December and then back over to January.
• Before the monthly calendar there are still three notes pages, but one is the redesigned notes page that features four large circles (for goals, projects, etc.), lines for notes, dates, lessons, etc., dates to remember (space to add own), and birthday section.
• The quote pages that come before each month are gorgeous and would be great for framing later on! They are all in a different color and look better than the pages that were in black last year (just my opinion!).
• On the monthly calendar pages, the days of the week spelled out instead of just a single letter for the day.
• Lesson pages have been redesigned! All lines are white (not every other one shaded in like previously). The header at top is slightly smaller. No more apple in corner by week number. Pages are less colorful overall but there is a small band of color between sections. Divided vertically instead of horizontally. Still have seven lines inside each text area. I think this will make it easier for middle or high school teachers to customize.
• MAJOR STICKER UPDATE! Erin Conden has really upped her sticker game! Last year’s planner had four sheets: two pages of blank stickers and two with text like assembly, birthday, etc. This year still four pages but totally different! Two sheets of blank stickers  (in two different styles), one page featuring circle stickers to mark IEPs and lots of other fun icons, smaller horizontal stickers to mark trips, assembly, conferences, field trip, etc. fit perfectly in monthly boxes or weekly boxes and one page with flags of various sizes, little icons (birthday cakes, coffee, paperclips, etc. as well as larger square and rectangle stickers. All super cute!

I have to say, this year’s planner is my favorite version so far! Even though the actual lesson plan pages are less colorful than they have been in the past, I think the change in design of the pages was a smart move and make it easier for teachers to modify those pages to meet their needs. I love the new design of all the pages and there are some awesome new cover options (the Watercolor Apples are just beautiful!). It is a quality planner and one that will definitely keep your organized and in style!

Planner Accessories

NEW StylizedSticky Notes:

• These snap in anywhere inside your Teacher Planner (or Life Planner).
• 10 different pads (20 sheets each) = 200 sticky notes
• Sized perfectly to fit inside monthly view boxes
• Teacher theme featuring apples and pencils with foiled/metallic accents
• Sticky enough to stay put, the larger pads have more adhesive due to larger size so they hold better (as to be expected)

New Compliment Cards Design

The Compliment Cards are perfect for quick notes to students, faculty/staff, or lunch box notes for your kids. I love the idea of principals using these when dropping by for a quick walkthrough/observation.

• 10 cards, all different colors/quotes
• Inspirational quote on front
• Blank space on back for message
• 3.5″ x 2″ in size

New School Tracker Dashboard (not on EC site at time of posting):

There is a new teacher dashboard that snaps into your planner and can be used with wet erase markers so you can re-use it over and over! Here is what is included on the dashboard:

Front side:
– Top Priorities
– Key
– Class/Assignment/Due Date/Checkbox
– Things to Remember
– Quote

Back side:
– Monday-Friday boxes
– Long Term Assignments
– Upcoming Quizzes and Tests
– Next Week

I often hear that the teacher planner isn’t the best design for middle school and/or high school/secondary teachers and that it’s designed with the elementary teacher in mind. This dashboard, however, seems more geared to that group of teachers than elementary teachers (in my opinion). As a first grade teacher, I would have never needed that much space to write down information about assignments being due or quizzes and tests. It depends on what type of classroom you have. You could, of course, make some changes to the dashboard by adding some stickers over the top of any text and change it to whatever you want to track/keep record of.

Cool for School Sticker Book (2nd Edition):

The new sticker book is better than ever! It’s my favorite one so far! The colors of the stickers are so cheerful and would look super cute in your planner (whatever planner you use)! It is called the “Cool for School” sticker book and it doesn’t just mean teachers. There are a few stickers that are more applicable to students (high school/college students) like the “all nighter” for example. Of course, if you’re in graduate school AND teaching you might need those all nighter stickers, am I right?! Here’s what the sticker book includes:

• 552 stickers
• Beautiful colors and designs
• Page flags, squares, checklists, little icons
• Stickers to mark 1st day, last day, meetings, exams, holidays, birthdays, projects, all nighters, games
• Cute stickers for holidays (but not too many): a pumpkin, candy corn, shamrock, leaf, heart, etc.
• Two sheet of sticker washi
• Two sheets lowercase alphabet and numbers (could be cute on inside of planner)

Colorful Dual Tip Markers:

I know most teachers have a preference of what they use to grade papers with. For me, it was Crayola markers. I always graded with them. Some teachers prefer Sharpies. These Dual Tip Markers are awesome! I have them in both pastel and the classic colors and they are the best marker/pen Erin Condren has had to date! I love how you can grade with the marker tip and then write in your planner with the fine tip! The colors are amazing! They would be 100% perfect if the Orchid color was a little more true to the color of the barrel, but that’s just me being a little picky.

• Six markers in pack, two pack colors available (Pastel shown above and the Classic colors)
• Dual tipped: Fine point and Medium Point (Medium is more “marker” like Fine Tip more like a pen)
• Come in plastic storage case
• No bleed through, do shadow through a bit depending on how hard you press
• Orchid and Gray a bit darker than the others but really pretty colors!

Teacher Tee

I was also sent the new teacher tee (seen above draped over my box). It is SUPER soft and comfy! It is a little shorter in length than most t-shirts I tend to purchase. It would definitely be great to wear on casual days or field trips!

The last thing I received was the Apple Flair Pin. How cute would it be pinned to your name badge or lanyard?!

Big thanks to Samantha from Erin Condren for sending me these amazing products! If you’re interested in any of them, remember to use this link to save $10.00 off your first purchase at ErinCondren.com! Or maybe you’ve already ordered your planner for the year? What cover did you get?! Tell me in the comments!