Erin Condren Teacher Lesson Planner 2018

It’s that time of year! The 2018 Erin Condren Teacher Lesson Planner will be launching soon, and I couldn’t be more excited to share the updates with you! Samantha, from Erin Condren, was kind enough to send me these awesome goodies so I can share them with you all (Thank you Sam!). While I was sent these items, all thoughts are my own honest opinion.

GIVEAWAY! 

Samantha is amazing and is letting me giveaway a $50 gift card to one wonderful teacher AND a friend! You both will receive a $50 Erin Condren gift card! Hurry, because the giveaway is ending May 26 and 12:00 noon CST. You must enter on the giveaway post on my Instagram account. CLICK HERE TO ENTER! Good luck!

Most important things to know:

• Was originally scheduled to launch June 5, but is now launching EARLY on May 29!
• Will be a DATED planner for the first time ever!
• Two 12 month versions: July 2018 – June 2019 AND/OR January 2019 – December 2019
• 33 mm coil options in gold, rose gold, platinum, or black (BIGGER coil this year!)
• Printed on amazing paper!
• Interchangeable covers (as always!) OR choose a luxe cover option!
• Score $10.00 off your first Erin Condren order by clicking here! *

If you’re new to my blog or new to Erin Condren, I have a few past reviews in case your interested in how things have changed over the years. You can see previous reviews here: 2017 Teacher Planner, 2016 Teacher Planner, 2015 Teacher Planner

This year, for the first time ever, the Erin Condren Teacher Planner will be DATED! I know MANY teachers are excited by this news! No more worries about whether the planner will come with date dots or not and no more having to write the dates in yourself! This will surely save many teachers precious time! Make sure to choose your 12 month option when ordering. There will be two versions available: a July 2018 – June 2019 planner and a January 2019 – December  2019 planner. Choose the one that works best for you! Traditional classroom teachers aren’t the only ones who love these planners. Homeschooling parents, busy moms, and planners (the people!) in general love the teacher planner for it’s large size and flexibility in how to use them!

The cover that was chosen for me is AMAZING! I love the background color, I love the colorful pencils and how they look like a flower, I LOVE everything about it! No doubt there will be other great and inspirational covers to choose from, but this one is so perfect for me! Now, it’s true that I am currently not in a classroom teaching situation, but I plan to begin preschool at home with my son this fall. I can’t WAIT to use this planner to keep track of all of my plans and ideas!

Teacher Planner Highlights:

• Thick paper to prevent bleed through (80#/118gsm)
• Monthly and Weekly Planning pages
• Wet erase sections on front and back inside covers
• Tabs included are: Contact, 2018/2019 Calendars, Year Plan, Graph, Monthly tabs (one for each month), Checklists (I had 21 checklist pages included in the planner I was sent. Not sure if this is the standard at the time of this post or maybe you can pay to add additional sheets like in the past)
• Pocket folder in back
• Page protector in back
• Notes page at the beginning of each month featuring a dates to remember section
• Each month features a different color
• Lesson plan pages feature that same monthly color
• The lesson plan pages are dated and are behind the month’s tab
• If a week contains dates from two months, then the day boxes will use the color that corresponds to that date’s month (see picture below)
• Each lesson plan page weekly spread has eight columns, however, the last column is more like a “notes” section. This is a different design than in the past. You could use that column for an additional class/subject though if you needed to. The first column includes boxes with the day of the week and the date.
• Four colorful sticker sheets featuring cute teaching icons, meeting and event reminders, and lots of blank stickers to write on. Stickers feature metallic accents

Now, to be completely honest, I do miss how the old planning pages were more rainbow colored. HOWEVER, I do know and appreciate the fact that not everyone is as rainbow obsessed as I am. Does color affect the effectiveness of the planning pages? Absolutely not. The planning pages are very simple in color and I think that does allow more flexibility for people in how they use it and it provides a very professional appearance. The planning pages are quite nice, especially if you aren’t required to keep/write detailed lesson plans. If you like colors to be very matchy-matchy, then the only thing that may bother you is when you run into a weekly spread where you have dates that fall in two different months and use two different colors on a page. If that doesn’t bother you – then plan on!

The planning pages are horizontal in format, as usual, and since they are now dated, that may take away a little of the flexibility for some people. Each day of the week has 7 boxes to plan inside (the first one including the date and day). There is that notes section that runs down the whole eighth column that you could divide up and use to create an eighth box to use for planning if need be.

Lesson Planning is such a personal thing. Requirements vary from country to country, state to state, district to district and even from school to school in the same district. As I have mentioned before in previous reviews, I used typed lesson plans with my Erin Condren teacher planner because that’s what worked best for me. Some may see it as extra work. It’s really not time consuming at all. You do you.

All in all, the Erin Condren teacher planner is a very high quality planner, and if you’re into planners and know you will utilize it to its fullest then I highly recommend it to you!

This year’s new accessories:

Teacher Planner Folio:

This is my FAVORITE new accessory! Erin Condren has had the neoprene clutches for a while now, but the planner folios are a definite step up from the clutches. Why? Because not only will it perfectly hold your teacher planner, but there is built in storage! Slots are included so you can store things like stickers, note pads, behavior/reward tickets, compliment cards, anything you want! Plus there are pen/pencil holders! Everything zips up nice and neat to make traveling to and from school with your planner even easier!

Snap-In Dashboard and New Wet Erase Maker Set:

This year’s new snap-in dashboard is PERFECT for teachers! Super practical and convenient! I thought last year’s dashboard was more geared toward middle or high school teachers, but this one would be great for anyone!! Three sections are included on the front: Copies, Grade, and Contact. This front section is totally awesome because what teacher doesn’t need to keep track of those things?! I was always making lists of things to copy! I LOVE how there is a contact section. Pick a student or two each week to make positive contact about either via a phone call, email, or note home. Make it a priority to build positive relationships with parents!

On the backside there are sections labeled To Buy and Looking Ahead. Often, I had materials I had to purchase or remember to bring from home to compliment that week’s or next week’s lessons. This would be so handy to keep track of those things! In the Looking Ahead section you could jot notes about events coming up, things to remember, birthday’s, or so many other important things to keep track of.

The new wet erase markers are in a 0.5 mm Fine Tip. Four colors are included: Black, Magenta, Kelly Green and Turquoise. These are much easier for writing in my opinion. The previous wet erase markers that came out were a thicker tipped marker, so if you prefer writing with a fine tipped writing instrument, you may like the new ones better.

Snap-In StylizedSticky Notes:

This year’s teacher sticky notes are my favorite yet! I love the soft colors and cute designs! There are 220 sticky notes included in total and they snap right into your planner wherever you want them! Each of the 11 sticky note pads contain 20 sticky notes each. They are sized perfectly to fit into the boxes in your planner!

A+ Style Sticker Pad:

I LOVED last year’s stickers! But I have to say, this year’s sticker book is probably even more awesome! First of all, I love the size, and the sticker book fits perfectly inside the planner folio. There are 16 pages of stickers, with over 1,000 stickers in all! Stickers consist of: cute icons, planning and grading reminders, flags, tabs, full box designs, washi strips, inspirational quotes, and alphabet and number stickers. Such a variety and so many useful designs. All of the stickers have some type of foiled accent. There are 4 sheets of alphabet/numerical stickers: 2 in gold and 2 in a rose gold. While the alpha/numerical stickers aren’t my favorite or most useful for me personally, I know many out there will find the perfect use for them!

Planny Pack:

If you don’t like the idea of keeping your planner inside the planner folio, there is another option! The Planny Pack is leather-like pouch with an elastic band that you can stretch around your planner. (Or, a Erin Condren describes it – it’s like a fanny pack for your planner!) This will help keep your planner closed and allow you to keep some important items with your planner at all times (sticky notes, pens, pencils, etc.). The Planny Pack is offered in a few different color options. The one shown in my photo  is the new Woven Wonder design! Planny Packs work with the Life Planner or Teacher Planner (although it does have to stretch more to fit the teacher planner.)

Other New Accessories:

There is a new Teacher Tee available this year! Super soft, as always, and with a great quote – As you teach, you learn. If you have the luxury of being able to wear whatever you want to work (or if you live for those dress down days) this shirt would be super cute to teach in! There is also some fun new Flair! In some of my photos you can see that I pinned them to the inside of my planner folio to add an extra little something! I also really like the narrow but long sticky note pad.

I’m going to end this post with some more pictures of the inside of the new teacher planner! Don’t forget to use this link to get $10.00 off your first Erin Condren order! 

*When you use my referral link to receive $10.00 off your first order, I receive a $10.00 Erin Condren credit when your order ships. By me helping you, you also help me, so thank you very much!