Erin Condren Teacher Lesson Planner 2020 (Binder!)

I can’t believe it’s already that time again for new Erin Condren Teacher Planners! The year has flown by. Right now, I know things are very uncertain for a lot of people regarding the way they are teaching, their job security, and the well being of their family and friends. Many parents have suddenly become “homeschoolers” in a sense and aren’t used to the amount of planning and prep they may be enduring right now. I sincerely hope anyone reading this is doing okay.

Samantha from Erin Condren sent me a lovely box of new goodies! The new teacher planners will launch on April 14th, 2020, BUT if you are an Erin Condren Insider, you will have access to shop a day early, on April 13th!

I was given the option of reviewing the coiled lesson planner, the NEW softbound focused teacher planner, or the new binder teacher planner. I chose…. the binder!!

Erin Condren launched a binder version of their popular Life Planner awhile ago now, so it was time for the teacher version! I was very curious about it, so I had to choose the binder option.

The binder is in the new Oh So Retro design. It holds 8.5 x 11 sheets of paper. The inside of the binder is a lovely yellow color. The binder rings are gold. The binder itself is very sturdy and very similar to the binders that have been offered in the past. I believe the rings are 2 inch rings. Just before we get started with more pictures of the planner, I want to point out the following:

I received a PR sample of this brand new planner offering early, before launch. The EC team is still working to perfect the hole punching. Some of my pages may have been punched in such a way that it cuts into the design of the page slightly. Orders placed at launch will be punched more carefully and not cut into the page design. Also, since I received these before the official launch, I don’t have exact links to the products mentioned. I did link to a category when I could.

Important info about this year’s planners:

• Launch for EC Insiders will be April 13 (click here to sign up as an insider if you aren’t one already!)
• Regular launch day is April 14
• Will be offered as a coiled planner, a new softbound focused teacher planner, and a binder planner
• You can have your planner begin in July 2020, August 2020, or September 2020
• Coiled planners will still have cover options, coil color options, personalization options, and a choice of the Oh So Retro page design or the Kaleidoscope page design
• Softbound focused teacher planner comes in a camel color only, but can be personalized and comes with two satin ribbon page markers. This planner is a lot more simplistic in design with minimal color
• You can save $10 off if you’re new to Erin Condren by clicking here

The binder version really appealed to me because of the fact you can add in any additional pages you need or want to. I always had pages stuck in my lesson planner. With the binder, you can just hole punch them in to keep them secure. You can also remove any pages you may not need.

If you’ve never had an Erin Condren Teacher Lesson Planner before, you can always check out my previous reviews here first: 2015, 2016, 2017, 2018 and 2019. I won’t go into super detail about the pages as I’ve already done that many times before, but I will show several of the pages.

The lesson planner includes the following pages:

• All About Me page for classroom information and resources
• Events and Volunteers page
• 2 Communication log pages (might I suggest, if you know you will need more than 2 pages and you don’t already have some sort of log you use, why not copy one of the pages front and back to make as many more pages as you will need and then just punch them and add them in!)
• Year at a glance across two pages
• Year plan – pre-planning pages for the year a(across two pages)
• 4 graph pages
• 2 notes pages before the monthly begins
• The month tab takes you right to the monthly calendar
• The front side of that tab features space for notes and dates to remember
• Your monthly calendar is spread across two pages
• Following the month begins your dated weekly lesson plan pages
• In the back is a student checklist tab for grades or other things to track. There are 14 of these.
• In the back is a pocket folder, four sheets of stickers, and 2 page protectors. (And let me just say, they are some QUALITY page protectors! Have you ever had page protectors so loose and flimsy your papers just fall out of them?? That won’t happen with these!)

*At this time of writing this, I am not sure if additional checklist pages or page protectors can be purchased at launch.

Much of the lesson planner layout remains the same. The paper quality is still amazing! It is dated. The page layout is the same. You have 5 rows, one for each day of the week, and 7 columns across the page for lessons. Six of the columns are lined boxes for lessons and the seventh column goes all the way down for notes or whatever else you decide to use that for.

As you can see above, when the month changes in the middle of a week, so do the colors. I always point that out in case that might be problematic for someone. It really does just help point out the transition to a new month. Each month uses a different color scheme.

There are so many ways a binder can be useful. You can add in separate plans for small groups. Master copies of worksheets needed for the week. A school or classroom handbook. Student information pages. You could add WHATEVER you want! 

And let’s be real for a minute – not all schools have the same lesson plan requirements. Some have teachers submit plans electronically. Some require plans out on a teacher’s desk. Some do not. I know a school where the teacher has the weeks’ plans clipped to a clipboard that she can carry around with her as she teaches and the rest of her plans remain on her desk.

How handy to just be able to carry around the pages you need that day! And don’t they look super cute on an Erin Condren clipboard! I hope they add those back to the site soon!

I think there are a lot of possibilities for the teacher binder. I hope they come out with more accessories specifically for the teacher binder, but you an also use some of your old favorites.

I clipped in this snap in dashboard from last year. It is not easy to turn due to the punching for coiled planners, but it does snap in and stay in place. You can just move it whenever you need to.

I do want to just say – if you try to turn huge chunks of pages at a time, it can be tricky. I have had that experience with every single binder I’ve ever owned though, so this is nothing unique to the Erin Condren binder. When closing any binder, I always hold on to all of the pages and pull them toward the edge when closing the binder (I hope that makes sense!).

Along with the binder planner, I was also sent some other fabulous goodies!

Should you happen to choose the coiled teacher planner this year, there are new snap in bookmarks in the Oh So Retro theme. I’ve read a lot of people collect these! It’s always handy to have bookmarks, and if you use a lot of Erin Condren products, these snap in ones sure are nice to have around.

As always, there are new Snap in Sticky Notes this year as well. These feature the new Oh So Retro design to perfectly coordinate with all of the other new goodies. There are 8 different mini pads with 20 sticky notes each equaling 120 sticky notes in all. The come in a variety of shapes and sizes.  If you choose the binder option, you could always stick these on your rings, like the snap in dashboard I showed above, or just tuck them in the folder in the back.

New this year is the Cool for School designer sticker book – the 4th edition. These are always so fun! This year, the size of the book is a little different. This book is sized so that it will fit inside the storage boxes (which seem to be out of stock on the website currently). Speaking of stickers, did you know ?! This year’s Cool for School sticker book features 695 stickers on 12 pages. There are fun and functional stickers, quotes, clear stickers, and washi stickers. This edition has 2 sheets of clear backed stickers, mixed metallic, and more!

If you don’t own any Erin Condren Dual Tipped Markers, well….why don’t you?! But seriously, I highly recommend these. They are awesome to write with! There is a fine tipped end and a medium tipped end. They are perfect for a variety of tasks from grading, note taking, and lesson planning. They come in so many fun colors, so you can choose which set best suits you.

What are you most excited about this year? If you’re planning on picking up a planner, which one will you go for- the coiled, softbound, or the new binder option? Remember, launch for EC Insiders is April 13 and the planners launch for everyone else the next day. If it’s your first time purchasing, you can save $10 off with this link! 

If you have any questions about the planner or any of the accessories, feel free to comment below and I’ll help you out as best as I can. I certainly hope we can get back to some sense or “normalcy” by the time next school year comes around, but only time will tell.

*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! Teacher Planner and accessories were sent to me by Samantha of Erin Condren. Thank you!