It's arrived….!

So a week or so ago I blogged about why I was choosing to move to Erin Condren for my planning needs and voila….here it is!!!!

Isn't it BEAUTIFUL????!!!!!!

It arrived last night- picture this… I'm lying on the sofa wallowing in a headache and self pity whilst watching Dance Moms when in walks Mr T with a big cardboard box….I nearly hit the roof with excitement, all thoughts of wallowing evaporated!!

As soon as I ripped the box apart I was in love, smitten, wooed! My heart, from here on in, lies with the wonderful world of Erin Condren and here is why…

Firstly, you can personalise the cover and it's interchangeable with other funky and inspiring designs! 

Secondly, it is full of super inspirational quotes all aimed at teachers- way to feel special! 

There are a couple of elements which are more suited to the US classroom than the UK but I think I've found a way to make them work for me…

The 'Holidays and Dates to Remember' page is aimed at US events but each month has space to write

in more plus I think I'm going to utilise this page to remind me of important dates for my Teachers Pay Teachers products.

I also won't get too much use out of this page as all our registers are done on a computer system and as I have the same class all day, every day then I have a pretty good idea of what my littlies have missed so I think I will use these pages to keep track of important letters they might have missed.

Now, I might have clicked the option to include more of this section- oops! 

It is basically a mark-book which will be great for keeping track of our weekly Basic Skills test scores, who has brought their homework in and who has returned letters but I'm pretty sure I don't need 21 pages of it! 

So….past the bits I won't use so much and onto the amazingness that is THE TEACHER PLANNER!!!!

At the front of the planner is a really useful page where I can note down passwords which is fab as we have to update our school email passwords about once per month and I am always forgetting mine! I will also use the 'Happy Birthday' page this year as I need to use the wall space I have my Birthday's up on for something else. Also this means I can always have their Birthday card ready on the right day! 

The planner is also littered with 'Notes' pages- a teacher can never have too many of those right?!

 I adore this page- I like to plan out how my year will go over the Summer break- including the kinds of trips our class will go on and when I need to make time for events and gifts- LOOOOVE IT!

I think I will use these pages but totally see how other might choose not to. I'm planning on photocopying the 'Substitute' page and leaving it for my supply teacher when I'm not in as I will probably have my planner with me wherever I go! I love the 'Reliable Students' space!!! Hahahaha!!! Now who would I recommend?! 

And now to the best part…..the lesson planning section!!!!

There is a monthly overview section which I know my lovely teacher pal and I will use when we sit down to plan our terms work- I love that the planner is date-less too. After each month there is also a note page for extra ideas and noting down things that are going on that month- fab for using in staff meetings.

Next comes a double-page spread for the week- again this is date-less so will fit with your school year. Each day has 7 sections and for me that is fab- it means I can bullet point my main ideas for Literacy, Guided Reading, Phonics, Numeracy and 2 afternoon sessions every day with an extra section for anything special which might need planning in. 

The planner doesn't just have paper pages in it- when you get to the back there are several pages of preprinted and blank labels, a paper wallet to keep things in and a zipper pocket for little bits and pieces. I also opted to have page protectors included which is where I intend to store my Medium Term planning. 

 Are you sold yet? Do I have a fellow Condren Convert? No…? Take a peak at the extras I got then…

I ordered these cute extras (above) but the stuff in the picture bellow came as a fantastic FREE welcome pack!!! How amazing is that?! 

WOW- that was a huge post- thanks for sticking with me! I did intend to do this as a video post but my phone kept running out of memory!!!! AAAGGGHHH!!!! 

I'd love to know if you chose the Erin Condren route- which cover did you go for?!

Thinking of joining the EC club? Use this link to snag a discount…

https://www.erincondren.com/referral/invite/lauratodhunter0921

Keep me updated on your EC news peeps! 

A teachers gotta plan...

                                                 Hi friends how is your weekend going? 

One thing I know all of us teachers have in common is planning but how we go 

about it…well that's a little more unique!

My school has a set planning format for both Literacy and Numeracy on 

offer if you wish to use it and up until Christmas this year, I did. 

A few years ago (political comment coming up) the current government made some 

changes to work and pay conditions. 

Needless to say the Teacher Unions were not impressed and, along with a string of strikes, called for teachers to work to rule. Obviously each teacher's stance on this was very personal however as a school we had to make some common decisions- if one person said no to doing something then it 

meant no for all of us and in our school this ushered in the end to planning scrutinies. 

Make of this what you will but whilst I still continued to plan away to my usual standard, others relaxed somewhat and so long as they were covering the non-negotiables this wasn't a problem. 

Why then was I still typing page after page? Well… if I am being totally honest, I was afraid! Afraid that if I didn't then I would a) be told off and b) forget something! 

Neither of these things has happened but why the sudden change to the way I plan?! 

A number of years ago a fell over and broke my left wrist (Yes! I had had a couple of glasses of wine…how ever did you guess?!) and it has never felt quite the same since. 

This hasn't been much of a problem though up until the past 8 months when my right wrist has suddenly begun to ache and go stiff and the fingers sometimes get a bit numb…

all when I have been typing a lot!! 

I thought about it and the 2 occasions I spend typing the most are (surprise, surprise) when I am blogging and when I am lesson planning! 

Well…a blogger gotta blog and there is no way around using the computer for that but, whilst a teacher gotta plan there is another way…write it out! 

I noticed on Instagram that a lot of my US friends hand wrote in pretty planners rather than typing-

 I love a diary and couldn't live without my multitude of sharpies or washi-tape collection so this totally 

seemed the way forward for me! 

I did some research and fell in love with the Erin Condren planners but, oh the price! 

I needed to know if this way would work for me before I shelled out on a beautiful, but costly notebook. So I decided to buy a basic Puka Pad and section it off myself.

I included an overview of the units to be covered each week and then dedicated a page to Literacy and a page to Numeracy. I made sure I included the nonnegotiable elements at the top 

(WALT and Success Criteria)

I simply made notes for the rest of the lesson with post-its for extra detail or changes I need to make.

This has been the biggest change for me- I am a self-confessed over planner! 

Notes just felt wrong somehow but I reassured myself that, having taught the same year group, in the same school, the exact same units for the past 8 years and having kept all of those in digital, 

if not hard copy, then I would be fine! 

Should I need more detail- all I had to do was pop my pen drive in and pull up the relevant lesson plan. Of course, I have continued to formally plan on the school's planning sheets for observations but other than that I haven't looked back! 

So...

Yep I took the plunge! It was a hard choice between the Life and Teacher planner for me but having read Sailing into Second's post and watching Dairy of a Not So Wimpy Teacher's video about how they use their Teacher Planners I was sold! 

My Erin Condren Teacher Planner is on its way…I can't wait! 

If you decide this is for you or if you already have one but would like something else from her store then why not use my discount code?! 

https://www.erincondren.com/referral/invite/lauratodhunter0921

How do you choose to plan? Are you a Condren Convert? 

I'd love to know...

Half Term Sunday Scoop

I think this is my favourite link up out there!

It's time for….

Head over to the Teaching Trio's fab blog to link-up and get your week off to a super start!

Sometime over the next few days all of the children in our Year 1 and 2 class will be receiving this in the post…

Our new theme will be 'Fabrics of Fairytale' and a lot of our Literacy will be taken from this gorgeous book (click here to visit Amazon)

Our Learning Challenge 'BIG' question for the Half Term is 'Could you be the next Fairytale stylist?' and we're kicking it off with a Ball of course…only problem now is what to wear! I've got a beautiful Belle dress already but I'm saving that for our 'Castles' theme next year (the year 1 littlies will be mine then and you can bet they'll notice if I come as the same princess!)

Oh and then there is the issue of the following weeks costume…I've been The Gruffalo, Where's Wally, Princess Smartypants, Robin Wood and Sophie from The BFG in the past (we don't always do book characters…last year we were countries!) 

Any and all suggestions for fancy-dress are very much welcome!

I flew out of school on Friday as we were driving to Leeds to watch the rugby so didn't have time to tidy away all of my Valentine's decorations and the Space resources from this past Half Term so a day in school is very much needed!

Well the long awaited moving day is next week (fingers crossed) and it's been a long time coming- it was supposed to be October!!! So I will be spending a lot of my week off boxing up and cleaning as well as planning but I shall endeavour to squeeze in some Netflix and cuppas! What are you currently Netflix'ing? We're just about at the end of Homeland- any suggestions? Something cheesy along the lines of 'Witches of Eastend' would be fab! 

2 of my best girls have very cute baby bumps at the minute but, as a group, we're not really into the whole 'Baby Shower' phenomenon that seems to have gripped the UK so this week we're meeting up for big fat greasy take-away pizzas and some cheesy DVDs- bliss!

Any of you lovely people also on Half- Term? 

Let me know how you're planning to spend the week.

Here's to the 'no-school-tomorrow-Sunday-night-joys'!

Wordless Wednesday

This week has been all about breaking hearts!

We've become little heart breakers and divided numbers by 2! 

How do you integrate holidays into your lessons? 

Why not link up with Miss DeCarbo over at her gorgeous blog and share your mid week news?

Sunday Scoop 11.1.15

Well it's that time of the week again and I'm linking up with the lovely ladies over at Teaching Trio for the Sunday Scoop to help to focus my mind! 

Not that we do lots of worksheets because we don't but I am useless at getting the work stuck in the books asap once its been marked….3 weeks later and a pile the size of a house has appeared in my 'marked work' box!! 

We have been doing AR since September and up until now we have just been using the quizzes and test but are set to get the competitive/ self motivation side of it up and running- I've found some lovely clip charts over on TPT but need to put a plan together for how I'm going to disseminate the info to the rest of the staff- any ideas would be very welcome!

IT IS THE WORST!!! I hate having to unpack my case, get the washing done, sort out all of my make-up and jewellery etc but I suppose there has to be a downside to holidays just to even the awesomeness out!

I love teaching GR and have a blog post planned for next week but I often find I am planning the session the night before I deliver it so this weekend I have brought all of the texts I am using this half-term home with me and shall endeavour to have the sessions planned and support materials printed before the night is over- wish me luck!

As I was away for NYE I've not met up with my girls since Christmas Eve and I am desperate to hear all of their gossip- cuppas and cake are a must!

My wonderful little sister is 25 this week but as we live 3 hours away from each other I will have to wait until the weekend to celebrate with her but flowers and a card are all preordered to surprise her on the day- single mums rock and need a little spoiling too! 

I am entering this week with a PMA…I've planned a whole Space Camp themed Numeracy unit so the little ones should be fully engaged…should!!! 

Here's to a fab one

You my also like to link up with my blog-olutions post here

Sunday Scoop

It's that time of the week again people…Sunday night!!! I've just got back in from school after spending 4 hours setting up for our Art Exhibition tomorrow and now I'm faced with my usual Sunday night ritual of lesson planning, printing, laminating, marking and sorting out the weeks outfits! So just before I crack on with it I thought I would give you the scoop on my week by linking up with Teaching Trio again-

I actually don't mind planning and after several years in the same year group I've got at least rough plans for everything but I still hate sitting down to do it on a Sunday…if only I could get it done in my PPA time rather than doing exercise book orders, sorting out phonics groups, cutting out lettering etc…etc!!! The same can also be said for my rapidly expanding pile of marking….oh well the joys of the job!

This weekend my amazing cousin and her friends are hosting a Fabulous Frost Fair and I am head back home to not only do a spot of shopping myself but to man her stall full of 

beautiful personalised photo frames

- visit AJM Creations by clicking here…you never know, you could find the perfect Christmas gift for a special friend or loved one. 

Yes, yes I know it is still November but our Christmas play/ concert is less than 4 weeks away and we have 2 songs just for our class to learn and 3 whole school ones- I think you get the picture!

Now…I love a pamper as much as the next girl and I am fastidious about my tri-weekly nail appointments but for some reason, despite the fact I adore getting my hair done, I never seem to get to the hairdressers every 6 weeks as necessary…in fact I think I'm pushing 4 months since my last visit- oops!

Tomorrow we are having a whole school Art Exhibition inspired by Georgia O'Keeffe and parents are invited in for a coffee morning- I mentioned it in my Five for Friday post also- and today we have been in school getting it all set up…

                   

 I think it's looking pretty good don't you? 

I hope you are all having a successful day- remember, a Sunday well spent brings a week of content, or something like that!