Chalkboard Name Plate

Today is the first day of school and I am surprisingly pretty calm. Normally I can't sleep the night before and I get super nervous. I feel prepared this year and even though I am already at 28 students, and probably will hit 30 by the end of the day, I feel like it's going to be a good year. I wanted to get more done this weekend for Monday Made It, but my new motto is, "It can get done tomorrow". Normally I would have just stayed up all night making things and then go in super early to set it all up. Then I realized, it can all be done tomorrow. So I will show you what I made today and show you the rest... tomorrow. ;-)

1. Chalkboard Name Plate

I bought these supplies earlier on in the summer because I wanted to get a head start on these name plates. Unfortunately for me, I waited until the last second. I filmed a quick tutorial, but I will be editing it late. Make sure to check back later to see how I made this name plate.

2. Teacher Binder

I also put together my teacher binder. You can find the file that I used HERE. I plan on making this my binder for lesson plans as well as a data binder. Normally I would always keep them both separate, but this way is easier. Next year I will definitely be buying the Erin Condren Lesson Planner. So much easier to have something that is already done for you.

3. New Shoes

I didn't make shoes this weekend, but wouldn't that be cool if I did!? I went searching for a good pair of shoes and I found some at my first store and in my size! That never happens to me!!! They are Clarks and I've hear really great things about them. Even the cashier commented on how comfortable the shoes are. I guess I will let you know after today.

4. Classroom Tour

I consider this my biggest Monday Made it of the whole summer and that is redoing my room. If you want to see more detail pictures. Please visit the blog post HERE.

5. Custom Borders

I also created my own borders to help in the decorating process. I have a whole post on this process as well as a video. You can view that post HERE.

Thank you for checking out my Monday Made Its and I hope everyone that is going back to school today or ones that have been there for a few weeks are having a great new year. And to all of you who are still on summer vacation... I hate you. Haha, JUST KIDDING!!! Enjoy your summers because they go by fast (like I'm sure you already know). ;-)

Planbookedu.com Review

I mentioned in an earlier blog post that I have been working a lot this summer in order to get ready for the school year. This school year is going to be a busy one for me. I am starting my 5th year and where normally one would be less busy, I am the opposite. I am starting my masters degree and this year I am also grade level team lead. With the responsibility of being team lead, I need to be organized so I know how to answer questions any other second grade teachers may need. I am also responsible for writing the grade level lesson plans. In the past when I wrote lesson plans I always had them in word documents. Where this was nice and customizable, it wasn't very efficient for me. I would have to save each week as a different file and if I was working on a lesson at home, I would forget that I had it saved on my work computer or vice-versa. I was tired of loosing lesson plans. I have also tried the physical plan book, but I found that these were not customizable at all. I would run out of room to write certain things and when I had a reoccurring event, like lunch or specials, I would have to write it in every day. For the past 4 years, lesson planning for me was a nightmare, that was until someone at work told us about planbookedu.com

Planbookedu is on online lesson plan book.

I have been using this plan book all summer in order to get ready for the school year. I love the features that it has to offer. For only $25 a year, I think it is well worth it.

Features (Pros):

• You can create multiple plan books under one account.
• Standards can be entered into your plans easily.
• You can bump, copy, or move lesson plans.
• Easy to customize
• You will never loose your plan book or have it saved on a different computer. It is online and is accessible from any computer with an internet connection.
• You can also save your completed lesson plan as a PDF. That way you can either save it to your computer or even print it out.
• Upload files to your plans that way you will never misplace any worksheet that goes with your lesson.

Cons:

• $25 a year (or free without some of the features)
• Difficult to print out easily

I have even made a video to walk through how to set up your first plan book.


  I hope you found this helpful. I know that this will save me a lot of time this year and in years to come.