I’m the kind of person who loves a plan. Without one, I feel lost and disheveled. I will plan out my outfit for 3 days in advance and I know what dinner on Thursday will be the Sunday before. Daily lesson plans in my classroom, however, didn’t work for me. It seemed that whenever I said I was going to complete a certain worksheet on Monday, we would have 3 days of interruptions and not get to content that week at all. I needed a comprise-something that satisfied my need for a plan but also allowed me the flexibility I needed in my classroom.
Monthly lesson plans were the answer. The first thing I did was create a curriculum map. This helped me determine what I was teaching, when. I planned out reading/language arts, math, science and social studies on a monthly basis. I ended up with 8 overarching themes in the 4 domain areas to span over the year. To read more about how I created my curriculum map, check out this blog post.
I knew what I wanted to teach each month and I knew what resources I was going to use to teach, but I needed a way to stay on top of my plans each month. I struggled until I saw an awesome idea from a teacher I work with. After she plans with her first-grade team, she writes up a list of each activity she wants to do in a 2-3 day span. She crosses off as she completes an activity to make sure she gets through all the lessons. Brilliant!
I created a simple template to convert this idea to match my monthly plans. At the beginning of a month, I pull my curriculum map out and go through my library of resources. I write down each activity I want to complete with my class, whether it be an adapted book, worksheets or a project. As I find new materials I keep adding them to my list. This allows me to visualize everything I want to get done in a month. I also print copies of all of the materials and store any hands-on items on my teacher bookcase. This allows me to decide each morning what my next activity is going to be without worrying about being prepared.
As we complete an activity, I cross it off the list. I am a HUGE to-do list person so this appeals to my desire to cross things off. It allows me to keep on track, complete what I need to complete and squeeze in the bonus activities when we have time. I always found it frustrating when I got to the last week of a month and realized I forgot a really cool part of the lesson. This helps ensure that does not happen!
I have 6 pages I use per month. Reading covers both our books and our writing prompts. I record math, science and social studies plans on their respective pages. The weekly themes page lets me track which weekly themes I am completing in my classroom, as well as the activities within each weekly theme. The seasonal page allows me to make note of any special activities from other sellers that pair well with the current month.
On each page, I record the objective at the top. My students participate in the Virginia Alternative Assessment Program and are assessed based on Aligned Standards of Learning (ASOLs). I will make note of which ASOLs match my content of the month so I know which areas I can collect evidence from. I also have a column on the right to note IEP goals that can be covered during lessons. For example, students with patterning goals will get extra opportunity to practice during our patterning unit. I want to make sure I target goals in order to work smarter, not harder.
If you think monthly lesson plans could help you, grab my tempaltes here!