Management Monday: Using a Planning Binder!

One of the handiest tools that I use in my classroom is my teacher's Planning Binder!  A couple of weeks ago, I posted about using Student Organizational Binders in the classroom.

TAA DAA!  My Planning Binder!

The Planning  Binder is the "teacher's edition" of this handy tool. I love that I can take it home at the end of the day and it has everything I need to "fully function" at home.  I have tabs for:

1. Classroom & School Information (class lists, calendars, addresses, contact info, tracking sheets, etc)
2. Calendars (1 for teacher reminders/dates, 1 for student dates)
2. My Planning Calendars (1 set for each subject)
3. My Gradebook
4. My Planbook
5. Meeting Notes

Planning Calendars in ACTION!

The Planning Calendars are, by FAR, my favorite component.  There's something about viewing a whole month at one time that helps me with my longer-term planning.  I am, by no means, a long-term planner.  (I really don't know how teachers can plan out a whole week, month, or even YEAR at a time!) The Planning Calendars helps me with this by allowing me to better visualize and schedule assessments and projects.

I know this isn't a revolutionary concept for many of you but I just started using this last year and I feel much more organized because of it.  I found, my first year, that managing a separate gradebook, set of calendars, planbook, and then random student information drove me NUTS!  Now it's all together in one location (something I'm a huge advocate of!) and it's even portable. NICE!

 I've attached the Planning Calendars here and a random assortment of covers.  Choose your favorite!  (These are directly taken from my Classroom Theme Kits, by the way...so enjoy!) :D