Lesson Planning - What does it look like in early elementary?

[SJ.]

Every now and again I see threads about lesson planning. Frankly, this isn't something I've really done and wonder if I'm making my life harder or if it isn't always necessary.

 

I have been basically moving onto the next thing with everything we use, this usually means cracking open a book to the next page and sometimes making a copy of the next worksheet (WWE). Now that we've started SOTW1 I have to check to see if I need to purchase supplies for a project and I think I am going to put books on hold at the library about 2-3 weeks before I need them.

 

What does lesson planning mean to you?

[2_girls_mommy]

That's about it for me too. I do use a planner. I fill it in a week at a time, just noting the next lesson #s in each subject and making sure to include field trip and co-op days that we won't be doing lessons at home.

 

At the beginning of each year I do a little more planning. I divide up the lesson #s in each subject to figure out how many we need to get through in each month to finish in a year. We rarely stay on track because hsing affords us so much flexibility for rabbit trails and other learning experiences that come up during the year. But it is a starting point. As we progress I can adjust and still see where I am in the grand scheme of things.

 

I also type up a daily schedule and a weekly schedule of subjects and post it before the year begins. I actually type up an hour by hour schedule of what each of us is doing in each hour of a perfect so that we can see that it is possible to get everything done. Do we stick to it? No, not always. But it helps us stay focused and keeps us generally moving in the right direction.

 

And the weekly one shows what day we will do each subject. So some days the afternoon subject on the daily schedule is history, some days it is science, some art, etc. But I get that major planning done before the year starts or tweak it during Christmas break.

 

Week to week, there isn't much to do except for get ready for the week. I have to make sure I have requested books for science and history and reading a week ahead and make sure we have science and art supplies for our projects for the week, that kind of thing.

[amyrjoy]

Oh, I've tried the whole planning thing but my mind just can't function that way. It's the "next" thing, and I have many, many things hidden in my brain about what we need, etc. I do write things down, but as far as a tight schedule and things written for each day- no way. Not happening here. I WISH I could do that, but I've done so in the past, and I've never held to the planning! HA!

[WIS0320]

It looks like from your sig that you are using a lot of "do the next thing" types of curricula which helps with not planning! :)

 

I have to plan science and history since we are doing unit studies that I have put together on my own as I couldn't find what I wanted already made.

[SJ.]

2_girls_mommy,

Does your weekly schedule say these subjects on these days and your daily schedule say XX time to XX time we will do this subject OR does it lay out each calendar day with exactly what pages/lessons of each curriculum you will do?

 

Hope that made sense. What I mean is:

 

A. Mon - Grammar, Spelling, Math, Writing, Reading, History; Tues - Grammar Spelling, Math, Writing, Reading, Science; etc.

 

Mondays: 830-900 Grammar; 905-930 Spelling; etc.

 

OR

 

B.

 

Monday Jan 15: Grammar lesson 15 (pgs 30-33), Spelling lesson 12, etc.

[2_girls_mommy]

My weekly calendar of which there is one printed copy hanging up just says that on Mondays we will do these subjects.

 

 

My daily time schedule of which there is printed copy hanging up breaks down a day by hour. I schedule it so that each dd is working on something she can do independently while I am working with the other on something.

 

ex:

 

Monday:

 

9:00 am- 10:00

dd9: spelling workbook, memorywork, writing assignment. She has some type of writing each day from the day before. If not a penmanship page.

 

dd7: work with mom on spelling and phonics and handwriting sheet

 

10:00- 10:30

 

dd9 work with mom on speed drills, corrections, and today's lesson

 

dd7: continue in phonics or whatever we were working on.

 

10:30-11:00

 

dd9: do independent math work

 

dd7: continue working with mom. Move into English when ready. (L.A. stuff is her hardest work of the day!)

 

11:00-11:30

 

dd9: assigned reading

 

dd7: math with mom.

 

11:30-12:00

 

dd9: latin with mom on 3 days a week, music on one day (see weekly calendar to know which)

 

dd7: finish anything or free time or color and listen to us do latin.

 

NOON: LUNCH

 

12:30 I read aloud while they eat.

 

12:45_1:15 kids play outside required in good weather.

 

1:15-1:45 or 2:00

dd9 do English with mom (5 min) then do lesson

 

1:15- 2:00

dd7 finish any work from the morning, then practice piano for 15 miniutes.

 

2:00- 2:15

dd9 piano practice

 

2:15-3:00

 

both girls quiet reading/rest time

 

3:00 -4:00

 

afternoon subject (refer to weekly schedule to see which we do depending on which day it is.)

 

4:00-5:00 or 5:30

 

play outside.

 

After 5:30: dinner, homework (completing anything not done, usually math for dd9,) baths, stories etc.

 

**** We do not stick to this perfectly. Well, dd9 usually does pretty close. She thrives on a schedule. Dd7 and I get her work done in our together times, just moving to the next thing when we can and breaking when it is my time to work with older sis.

 

Flexibility within a schedule is a good mix for us.

[2_girls_mommy]

So to answer your question, I do not print out a page showing exact lesson #s for each day of the year.

 

I do however keep a paper planner, but I only fill it out at the beginning of each week. If we finished math lesson 91 last week then we will start Monday with math lesson 92. If dd is stuck on mastering a lesson, we may not move beyond lesson 92 this week. We would just continue working on that lesson and doing games and things during our math period, using whatever was necessary to master it. And then when she gets it we will move forward. I would just note in the planner what we did each day.

 

At the beginning of the week I will note if we have a co-op day or field trip any day, and not schedule lessons there. I will jot the field trip and what we learned about that day in the proper square (science museum, focused on simple machine exhibit in the science box, etc)

 

So it works like a small planner, and a journal of what was accomplished all in one.

[Ecclecticmum]

I am doing a sonlight type planner with a 36 week file system, so yes, I plan.

 

I NEVER plan dates though, everything is Week 1, Day 1. I have a date thing up the top of my excel planner, so when we start that week, I just note down the date started.

 

I have the SL-type planner, and Supplies, Movies and Books List. So every 4-6 weeks, I purchase supplies needed for the next 6 week lot. I hold books for us from the library and collect them at 1-3 week intervals (we can hold/put them aside for us online, so just have to go in and pick them up). Movies are organised weekly and there for us to use.

 

Basically if I had to jog around at the last moment and try to figure out what we need, school would never get done, as we would never have the supplies. DH would interrupt, kids would start going nuts at one another, and it wouldn't work.

 

I prefer to have the whole year there and waiting for whenever I am ready and not have to think about bits and pieces, photocopying, supplies etc.

 

But if I was using certain curriculums, I would probably not have to do much at all, or anything really, in the ways of plans/supplies. But we piece together our own sort of curriculum, and most of our subjects are very interactive, hands on, so require forethought and planning to tie into one another.

[alisoncooks]

I've been working on mapping out lesson plans for next year. I'm a pretty relaxed schooler and it has not worked for me to say I will do ___ on Monday, ___ on Tuesday, etc. Inevitably, my schedule gets out of whack and then I scrap the whole plan for the week and we watch Nick Jr. all day. :glare: (I have some all-or-nothing OCD-type tendancies, I think.)

 

I'll be approaching my planning by subject. For example:

Math, week of --/--/--

Lesson 1

Lesson 2

Lesson 3

Lesson 4

 

Grammar, week of --/--/--

p. 35

p. 36

p. 37

 

Science, --/--/--

read _______

go to library and find book on ______

do notebooking/narration pg

 

I made out a lesson plan template to use. Each subject will have boxes to check off as we finish the tasks, whatever day it is, all at once or spread out over the week. No times or schedule other than that. (In other words, I basically "do the next thing" when we feel like it...but I like to have boxes to check off for the week. :D)

[Sctigermom]

2_girls_mommy,

Does your weekly schedule say these subjects on these days and your daily schedule say XX time to XX time we will do this subject OR does it lay out each calendar day with exactly what pages/lessons of each curriculum you will do?

 

Hope that made sense. What I mean is:

 

A. Mon - Grammar, Spelling, Math, Writing, Reading, History; Tues - Grammar Spelling, Math, Writing, Reading, Science; etc.

 

Mondays: 830-900 Grammar; 905-930 Spelling; etc.

 

OR

 

B.

 

Monday Jan 15: Grammar lesson 15 (pgs 30-33), Spelling lesson 12, etc.

Mine looks like the last. My planner is laid out by week. It has Mon-Fri on the side and 7 columns for different subjects. Here is a sample of this week:

 

Moday:

Math-mental math 7-1 p.80, 7-2 p. 81, 7-3 p 82

Phonics: Review lessons 29-30, Lesson 41, sight words, alphabet tiles, reader

Lit: Captian Courageous ch. 1

Science: Skeletal and muscular systems

FIAR: Mike Mulligan:History

Spelling: Word Review, Pretest

[SJ.]

Mine looks like the last. My planner is laid out by week. It has Mon-Fri on the side and 7 columns for different subjects. Here is a sample of this week:

 

Moday:

Math-mental math 7-1 p.80, 7-2 p. 81, 7-3 p 82

Phonics: Review lessons 29-30, Lesson 41, sight words, alphabet tiles, reader

Lit: Captian Courageous ch. 1

Science: Skeletal and muscular systems

FIAR: Mike Mulligan:History

Spelling: Word Review, Pretest

 

How far in advance do you plan this? (For anyone who plans this way)

[Mrs Twain]

With do the next thing curricula, you don't really need a planner.

Before the beginning of the school year, I sit down with my 12-month calendar and schedule 36 weeks worth of school days (=180 days). I mark off the weeks for holidays and vacations ahead of time to make sure we are getting our 36 weeks in.

 

In addition, I reserve 5 mornings off for standardized testing (required in my state), 5 days off for sick days, and 5 days off for snow days/field trips.

That leaves 33 weeks of mornings and 34 weeks of afternoons for school.

 

Then I look at my curricula. Most of my subjects are do the next thing which will fit into a 32-34 week school year. If I am consistent with school (i.e. do math, grammar, spelling, writing, reading, etc. once per day, or my weekly program every week) then I will finish the programs by or before the end of the year. All you need to do is count how many lessons or weeks each program has and make sure it will fit into the 33 or 34 week allotted time.

 

I never write out lesson plans week by week for anything since there is no need for that. The reason this plan works is that I am a drill sargeant about our daily schedule. We almost always get everything done every day. We work for a 1 or 1.5 hour block, then we take a 30 minute break. We continue that pattern for 4 work sessions. We do all of our subjects in the same order every day. The kids know the schedule well and are used to getting their work done every day.

 

With subjects I plan myself (especially history), I pick which books I want to cover during the year. Then I count how many chapters there are and figure out how many I chapters I need to read each day to finish by the end of the year. Mostly I read one chapter per day in my history spine, so I just pick up where I left off yesterday at the bookmark. No need for any lesson plans.

 

Here is our order of subjects if you are interested:

 

Block 1:

Math, Go over Grammar lesson.

 

Block 2:

Do grammar exercise, writing lesson, spelling, +/- finish math worksheet.

 

Block 3:

Read aloud 15 minutes with me, then independent workbooks (vocabulary, handwriting, logic, reading comprehension.

 

Block 4:

Memory work, A Beka oral language exercises, history, lapbook, and one special.

(Specials are:

Monday--Music,

Tuesday--Civics/Government/State history

Wednesday--Geography

Thursday--Science

Friday--Art)

 

I try to do all of my photocopying and prep work in the summer before school so that I am not running around during the school day unprepared. This has been one of the best things I have done to keep our school year on track.

[NotSoObvious]

I've been doing the next thing type of teaching and we just aren't getting enough done because of all the traveling we do. I just can't stay focused or organized.

 

SO...my new plan for next year (I emphasize the word "plan" since I have no idea if it will really work) is to take all of our curriculum and chunk it into 30 weeks. Yes, 30. That is a realistic number because of our traveling. Then, I can do a week when we are home. I am not assigning dates. If I can't do 30 weeks of curriculum, then my kids should probably go back to school. :) It also helps me plan ahead and really spend time thinking about resources I can add for history and science.

 

I will use a filing box and have a separate folder for each week. If I find something I want to use for an upcoming week, I can stick it in the folder.

 

I also bought little planners for my girls where I will write their weekly assignments, like math. I'll do that on Monday of each week.

 

I do NOT plan WWE, WWS, FLL, or math very far ahead of time. We move at my girls' pace for those subjects.

[Mommee & Baba]

I started lesson planning 2 years ago. I'm lesson planning right now actually for next year. The subjects are all added to the planner but not all have assignments. The subjects such as WWE, FLL, AAS, and similar we just move on to the next step/lesson the next assigned day for that subject. However for science, history, art, & other subjects that have projects, library book lists, supply list, experiments, ect are all inputed just like the basic subjects but have assignments attached. I LOVE this. I can carry my iPad around and know that I can open up my planner anywhere and know what is planned for a particular day and not have to rummage through teacher manuals and experiement books to get a supply list. I do all of this prep work during our 4 week summer break. It takes me 3 weeks of that time to plan all my kids! I really get TIRED of planning towards the end but come mid-year I am so THANKFUL I tough it out each time and planned it ahead.

 

Oh I forgot to add one more thing. Previous years I would plan out subjects at certain TIMES. This became so unrealistic for us towards this last year but we stuck it out. This year I'm cutting OUT the subjects being attached to an assigned time. I just input all subjects and have all inputed to have completed that day by 4pm. This will allow ALOT more flexibility and for us to get use to having our curious boy starting up with school this year. I will have several weeks to be able to find what routine will work best and not have to adjust ANYTHING in the planner. This has set me at ease.

Edited July 10, 2012 by mamaofblessings

[mrsanniep]

I've been homeschooling for four years and I usually plan for the week on Sunday nights. If I have to make any copies of non-consumables, I do it 10 minutes before I need them. If I need supplies for an art project, I try to buy them the day before. If it works for you, don't worry about it. Some people really thrive on planning and organization. Others of us don't have those same emotional and mental needs. :)

[nono]

I plan our year first. As in, what days/weeks are we doing school. I aim for 160 days of "seatwork" (no counting days in NJ). So, last Feb., while frozen and bored, I pulled out the calendar and wrote up this 2012/2013 school year, which takes into account breaks, vacations and holidays.

 

Then, at the end of our school year, I plan the first 3 weeks of the following year, down to the exact books/lessons. I aim for the first three weeks to be a ramp-up to a full load. I then leave the rest of the spreadsheet blank, except for all the subjects down the first column. After the first three weeks, I plan out the next month. Again a month later.

 

I also have a daily routine and schedule, with clean-up on Sat. mornings. My children know that it's OK to not finish everything in a day, but by the end of Sat., we should have our weekly load accomplished. If I was over-zealous in planning, I will take the hit and reschedule the next weeks to adjust!

 

I plan because it makes my life easy. I find that having a clear direction makes life good for all of us. Also, if an opportunity comes up, we just slide the schedule a day so as to take advantage of the opportunity. That's why I love having a spreadsheet. Cut/paste...all set! We end up with about 10-20 opportunities a school year. So while on paper it looks like we'll end up next year on May 3, it's likely we'll end on May 15 or even later if there's a lot of good opportunities this year. :D

[angelmama1209]

So to answer your question, I do not print out a page showing exact lesson #s for each day of the year.

 

I do however keep a paper planner, but I only fill it out at the beginning of each week. If we finished math lesson 91 last week then we will start Monday with math lesson 92. If dd is stuck on mastering a lesson, we may not move beyond lesson 92 this week. We would just continue working on that lesson and doing games and things during our math period, using whatever was necessary to master it. And then when she gets it we will move forward. I would just note in the planner what we did each day.

 

At the beginning of the week I will note if we have a co-op day or field trip any day, and not schedule lessons there. I will jot the field trip and what we learned about that day in the proper square (science museum, focused on simple machine exhibit in the science box, etc)

 

So it works like a small planner, and a journal of what was accomplished all in one.

 

this is exactly what I do

[NittanyJen]

My lesson plans look like a lot of the PP's.

 

*For each subject, I have a list of the daily chunks to make happen. Then I treat each as a do-the-next-thing-- if a concept isn't grasped, we take our time and get it before moving on. If a concept is repetitive or unimportant, we can skip it if we wish, or cover quickly.

 

*For each subject, I kind of have an idea of the minimum that would be acceptable to accomplish over a calendar year. This could be subject to change given major illness, family catastrophe, or unrealized developmental issue, or it could serve as a reprioritizing point if I realize we are way far ahead or way far behind (is something of high interest to my DS and needs special attention, or an area of weakness and needs special attention?) at the quarter, halfway, or three-quarter mark in the year. Usually we exceed these milestones, but there have been one or two where we need a little mop-up work during the last two-three months, and some assessment as to what happened.

 

*I no longer bother to map it all out in detail (ie assign specific assignments to specific dates) way ahead of time. That just causes headaches. I could not have predicted that mono would wipe out DS11 for six weeks this winter, during which time almost no schoolwork would happen for him. Or that other issues could crop up. I certainly would never have predicted that DS8 would jump from reading "Elephant and Piggie are in a BOOK!" to reading "Ender's Game" in the course of one year. Although many of his reading assignments remain unchanged for age-related developmental reasons, several have changed to reach up to his reading level from where i guessed it would be at this time. It is certainly NOT where professional testing had predicted he would be; he is far ahead of those predictions.

 

*I do, however, have my long-range mapping done, from here to high school graduation, on the major course areas in terms of history and science progression. Literature and Writing generally follow history, with different foci to cover different writing styles and purposes; i have interest-based choices built into that plan as well as covering the basics, room for advanced/AP work should either so choose, and the math progression will map itself out over time. So, yes, for all my flexibility on day-to-day plans or on whether we finish this year's history in July or September, I already know what type of history each will be studying in his junior year of high school.

 

*I do have a flexible biweekly map of when we do what school work-- that's in my blog. Even though it dictates what subjects happen in which weeks, it still fits our "do the next thing" style pretty well.

 

*I do use planning software (OLLY) but I use it only a few days to at most two weeks in advance to avoid the work of rescheduling things. It does automate rescheduling, but I just prefer to be flexible.

 

*My boys chose this year to write down their daily schedules in paper planners. We'll see how that goes! I went ahead and spent $10 or so each on the generic ones at Staples. I was annoyed because there was one there whose format I loved (for me) but they did not have an academic year format; it starts Jan 2013. Bleah. They lost my sale!

[Mrs.Gregg]

I start with a look at the calender and plan our start date and end date. I break up our learning weeks into 9 week chunks.

 

I plan by subject/text book and by week, but I don't put dates on it. Week 1, Week 2 instead of August 23rd etc. I plan our work on a 4 day model since one day a week we attend an all day workshop.

 

My intention is to at the start of each week make a big picture of what we need to do for the coming week and roll with it.

 

I've tired "doing the next thing", Just planning by the month (lasted 3 mos... then we tried "doing the next thing") I've tried weekly filing... only the kids got ahead in one area and behind in another.

 

I like the planning by subject and quarter. It lets me have a guide. If we don't get it all done. NO BIG DEAL. I just need to visulize what our day/week/month looks like.

 

I also write down any support books/titles/websites/documentaries I want to use more as a reminder to me.

[Jayne J]

Like many others, I tend to let some things be do-the-next-thing, and some are planned. The skill areas (math, Latin, writing, reading/phonics, grammar etc.) are do the next things. For these I assign a number of times per week, and in some cases a specific amount of time-- last year we did math 5 days a week for 30 minutes a day. Content areas (history, geography, science, art, music) I tend to plan, since I largely create these myself, using a spine. I write a plan for each subject--ie. for science we will first study motion, read pgs. xyz in our spine, then do experiment 1, then read supplemental book "whatever." I write out what I consider to be a full year's worth of lessons for the subject. Essentially, I create my own do the next thing list for each content area subject.

 

I do have a planner, which I use to help me remember which subjects to do on which days, and I fill in content area info every 6 weeks. I also use it as our family weekly calendar, putting in Dr's appointments, weekly menus, activities, etc.

[Tanikit]

I prefer to just do the next thing and find I cannot plan far in advance because I never know where my DD will be in even a month's time. We do the 3Rs everyday - Math is just do the next thing though I am using multiple curricula so change from one to another when we finish a section or when I feel we need a break or change or if we need to cement an idea before moving on. Handwriting I have been doing without a curriculum and I find about once a month I must make changes - so she learnt all small letters, did some copywork then I added in capitals while still doing copywork and now we are working on using lined paper (writing beteen lines) and I will probably start writing itself (creative writing) and spelling fairl soon. Reading has been read alouds with do the next thing for phonics. Science, geography and history are slightly more planned but never more than a week in advance because of my own work schedule - I need to know how much time I will have.

[MeganW]

I don't necessarily have a day by day plan, but I do sit down at the beginning of the year and say "I want to cover X numbers of lessons of Y curriculum during this year, so I need to finish Lessons 1-28 by Christmas, so I need to try and get in 2 Lessons per week." Then every month or so I look and see how many more I need to get to the goal, and revise as necessary. When in doubt, as long as phonics, handwriting, and math get done, I don't stress about the rest.

 

At some point last year, I realized that my math goals were going to have to be majorly revised. We had to stop math and basically start over, and at that point it became obvious we weren't going to finish the level by the end of the school year. So we went back to the beginning, but I made sure that we did a math lesson every single schoolday for the rest of the year, even when that meant some other things I had hoped to get to got tossed out the window b/c math was just heavy-thinking for one of my kiddos and so the schoolday became shorter.

[Embassy]

I put together my own things for many subjects and that is a big time hog. The do the next thing curriculum doesn't take any time at all to plan.

[Aspasia]

This is only our first year, but I have planned it all using the filing system discussed here.