Planning on Planning

I just bought this planner from Target.  It is Blue Sky Day Designer.  I've had a Blue Sky planner almost every year for the past 5 or so years.  I say almost every year because last year I had this grand plan that I was going to have a teacher binder.  I printed everything out and had all kinds of goodies.  Then came the first PD meeting and I thought-- I don't want to lug that big old thing.  So I barely used it all year.

It is important to note that this is not my lesson plan book nor my gradebook.  I will blog sometime on those.  This is really just my calendar and meeting notes book.  I also include any notes that I may need in my personal life. 

I like this kind of planner because it has a heavy, plastic cover (meaning it won't rip!)  It is just the right size to slip in handouts until I can trash or file them.  I also love the monthly tabs.

I have this dream of modifying my planner to make it more useful-- kinda a teacher binder in my planner.  Here is a round up of ideas that I *may* implement to make it my own.

My Amazon Link

From having this planner in the past, I know that a disadvantage is not having a place to store my pen.  They have these loops for just $5 or so.

Source

This idea from 3rdGradeThoughts is ingenious!  I don't know that I will do every page but I think I may do the pages that mark the end/beginning of trimesters.  They are always in the middle of the month and catch me by surprise!

Source

I would like to glue a page like this into the front cover so I can have an organized to do list.

There are some pages at the beginning/ end that I don't know that I will use as intended.  I would like to change them to include some of the following:

• My Schedule 
• Assessment Chart (our district puts out a chart with expected scores for each kind of assessment)  
• Parent Contact Information
• Student Birthdays
• Curriculum Map 
• Standards

Do you personalize your binder?  What do you put in it?  Leave a comment or send me an e-mail!  

I am linking up to Plan with Me Sundays (two days late).

See all the links here!

Update:  Here are my first changes.