Organizing Daily Lesson Plans

[kcnjason]

I have random themes and daily lesson plans. I am stumped about how to organize all of our daily lesson plans. I have so many papers and themes, etc..I'm looking for ideas on how to organize all of them so I am more prepared day to day.

[melskids]

i'm not the best at organizing paperwork, so i probably shouldn't be the one to dole out advice....

i have seperate folders for each topic, and shove everything that pertains to that "theme" in there. then the folders are in a big binder. nothing fancy, but it works for me.

[daycare]

i have ocd...lmao ok not really but i like my stuff over the top organized.

Pick a monthly theme....stick to it.

decide what you will want to teach with this theme... What is your goal?
What will it cover?
here is an example of one i did last year:

Month: April (5th-30th)
Monthly Theme: Care for the Earth

Goals (what you want them to know): An understanding of …..


Week One Theme: Bugs
Activities:
Color: Yellow
Activities:
Letter: B
Activities:
Number: 2
Activities:
Shape: Square
Activities:
Snack 1: Ants on a log
Celery
Peanut Butter
Raisins
Have them put the ants on themselves
Snack 2:

Week Two Theme: Dirt
Activities:
Color: Brown
Letter: C
Activities:
Number: 3
Activities:
Shape: Triangle
Activities:
Snack 1:
Snack 2:
A fun thing I did with the kids for snack. Crumble cookies (chocolate), Make chocolate pudding, gummi worms, Mix together. They are eating dirt. Yummy


Week Three Theme: Recycling (earth day)
Activities:
Color: Green
Letter: D
Activities
Number: 4
Activities:
Shape: Rectangle
Activities:
Snack 1:
Snack 2:

Week Four Theme: Rain
Activities:
Color:
Activities:
Letter: E
Activities:
Number: 5
Activities:
Shape: Oval
Activities:
Snack 1:
Snack 2:


Activities to think about when writing curriculum:

Large Motor Activities
Small Motor Activities
Make them games and fun
Hands on activities
Include a science activity weekly or at least twice a week
Send letters to parents about your theme and give them fun ideas to do at home
Multi-sensory activities
Have them bring things from home to share
Use as many recycled items as you can to keep cost low
Put ads (or look) on CL for things you might need. (big cardboard boxes are an example)
Monthly dramatic play area
Incorporate snacks with your theme and have them kids help with some of it when possible
Celebrate Holidays (even different religions) but don’t make it your theme.
Come up with more activities than you might do
If the kids are not interested, move on. If they are interested continue with it. Go off the kids, not the schedule. Except of course for eating and sleeping time.

[kendallina]

Here's what I do:

I have an excel worksheet where each sheet is a different topic (i.e. theme). Then there is a section where I list activities for each part of the day (circle time, small group, outside, messy art, free play). I also have a section for extra materials (things I have to buy or get from the library or just add to the environment).

But, I also have file folders in a file box labeled with different topics for activity ideas that I've printed off or just ideas I've written down.

I also have a crazy amount of bookmarked links to some great websites that I visit often and they give me a lot of ideas.

I would love to have one system and have it completely organized, but there is just so much information out there it would take me forever to combine it all and get organized. How I would really like to organize it would be to have a file cabinet, which each file as a different theme, then print off all activity ideas or write down the ones in my head and put them in the folder.

[Crystal]

After we have explored a topic, I gather all of the materials that we used over the course of the study and place EVERYTHING in clear rubber,maid totes with lids, including the books, toys/materials, the web of possibilities that I use to plan our study, etc. Then stack them on shelves in the garage. Everything for that particular topic is then readily available should a child say they want to learn about something and I can grab it and go with it. I then add new materials each time that topic is explored.

[Abigail]

I agree with Kendallina, I want to have a filing cabinet and have each folder cover a theme. I have not started this yet, but I be using Word and create a template I like and include different activities to make a complete theme.

When I begin doing this, I will make sure to have art and science activities and just cover the basics. I will do weekly themes and add to them once I have a good start and decide which order I want to do them as I develop my lessons. I also will have a list of books, songs, and fingerplays that can be done during circle time.

As far as snacks go, I'm more than likely to follow my meal schedule and add a special specific snack for some themes, like the ants on a log example from another poster. Learning the Abc's and 123's will just happen in order and more than likely begin in September.

A filing cabinet would definitely be very convenient to store all this in because it will take up a lot of space! I'll also create a folder of each theme on my computer to have as a back up file and store it on a flash drive as well...can you image working 100 hours on curriculum to use over the years and have a fire or something and wipe out all the hard work?! Make sure you have a backup storage system because this is a huge project!