Do you feel like you are on a constant hamster wheel planning your lessons every week? It feels like it takes so much time and effort to plan every single lesson, center, and activity every week. That's exactly why I switched to batch planning and never looked back! I'm going to share a simple step-by-step guide to batch planning to save time and energy.
Why batch plan?
Batch planning is when you plan all your lessons and activities for an extended amount of time in one sitting. Typically, I planned one month at a time when I was batch planning. It's similar to meal prepping at the beginning of the week. It takes a few hours to cut, prep, and maybe cook your meals, but when it's time to eat, you don't have to spend time every day prepping it! With batch planning, you only have to take out your planner, copies, center activities, etc, one day a month. It makes it so much easier to plan because your brain is already in the “Let's plan” mode. Batch planning may seem overwhelming initially, but with a bit of practice, you will save so much time! Here is how I batch-planned my lessons when I taught Kindergarten.
Start with monthly overviews
At the beginning of the year, I created monthly “at-a-glance” overviews. These monthly overviews made batch planning easier because I was able to see where I started the year to where I finished. It helped me make sure I fit in everything that the curriculum or standards stated that I needed to teach. It was so simple to grab my “September Monthly Overview” when I was ready to plan for the month of September. I also liked to hang this up by my desk so I could easily glance at what we were working on for that month.
If you want to start by creating a monthly overview, you can watch my process here: Creating a Monthly Overview. You can grab these editable monthly overviews here: Editable Monthly Overviews
Plan one entire month at a time
When you are ready to batch plan, you will want to do one entire month at a time. I made sure I had a 2-hour block when I was ready to plan my month. This meant me getting in super early one morning or staying late one afternoon. The key to batch planning is to start AND finish the month's plans at once. If you stop and start, it will just take more time.
Next, you will need to gather the following:
- monthly overviews
- planner of choice
- file folders for each skill
- center activities
- your computer ready with any printable pages you may need
- holiday or themed activities
You will definitely need a lot of space to plan, so use the kidney table or even the floor to spread everything out. I also like to get a special drink that day, bring an extra snack, and play some of my favorite music to make it a little more enjoyable (but honestly, planning is one of my favorite parts about teaching!).
With the monthly overviews, you are going to break down each skill week-by-week when you are planning the month out. Open up your planner, look at the subject and then write down the main skill you are working on at the top of each week. So if you are working on short vowels, maybe the first week you work on short a, the next week short e, etc. Once you have your main skill for each subject ready, then you can start planning each subject.
Plan one subject at a time
Rather than flip-flopping between subjects every week, another way to make batch planning easier is to plan one subject at a time. For example, if I start with phonics, I am going to plan the first week's lessons and activities and write down what activities I will do in the little box next to each day. As I am writing it down, I will pull everything I need for that week, print any pages, and put it into my “Week of September 5th” pile. Then, I will plan the second week's lessons and activities, and go through the same process until I finish the entire month. Once I finish all the phonics plans, then I move on to planning writing. This makes it easier so I can easily go through one center bin, or one phonics folder on my computer at a time, rather than making a bigger mess.
Now you have 4 or 5 nice weekly piles with everything you need for the next month or so! I kept these in a 3 drawer bin behind my desk, one for each week, and kept the first week's plans and activities out to sort into daily bins.
Prep Tip: Making copies
As you are planning each week, you will need some printable activities. For me, it was easier to go through files on my computer and print one page as my master copy. Some teachers like to have all their printable pages in a binder or file folder, but this was easiest for me.
When I printed my master copy, I put one of these mini sticky notes on each page. I used these sticky notes to make note of how many copies, if I needed to print on regular paper or cardstock, if I needed to print front to back, etc. That way, when you go to make copies, you won't have to rack your brain trying to remember how you need to copy that worksheet. I've also used these erasable clothespin signs to help sort my weekly copies.
I saved making copies for the Thursday before the week ahead. Since I had all the copies sorted by week, I just grabbed my pile and made copies during my planning time. Then, you won't have to store SO many copies for the month.
Prepping for each week
On Friday afternoon, I grabbed the next week's pile along with all the copies I had made the day prior to getting ready for the week ahead. Next, I sorted each activity, lesson plan, worksheet, etc, into each bin labeled with a day of the week. Then, I cleaned off my desk, laid out my planner open for the next week, and went home for the weekend. When I walked into school on Monday morning, I didn't have to worry about finding materials or making copies, because everything was already done for me! Plus, if something happened and I needed a sub on Monday morning, I didn't have to drive all the way to school to make plans or pull activities. All I needed to do was email my plans and say everything could be found in the Monday bin.
What happens if you need to adjust your plans?
When you are planning for an entire month, there will be some activities you don't get to, or maybe you need to spend more time on a skill than you had originally thought. As teachers, we know we need to be flexible and that our plans will end up changing. That's why I write down my plans in pencil, so I can easily erase things as I need. If you need to move an activity to a different week, you can easily stick it with that week's plans. Or if you have a few extra activities, I liked to stick them in an additional work bin. This was great to pull for a last-minute review or time-filling activity.
Ready to try batch planning?
Let me know if you are going to try batch planning. I hope these tips encourage you to try batch planning to save time!