A Complete Review of the Erin Condren Teacher Planner
Searching for planner peace? This complete review of the Erin Condren Teacher Planner covers its features, design, and why it’s a top choice for educators and homeschoolers alike.
Table of Contents
Getting Started
Have you ever wondered if the Erin Condren Teacher Planner might work for you? I’ll walk you through everything you need to know about this popular paper planner fan favorite.
From its sleek design to its functional usage, this one is a top choice for people with many different careers and lifestyles.
Whether you teach 30 students, homeschool your kids, or have no kids at all, this planner has features to make organizing your life much easier. I’d argue it’s a great planner for anyone who needs a structured planner with lots of writing space that allows you to keep everything in one place.
Features & Layouts
What’s in the Beginning of the Planner?
The inside of the front cover is laminated, which means you can use a wet-erase marker to write anything you’d like. Erin Condren designs them as a dashboard with space for notes or lists.
The first paper page is a white title page with colorful letters that state “Teacher Lesson Planner” and “This book belongs to” with space for you to write in your name, classroom, school, academic year, or anything else you’d like to include.
The next page is an “All About Me” section. You can include basics such as your school, contact information, classroom resources, and professional development.
Then you’ll find an “Events and Volunteers” page with plenty of space for classroom volunteers, dates, and events.
To be honest, I have never really used these two pages myself. Even as a regular middle school teacher, I’ve just skipped these pages as I find it easier to store this specific information online.
But I know others who are so creative at making pages such as this work for them. Some people like to transform them into reading logs for their homeschool students or field trip ideas.
Next comes two Communication Log pages. This works great for teachers to record when conversations are needed with parents. There’s space to write in the date, name, and reason/resolved.
Again, I’ve never personally used this space in my planner, but I’ve seen others use it for reading logs for their students.
Year at a glance
The next section includes the yearly calendar overview through the end of the current calendar year, 2025. If you purchase Erin Condren’s new teacher planner that usually comes out in May, it will include 2025 and 2026.
While most every quality planner will have a monthly overview page such as this, I love that the large size of the teacher planner makes it so easy to use this space in a useful and functional way.
Erin Condren sells square stickers specifically made to help you color code these pages. They’re perfect for outlining the school calendar. You could have a certain color represent school vacation days, a different color for birthdays, and a different color for first and last day of school or when grading periods end.
If you’re homeschooling, this is also a great place to take attendance for your kids.
I love this section of the Erin Condren teacher planner, and I think they do this section the best out of any other planner I’ve seen.
Monthly Goal Setting
The following two pages are boxed lined monthly pages with plenty of space for writing. It begins with January and ends with December for the 2025 January through December planner.
I absolutely love this section as there are so many things you can use it for! You can list out monthly themes for your classes or subjects, classroom birthdays, field trips, or personal or student goals for each month. The possibilities are endless, and you can really make them work specifically for your needs.
Grid Pages
After that you’ll find four pages of grid layout. The grid pages are really useful for classroom teachers to create their desk layout for where students will sit.
While I don’t really personally use these pages as a homeschooling mama, I know many people love grid pages and find so many uses for them. What would you use this page for? Let me know of any ideas I should consider in the comments below!
Lined Pages
Next comes two simple lined notes pages before getting into the monthly sections of the planner.
The Erin Condren Teacher Planner’s Monthly and Weekly Spreads
Monthly Layout
You’ll find two beautifully decorated monthly lined notes pages at the start of each month’s section. The front page of each monthly tab will take you there. The decorative color at the top of each page reflects the monthly color itself. For example, January in Erin Condren planners are always a beautiful jewel-toned blue, and the color at the top of the page reflects this.
There is an inspirational quote at the top left corner, and there’s a boxed section on the bottom righthand side with bullet points titled “Dates to Remember in January.”
One of the inspirational quotes is, “A teacher takes a hand, opens a mind, and touches a heart.” Another one is, “You don’t just teach, you inspire.”
I like to use this section for random lists. For example, in August I might list out all the curriculum and items we will need for the upcoming school year. In December, I might have a running gift list in this section. It’s really up to you!
The monthly layout for the teacher planner is large, clear, clean, and concise. On the righthand column you’ll find a notes section and on the bottom right you’ll find the monthly calendar for the upcoming month.
Erin Condren has stopped writing in holidays, and instead provides sticker pages of all the holidays you could think of for the year. Then you get to pick and choose which holiday stickers you’d like to include.
Weekly Layout
Here is an example of what most of the planner looks like-the weekly layout. I chose the Vertical Layout, meaning I will handwrite my “titles” in on the lefthand side and on the top are the dates.
If you’d like to choose the Horizontal Layout, you’ll have it switched with your dates on the lefthand side and your write-in “titles” are found at the top going across. With the Horizontal Layout, Monday is at the top and Friday is at the bottom. There are no designated weekend dates with the Horizontal Layout.
When I was a middle school teacher back in the day, the only option was the horizontal layout and I always wished there was a spot for the weekend dates. As a teacher I sometimes had to go to events on the weekend, so it was weird to have to sneak it into a Friday spot.
I’m so so happy with the Vertical Layout and I’m so thankful for the option to choose what works best for you and your individual situation.
You can compare the two layouts by going to the Erin Condren website, picking a teacher planner cover, and going through the process as if you’re going to buy or order one. You don’t have to complete the order, but in the process they will give you the horizontal and vertical options and you can see images of both layouts.
A Closer Look at the Vertical Layout
Here’s a closer look at the teacher planner’s vertical layout. On the upper lefthand corner you’ll find the month and the year (January 2025 in this case). Below that is a box for you to write in your top priorities for the week. Of course, you can use this space however you like-top priorities is just a suggestion.
Next is a longer box titled Meetings. If you’re a homeschooling mama you could write in all the supplies you need for the week or any music or sports lessons your kids might have for the week.
You can also clearly see the dates written above the boxes and an empty “title space” on the lefthand side. If you’re a traditional teacher, you can write in the name of each subject you teach or each period you teach.
For homeschooling, I like to write “Events” in the top row for Dr. appt’s and such, then I write in each child’s name in the other sections.
At the bottom, I write in lists or memories for the day and also use the lowest space as a small journaling area for memories.
Under the “Meetings” box you’ll find an awesome checklist that you can do for any tasks for the week. I love this section! I love that the checklist is created for me as I never seem to make it look pretty and quite right when I write in my own checklist. It’s so nice to have one there for each week.
The Vertical Layout Offers Lots of Space for the Weekend
As you can see, the Vertical Layout option has plenty of space for you to write in lots of things on the weekend. I love it, and as a homeschooler I often prep or even do some school on the weekends if we decided to go to Disney in the middle of the week. It’s great to be able to have lots of space to record everything we did for the week.
I just love the weekly layout! I think it’s beautiful and I love the shades of colors that they chose. What do you think? Do you prefer a horizontal or vertical teacher planner?
What’s at the End of the Erin Condren Teacher Planner?
Student Checklist
After the last monthly and weekly layout, you’ll find a few more lined notes pages (four to be exact). Then comes the checklist pages. You can place the student names on the lefthand column and write in the task, work, or permission slip at the top.
I used to use these pages to check off students’ morning board work and also to keep track of who turned in field trip permission slips.
There are 20 total pages (only ten have the name on the lefthand side). I would look forward to Erin Condren offering this as an option to have any at all, as I don’t usually use these pages. You do have the option to purchase more if you’d like.
Stickers
Now for the fun part-the stickers! There are four pages at the back of the planner. Some are functional, some are fun, and all are gorgeous. There are some gold foil and rose gold foil stickers.
Don’t forget to use your stickers! I love stickers so much, but I think they’re so pretty I tend to never use them. Then I finish my planners with most of the stickers still unused. So silly! So give yourself permission to use those stickers.
Folders & Sheet protector
The Erin Condren folders found at the back of the planner are the most useful, functional, and well-built folders I’ve ever seen in a planner. I love the quality, design, and beauty of the folder.
You could use it everyday (with care) and it can hold up to all the use.
Even better, the folder is double sided! There are two sides for you to store extra papers in.
One of my favorite things about the teacher planner is the clear plastic sheet protector. It’s perfect to slide a printout school calendar or other important sheet that you need to reference often. For example, a class schedule, room schedule, or yearly school calendar would be perfect here. Anything you need to print off that you also need to reference often would be great in this transparent folder.
Finally, the inside of the back cover is another space to write notes or reminders using a wet-erase marker.
Quality & Design
Paper Quality & Durability
Another reason why I keep going back to Erin Condren planners for (almost) a decade (omg!) is the wonderful paper quality. They use thick 80 lb. paper and you can tell every page is made with quality paper.
I never have any ink ghosting on the back of the paper and it always feels like a treat to use my teacher planner as a result of the 80 lb. paper. Erin Condren’s paper quality sets the bar.
Binding & Cover Material
One of the standout features of the Erin Condren Teacher Planner is its top-notch binding. The coil aluminum binding is not only sleek but also incredibly flexible, strong, and resistant to wear and tear. In all my years of using Erin Condren planners, I’ve never experienced any damage to the binding—a true testament to its durability.
Even with heavy use, like daily commutes to and from school and frequent page flipping, the binding holds up flawlessly. It’s designed to last through the entire school year (and beyond) without bending, breaking, or snagging.
The laminate cover is equally impressive. It’s both sturdy and interchangeable, popping easily in and out of the binding. This makes it simple to swap covers if you want to refresh your planner’s look throughout the year. Plus, the laminate material resists scratches and damage, making your planner look good throughout months and months of use.
So Is the Erin Condren Teacher Planner Worth It!?
Erin Condren planners have some of the best quality available in the paper planning world. For many, it just simply works best. It combines beauty, functionality, and quality all in one.
Anyone can use the teacher lesson planner – not just teachers. It works well for many different uses.
It is quite expensive, however. Is it worth the price for what you get? In my opinion, it absolutely is worth it. As long as an Erin Condren teacher planner is in budget, I recommend you give it a try!
Have you used the teacher planner before? What do you like or dislike about it? Let me know in the comments below!
If you’d like to read more, check out my other Erin Condren Planner posts.
