Monday, August 21, 2017

Purple Trail Planner: Teacher Edition


I rely on planners and have relied on them for some time now. Around my entry into university began my appreciation for the time management tool that planners can function as. I have blogged about the Erin Condren planner here and the Craftsposure planner here. Last year I used a simple Blue Sky planner I picked up at Target, seen here. Being an assistant teacher simply didn't require the heavy duty planning that being a lead teacher requires. I knew once I accepted the new job I would need space to plan lessons, conferences and a plethora of meetings and such. After being out of the planner game for a while and knowing there were parts of the Erin Condren I didn't enjoy, I hit up Etsy with a few key features in mind. After browsing for a few hours I settled on Purple Trail. I liked that they had customizable teacher centric planners with tons of features and cover art that I enjoyed. I chose a Doctor Who themed planner in the teacher format. Prices start at $36.95 for a basic planner with a laminate cover. I upgraded quite a few things, starting with a larger size and a hardcover. I am enjoying the durability of the hardcover as it has been plunged into and scooped out of my purse many times since its arrival. 


Opening the planner reveals a title page with a place to inform ownership and the basics. The next couple pages show various formats of a couple years' worth of calenders for at-a-glance planning.


Then there are reinforced monthly tabs, with each month being a different color. The first page of the month showcases a snapshot of the month.


Next comes the monthly calendar, I love a nice monthly calendar for keeping track of events, dates with people, birthdays and scheduling. I also enjoy the column on the right for brainstorming and goal setting. 


The next page in the month breaks down that month, day by day, week by week. This is where lesson plans and whatnot live. I use it for laying out what will be taught that week, spelling words I will test the kids on and journal prompts I want to use that week. As the school year goes by it will also be used for projects, presentations and writing camps. 


The last page of the month is blank and it makes my heart go pitter pat to think of the possibilities. For August and possibly future months as well, I use it to create my Ebb and Flow posts. I jot down what I am loving/hating/thinking/using as the month goes on. Warning... spoilers! LOL! And please don't judge my misspelled words through out the planner. Clearly, having autocorrect has weakened my spelling abilities. Ah well. Gives me something to work on. Maybe I will take the spelling tests with the kiddos. :-)


As I mentioned earlier, there are tons of add-ons you can choose with these planners. Of course, they cost extra, but nothing out of the ordinary I don't think. I added 4 add-ons. The limit is five. My first was a "Notes" section. I love to write out scent descriptions, travel plans, Christmas lists and work emails and such in my planner. This gives me ample room. I got a dozen pages and a tab for Notes for $3.95.


My second add-on was a "To Do List" section, 12 pages with 8 lists each and a tab for $3.95.


Mmmmm.... yummmmmm. To do lists make my knees weak. 


My third add-on was a pocket folder page. It has a pocket on each side and was $5.00 extra. I also rushed my planner as my 4th add-on for $9.95. It rushes the creation so that it will be assembled in one day. I was running late on getting my grubby hands on my new shiny precious. 

After all my add-ons, upgrades and rushing plus shipping it cost $82.85. Yes, it is an investment, but one I happily make. A good planner really is invaluable to a teacher. I will cuddle her, sing to her and tuck her in each night. She has found her forever home. 

Do you use planners? Do you have any recs for stickers or fun plannery things? Pens? I love some good pens. 

20 comments:

  1. Ooh, planner porn lol! What a cool design--I love the Dr. Who quote on the cover. My all-time favorite pens are the Marvy Le Pens. Right now I'm using a sort of modified bullet journal/running to-do list in a dot-grid notebook that I keep in a homemade Midori-type leather cover with an address book, pockets, etc. I like how the elastic binding system makes it easy to add and remove different components, but the existing Midori sizes didn't work for me.

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    1. Yes!!! LOL! I get terribly excited when I have a reason to get a substantial planner. Marvy Le Pens... on it. Going to check them out for sure. Are these like the buildable smaller planners? I think I saw a girl on IG that makes something like that and it was super cute. I will have to look these up too. This planner is ginormous and would not travel well as far as being portable other than taking it back and forth to school. A smaller one would be nice to keep in the purse as a grocery list/everyday type of thing.

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  2. Yes, the Midori is a Japanese system where you buy the cover and the inserts you want, but their large size is very long and narrow and the smaller one too small, so I just made my own cover with a piece of leather and some craft elastic from Michaels. I use an A6 size staple-bound notebook (about 4"x6") and I go through 3-4 a year. Paper Penguin Co on Etsy makes the ones I'm using now because she offers the dot grid option which can be really hard to find in a smaller notebook!

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    1. Kate, you have me oogling the Midori travel planners/journals on Pinterest. I am determined to make one for when I go to NYC. Thanks for listing your specs as I love the 4x6 size, it would be perfect, and for listing Paper Penguin. I will check them out. I am loving my Le Pens! They really do write amazingly. I even picked up some of the Le Plume ones with the brush at the end on clearance.

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    2. Great to hear! I've been using Le Pens since high school :D The very creative and generous Ray Blake has a great video on YouTube that shows how to make your own "fauxdori" cover.

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    3. I can see why! I am loving them!! I will make sure to check out his tutorial. I thought I had a mini journal that I could use but I think it is too small to hold plane tickets and broadway tickets and stuff. I might have to make my own.

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  3. I do not use a planner but I keep wanting one. My life is not exciting or complicated enough to warrant one. However, I've very recently fallen back into an 'Aw, I want a planner!' phase again and have a Happy Planner all picked out. I'm doing pretty resisting the urge to actually order it though. On the other hand, I do have a couple very weak reasons why I think I might be able to make one work for me this time, so it just might fall into my cart yet.

    ~Deb

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    1. Can I tell you how trilled I am that the Happy Planner fell into your cart and is winging its way to your happy little hands soon? I think it would be great to even just jot down your ideas for cards to make. Plus barn building might bring some more busy times your way. And don't forget to put horseback riding and a visit to local attractions and fall festivals in there. ;-)

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    2. I thought (hoped!) it would have been here by now but I just finally got a shipping notice this morning. It should be arriving on Wednesday and I can't wait!! Heeeee! Although, I'm sure I'll look it at once it's here and ask myself what the heck I really need it for. LOL

      ~Deb

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    3. To journal in!!! Write your goals, sketch out card designs, make a timeline of when you would like to make certain cards... have fun with it! I have added washi to mine and I am loving it. <3

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    4. Ya know, I was thinking of something like the card timeline. I think I need to schedule something like Monday = birthday cards, Tuesday = Halloween cards, etc. I get overwhelmed because I have so many I *want* to make that I never know where to start.

      ~Deb

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    5. YES! That would be perfect! Just jotting down goals and schedules to consider when making. Of course if the juices aren't flowing, don't push yourself, but sometimes writing it down helps me. Halloween cards!!! Exciting!

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  4. Planners! Isn't it fun how nice and tidy they are at the beginning of the year, and then...my pretty January to January floral planner is starting to look a little bit wrecked.

    I've been keeping a planner since high school, and have been a journalist or diarist since I was about eight. I bet if you put all my planners and journals together, I'd have well over 50 books. I really ought to dig them out one day, go back over what was super important in my life when I was 13! I've always just doodled all over mine - song lyrics, graffiti lettering, some cute stickers. Never been interested in any planner systems, either - as long as it's big enough to accommodate my huge handwriting!

    Hope your first week (weeks?) of school are going well. Will be in touch with all soon about this FFS business.

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    1. Yes! There really is nothing prettier than a fresh new journal waiting to be wrecked. :-)

      I am the same. I started with diaries when I was about 7 or 8. I don't think I kept them all though. I was pretty embarrassed about my boy craziness once I realized I "loved" every cute guy in the school and paired my name with theirs to see how it would look once we were married. But I am sure we had some deep thoughts in there too. I know I am blown away by the forward thinking and profound thoughts I read from my students' journals and my daughter's journals.

      Thank you! Hoping we can get the old FFS off the ground and running soon. Thank you too for the banner. It looks amazing.

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    2. Ha, I think we've all had our "Mrs. Julie" or "Mrs. Sandra Whatever" moments. I also used to scrawl song lyrics - deeeeep song lyrics, or what I thought passed for deep in high school - all over my planners. Then when I developed an affinity for skater boys over rocker boys, my planners were covered in multi-coloured graffiti tags. Oh man, the gooberiness of teenagehood laid bare through planners - what a horrifying little exhibit!

      And you are welcome for the banner. :) Very glad I was able to use that cool photo I took last year of the lane that runs down from the place where I got married. I take about five decent photos a year, and that was one of them! Looks like stuff is moving ahead with the FFS, too, so that's great. Should be good to go for September 3rd.

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    3. I hope you have a fabulous anniversary this year! Do you guys make a point to visit that area each year? I am looking forward to FFS. I love that it was truly a group effort. <3

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    4. Last year was actually the first time we've been back since we got married 13 years ago, which is insane, because it's just 30 minutes outside of town. But thank you for reminding me, I wanted to see if I could make dinner reservations at the little restaurant in the main house (there are a bunch of different houses on the property, including a school house we rented out as rooms for our guests staying over, and a beautiful main house with a restaurant you basically have to call into action - they're not open all the time, but if you call and make a reservation, they will be.) Anyhow, I really ought to get on that, and take some pictures when we get there! Also, I think there's a spa there now - ooh, now there's some motivation!

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    5. That is too funny. 13 years is a fun milestone. Adam and I were 13 years this past year. I think we will try and do something for our 15 year anniversary. Maybe I can get him to go out of the country for the first time.

      I love that the restaurant is pretty much all to yourself. What a cool sounding place. If you go, take photos please! And spa? Yes, please. I cannot tell you the last time I had a spa treatment.

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  5. I have 4 planners on my desk at the moment, because I haven't been able to find any single one planner that does everything I want. I just bought a new EC planner for 2018 - wish I had seen these first!

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    1. Four planners! How fun though! I can see how frustrating it would be to juggle though and want a specific one to do all the tasks. Even though this one covers pretty much all my work bases, I am eyeing the Midori one Kate mentioned for my travels. I hope you have a great time using your planners though. You like your Condren?

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