Creating – Mrs Wilson Science

Let the Light In 2022-2023 FREE OneNote Teacher Planner

31/08/202231/08/2022 Mrs. Wilson No Comments

With school in England starting back soon, I am finally releasing this year’s OneNote Teacher Planner, which I’ve called Let the Light In.

This year’s planner is a bit different. I’ve made it specifically for me and my school calendar. I’ve decided to try a vertical layout this year as it matches my Outlook calendar. I’ve also broken down the sections by term instead of by month.

I found I rarely used the monthly overviews, so those have been deleted this year. I also tended to not use the stickers, so I have not included any stickers this year.

I have however provided the artwork files so that you can customise and create your own planner based on the artwork that would work for you best. I used Affinity Designer on my iPad, but I’ve provided some alternative files that should work in Photoshop or vector based programs.

Downloading the Planner

I am only providing the OneNote Package file this year.

You will need OneNote 2016 on your computer to import and open this file. If you do not have OneNote2016, you can download it for free here.

Download the Let the Light In 2022-2023 Teacher Planner.
Open OneNote 2016 desktop app.
Find the location of the planner package file and click to open it.
When prompted in OneNote 2016, make sure you save the planner file to your OneDrive and not your local hard drive. This is what will allow it to sync across all of your devices
Save the planner, and it will start loading. You should be good to go.

Unfortunately from what I have read, OneNote package files don’t play well with Macs. If you are using a Mac, you might not be able to open the file initially. You might try the steps above on a PC. Once you have your planner saved to your OneDrive, you will then be able to open it on any device, including your Mac.

Feedback or Questions?

Please feel free to contact me if you have any questions or would like to offer feedback about the planner. You can post a comment here or me an email. I hope you love this year’s planner and enjoy using it!

Even Brighter Future 2021-2022 FREE OneNote Teacher Planner

04/07/202121/07/2021 Mrs. Wilson 1 Comment

Creating, Teaching

Even Brighter Future 2021-2022 FREE OneNote Teacher Planner

It’s finally here: the 2021-2022 Even Brighter Future Teacher Planner. This year’s planner is new and improved with features that will (hopefully) make digital planning easier and more streamlined for you. After using the 2020-2021 version all year, I learned what worked well and not so well, and I’ve used this to make this year’s planner even better! You’ll find a similar graphical theme with new colours and fonts, so the planner feels both new and familiar at the same time.

Watch the video below for some additional information and a walk through, and keep scrolling down to download your own copy of the Even Brighter Future planner!

Planner Walk Through

What does it look like?

For each month, there is a monthly overview calendar and weekly planning pages. The main part of the planning pages have a horizontal weekly layout. This year, you should fill in your timetable/schedule on the Timetable Templates page. You will then copy and paste the appropriate table to each week. This should save you hours of time manually filling in your timetable!

This year, I have not created a vertical layout or a Sunday-Thursday option. However, I have included the tools you can use to customise you planner if you’d like these layouts. You find the monthly page templates and day stickers in the Templates and Stickers section of the notebook.

Here are a few screenshots to give you an idea of content and design. To see the full planner, please click here to see a preview.

: Monthly Overview

: Weekly Pages

: You can use your choice of rule lines on all pages.

: Stickers and Templates are included.

: Timetable

: Timetable Template

Downloading the Planner

You have two options for downloading this planner depending on whether you use a personal version of Office 365 or a school version of it. Follow the directions for the version you are using. Not sure? If you’re account ends with a school domain, it’s a school version. If you account ends with @outlook.com, it’s a personal account.

Personal Version

Download the OneNote Even Brighter Future planner file.
Unzip the file.
Log in to your OneNote account.
Go to the OneNote notebook importer.
Find the location of the unzipped planner folder, select it, and click open to import it.

School Version

You will need OneNote 2016 on your computer to import and open this file. If you do not have OneNote2016, you can download it for free here.

Download the Even Brighter Future Teacher Planner file.
Open OneNote 2016 desktop app.
Find the location of the planner package file and click to open it.
When prompted in OneNote 2016, make sure you save the planner file to your OneDrive and not your local hard drive. This is what will allow it to sync across all of your devices
Save the planner, and it will start loading. You should be good to go.

Feedback or Questions?

Mrs Wilson Science on YouTube

22/02/202122/02/2021 Mrs. Wilson No Comments

Creating, Teaching

Last week we had our half term break, and I was able to work on really launching my YouTube channel. I updated the theme (and then matched it here on the blog), but the most exciting thing is of course new content. I have several videos that went live last week. A couple of them are easy science experiments, and there are several on using Teams from a student perspective.

I’ve been on a big push this past weekend to reach 100 subscribers. I’ve made it to 79 so far, and I’m just looking for 21 more people to subscribe to the channel. I would be so happy if you decided to subscribe and overjoyed if you passed on info about the channel to your friends. I would say may target audience are teachers and parents supporting their children. There will be lots of science experiments and explanations and tech videos as well – focused both on Microsoft how-tos and pedagogy.

Here’s a taste of what you can find on the channel. I hope to see you there!

Free 2021 Digital Bullet Journal!

28/12/202028/12/2020 Mrs. Wilson 2 Comments

Creating

2021 Bullet Journal

Over the summer, I created and shared a OneNote digital teacher planner with a mid-century modern theme. Recently, I’ve been brainstorming how to set up my bullet journal for this year and decided to revisit this theme. I use GoodNotes on my iPad when I bullet journal, so this BuJo is designed to work best in GoodNotes.

The journal includes the following features:

Fully hyperlinked tabs
Index
Future Log
Year in Pixels
Monthly sections including a divider page, monthly overview calendar, a blank page for each week of the month, and three additional blank pages per month
138 journaling pages
Over 400 stickers including quotes, stars, labels, boxes, mini monthly calendars, and washi
10 layout stickers to help you get started

I’m hoping this will cater to the person who has always wanted to bullet journal but was overwhelmed with the choices or to someone who wants to simplify the process this year.

You can download the free GoodNotes file of the BuJo here. If you use another digital journaling software, you can download the pdf file here. (The stickers will not work effectively from the pdf.)

Here’s an example showing how you can customise your pages using the sticker elements.

Additional Images

Finally, the gallery below shows you a bit more about the journal. I hope you like it, and please leave a comment if you start using the BuJo with any feedback. I’m sure there are mistakes, but I hope you love it anyway.

Happy 2021!

Bright Future 2020-2021 FREE Digital Teacher Planner for OneNote

28/06/202024/08/2020 Mrs. Wilson 31 Comments

Creating, Teaching

Bright Future 2020-2021 FREE Digital Teacher Planner for OneNote

I am so excited to share my OneNote teacher planner with you! I have designed this planner so I can switch to digital planning next year for my teacher planner but still have the look and feel of a ‘pretty’ paper planner. I decided to use a Mid-Century Modern theme as it feels so bright and hopeful with an optimistic view of the future. I created all of the graphics for the planner with some inspirational help from images found online.

Background

I have taught in the US and England, and I have done my best to make this planner adaptable for teachers. I do teach secondary, and I have based the planner on my own experiences. If you teach elementary/primary, you might find you need to make some adaptations. The first planner I received from my school in England had daily planner pages, which seems to be the norm. I much prefer a weekly overview, and that is what I have incorporated into this planner. I have also tried to create stickers and pages that will be useful to a wide audience. This means you might find some parts that don’t apply to you. If this is the case, just delete the pages you don’t need.

Why OneNote?

I know a lot of traditional digital journaling is done on tablets using apps like GoodNotes and Notability. I love using GoodNotes, but it’s not practical for my daily teacher planning as I am not always comfortable with bringing my tablet to school with me. With OneNote, I can access the planner on my school laptop, and school desktop computers, as well as my personal devices like my iPad. I can easily type in notes but also draw and write if I’m on a tablet. Additionally, my lesson plans can contain links directly to my teaching resources housed on OneDrive. If you use Office 365 apps at your school, it just makes a lot of sense.

What does it look like?

For each month, there is a monthly overview calendar and weekly planning pages. The main part of the planning pages have a horizontal weekly layout, but there is a vertical weekly layout option available in the template section of the planner if you prefer this style of layout. The weekly planning pages are built into a table, so the space will expand as you type giving you as much space as you need for your planning. The planner also includes sections for yearly overviews, school information, student information, notes, stickers, and templates.

Here are a few screenshots to give you an idea of content and design, but the planner has over 200 pages, and it would be impractical for me to give you a screenshot of all of them. Instead, why don’t you follow this link to have a look through the planner before deciding if it’s for you?

Downloading the Planner

Personal Version

Download the OneNote Bright Future planner file.
Unzip the file.
Log in to your OneNote account.
Go to the OneNote notebook importer.
Find the location of the unzipped planner folder, select it, and click open to import it.

School Version

You will need OneNote 2016 on your computer to import and open this file. If you do not have OneNote2016, you can download it for free here.

Download the OneNote Bright Future planner package file. New! If you teach Sunday-Thursday, here’s a version for you!
Open OneNote 2016 desktop app.
Find the location of the planner package file and click to open it.
When prompted in OneNote 2016, make sure you save the planner file to your OneDrive and not your local hard drive. This is what will allow it to sync across all of your devices
Save the planner, and it will start loading. You should be good to go.

Please let me know what you think!

I have spent hours creating this planner, and I am sharing it freely as I know how expensive teacher planners can be. I also know it can be scary to take the plunge to digital, especially if a cost is involved. So I would love it if you could provide feedback on the planner after you have had a chance to start using it. Here’s a quick form to fill in and all fields are optional. I will use the feedback to improve the planner and to also create new pages as needed/requested. If there is something missing that you would absolutely love to see in the planner, please let me know, and I will do my best to create it. If you absolutely love the planner and are looking for a way to say thank you, you can buy me a coffee.

Technical Difficulties?

I hope you don’t have any technical difficulties accessing and installing this planner. However, if you do have any issues, I will try to assist you as my time allows. Just send me an email.

Breathe

21/08/201921/08/2019 Mrs. Wilson No Comments

Creating

Heart pounds.

Breath catches.

Thoughts run

oneafteranotheratafrenziedpaceandIcan\’tkeepup

Stop.

Just breathe.

Deep breath in,

Hold.

Deep breath out.

S L O W D O W N

Just breathe.

I have been doing some clearing out the past few days, and I found this poem I wrote back in April. I must have been feeling anxious/panicky at the time. It seems quite apropos as I consider how all of my year 11 students must be feeling tonight on the eve of their GCSE results. Sometimes, I just have to remember to breathe.

Welcome to the all new Mrs Wilson Science site!

16/08/201916/08/2019 Mrs. Wilson 1 Comment

Creating, Exploring, Teaching

I am so excited to unveil the all new Mrs Wilson Science site! There’s not a whole lot here yet, but in the days and weeks to come, I plan to post regular updates relating to my interests of teaching, creating, and exploring. If you previously following Stretching Forward, you may find there’s a bit more of mix of professional and personal information.

If you’re used to seeing this site as a classroom site, it obviously looks a lot different. If you’ve found your way here looking for a resource from a broken link, please feel free to post a comment letting me know what you’re looking for, and I see if I can send you what you are looking for.

Finally, I hope you like the site design. I started using a digital bullet journal this year as I love to draw, but I’m trying to simplify my life. Having physical notebooks can cause quite a bit of clutter. So I started drawing and journaling digitally on my iPad. I love the look of it, so I thought I would bring that feel to my site. I hope you like it!

Lanier STEM Maker Fest is almost here! #edBlogaDay

15/05/201526/10/2020 Mrs. Wilson No Comments

Creating, Teaching

Our STEM Maker Fest is the day after tomorrow. Today, one of our group of students who has been working on their project for hours and hours during and after school for weeks got everything up and running. They built a robot from the ground up. It’s a tank with a t-shirt canon on it. They got some help from the robotics team on the programming, but did the majority of the work themselves. Judging by the crowd they drew in the hallway while testing today, they are going to be very popular at the Maker Fest. They even contacted Chik-fil-A for t-shirt donations to shoot from the cannon. So proud of these kids who have been working so hard to make this event a success. Two of the students in this group didn’t have a technology class this year. However, from this project alone they learned much more than most students learn in a year. If you wonder if Maker Ed and Project Based Learning really has a place in schools, you need to see this process in action. This is inspired learning that goes outside of the classroom to real skills that are valuable in today’s society. Give kids a chance to tinker and make! Trust me; you’ll be amazed with what they come up with!

The T-shirt cannon tank is a go for #stemmakerfest

A video posted by @janellewilson on May 14, 2015 at 7:31am PDT

Lanier STEM Maker Fest #edBlogaDay

11/05/201526/10/2020 Mrs. Wilson No Comments

Creating, Teaching

Our STEM Maker Fest is on Saturday. This weekend, one of my students made this video to encourage students from our feeder middle school to attend. It’s a great video. What’s really cool? She didn’t have to make this awesome video. She decided to make it of her own initiative because she really wants the middle school kids to know about it and attend. It’s just another great example of why I love Maker Ed!

Sketchnotes experiment: Day 2 #edBlogaDay

04/05/201526/10/2020 Mrs. Wilson No Comments

Creating, Teaching

Today we really dived into our gas laws unit. I started today’s lesson by reviewing some basic shapes to help with drawings when using sketchnotes. Mike Rohde outlines these in TheSketchnote Handbook. Almost anything can be drawn in sketchnotes using a rectangle, circle, triangle, line, and dot. We also looked at techniques for drawing people, faces, and type. We created an appendix in our sketchbooks for these techniques. There were a couple of questions about why we were learning art techniques in a science class, but overall, students were really positive.

Before I started the actual lecture on sketchnotes, I reminded students not to worry about the details or information they were really familiar with from the material. Instead, the big idea of sketchnotes is to focus on the big ideas.

When I began going through the lecture section of class, I went rather quickly. Some students were still in the habit of trying to get every word written down. I had to remind them again that they didn’t need to write everything down but rather focus on the big ideas. I was a little worried that perhaps they weren’t getting it, but I should not have been concerned!

I had a chance to go around and check out the student drawings while they were working some practice problems. I was really impressed with what I saw. Most students were really engaged with the information, and their notes looked amazing. I also noticed that some students said they would need to back and finish their notes later because they had details to add. Other students were using the notes handout I passed out near the end of class to supplement the notes they had taken and add in information they had missed. I hope this is a good sign that students will continue to interact with their notes long after class is over.

See the gallery below for all of the awesome student sketchnotes and check out the entire project gallery on Flickr.