K-5 Education Platform
50+ tools designed by a teacher, built by a developer, used in the classroom every day. AI lesson planning, emergency readiness, parent communication, and standards alignment — all in one platform.
The Origin
My wife Criste has been teaching K-5 for over twenty years. Every morning she juggled five different apps, three browser tabs, and a paper binder just to plan one day of instruction. When she woke up sick at 5am, creating substitute plans meant an hour of frantic typing before the school day started. The tools available were designed for administrators, priced for districts, or built by people who'd never stood in front of a classroom.
So I built her one. Not a prototype — a real platform. AI-powered lesson plans in 90 seconds. Emergency sub plans ready before the bus arrives. Parent communication templates, standards alignment, behavior management tools, and an entire emergency toolkit with 12 categories of solutions for everything that can go wrong in a school day. She uses it every single day — not because she has to, but because it actually saves her time.
Platform Features
Every feature exists because a real teacher asked for it. Designed around the workflows actual K-5 teachers follow — not what administrators think teachers need.
Complete weekly lesson plans in 90 seconds. Enter your grade level, subjects, standards targets, and any special notes — the AI generates a full 5-day plan across all subjects with objectives, materials lists, differentiation strategies, and classroom management tips. Custom-engineered prompts (176 lines) ensure K-5 specificity rather than generic lesson content. Plans are standards-aligned by default and can be refined section-by-section with the inline refinement toolbar. Save plans to your library, duplicate and modify for the following week, or export directly to PDF and DOCX. The AI understands grade-appropriate vocabulary, age-appropriate activities, and common K-5 scheduling constraints like specials, lunch, and transitions.
The most comprehensive emergency resource system built for K-5 teachers. 12 categories of solutions covering every scenario that disrupts a school day: substitute readiness, behavior intervention, safety protocols, SEL support, incident documentation, coverage coordination, parent communication, field trip logistics, assessment tools, planning pivots, timesaving shortcuts, and calming strategies. Each category contains purpose-built templates, checklists, and AI-generated content ready to deploy in seconds. Sub plans generate in under 60 seconds — class routines, schedules, student notes, and activity instructions all in one document. Behavior plans include de-escalation techniques, reward systems, and parent communication templates already formatted for the situation. The Emergency Toolkit is accessible from every page of the platform — because emergencies don't wait for you to navigate menus.
Every parent-facing communication a teacher needs, built in and ready to use. The Newsletter Builder generates professional class newsletters with classroom updates, upcoming events, learning highlights, and volunteer opportunities — with tone customization between formal, warm, and casual. The Email Template Library covers 30+ scenarios: field trip reminders, behavior notices, positive updates, IEP invitations, conference scheduling, supply requests, and more. Conference Prep Tools help organize talking points, student data, and next steps before parent-teacher conferences. A Communication Log tracks every parent interaction by student, so you always know what was said and when. All communications are exportable as PDF, email-ready, or printable formats.
A fully searchable standards library with semantic search powered by OpenAI embeddings. Search by keyword, grade level, domain, or subject and get instant results with full standard descriptions and sub-components. Alignment tools let you attach standards directly to lesson plans and verify complete coverage across units. The system tracks which standards you've addressed in each week's planning so you can identify gaps before end-of-unit assessments. Coverage reporting shows standards addressed, frequency, and flagged gaps for curriculum review. Standards data is organized by Common Core ELA and Math, NGSS Science, and Social Studies frameworks. Lesson plans generated by the AI planner include automatic standards tagging based on your grade and subject selections — you can accept, modify, or add additional standards before saving.
Takes your weekly lesson plan and breaks it into an actionable minute-by-minute guide for each school day. The AI-generated runsheet adapts to your school's specific schedule blocks — specials, lunch, recess, intervention periods — and builds transitions, prep reminders, and material setup notes into the timing. Each runsheet is a complete operating document: what you're teaching, when you're teaching it, what you need to have ready, and what to watch for during transitions. Custom time blocks let you set your exact schedule rather than using a generic template. Runsheets print cleanly on a single page or display on-screen. The runsheet is generated from your weekly plan automatically — no re-entering content. When a plan changes, regenerate the runsheet in seconds.
Full student roster management with grade team collaboration. Maintain a complete student list with grade level, notes, and flags. Professional-tier teachers can share resources across classrooms — send a lesson plan, activity, or document directly to another teacher on your grade team without leaving the platform. Grade team coordination supports shared planning, resource pooling, and consistent messaging to parents across the same grade level. Student notes are private to each teacher and never shared without explicit action. The collaboration system is designed around how actual grade teams work: asynchronous sharing, not real-time co-editing, because teachers are busy and have different prep periods.
A complete document pipeline for classroom materials. PDF generation via jsPDF and pdf-lib handles lesson plan exports, runsheets, curriculum documents, and any structured content from the platform. DOCX generation via the docx package creates editable Word documents that teachers can take into their district's existing systems. The Name Label Generator produces classroom-ready printable name tags and desk labels — enter your student roster, choose a label template (Avery-compatible sizes), and download a ready-to-print PDF. Curriculum document builder creates scope-and-sequence documentation and unit overviews formatted for professional presentation to administrators. All exports happen client-side where possible for speed, with server-side processing for complex multi-page documents.
A searchable database of classroom-ready activities built for K-5 instruction. Filter by subject (ELA, Math, Science, Social Studies, SEL), grade level (K through 5), activity type (whole class, small group, individual, station), time required (5 min, 10 min, 15–30 min, full period), and materials needed. Each activity includes full instructions, differentiation suggestions, and implementation notes from real classroom use. A ratings system lets you mark activities as favorites and rate them after use. The AI Activity Generator can create custom activities on demand — specify your constraints and get a classroom-tested activity structure in seconds. Activities integrate directly into lesson plans: click to attach an activity from the library and it populates the relevant section of your weekly plan.
The small tasks that steal hours from a teacher's week — My Teachers Toolbox automates them. Automated reminders surface upcoming deadlines, parent communication follow-ups, and curriculum coverage gaps before they become problems. Batch documentation tools handle repetitive paperwork: generate multiple parent updates at once, process a full week of reflection notes in one session, or create a complete set of conference summaries from short bullet-point input. The Quick Wins section surfaces actions that take under two minutes but have high impact — a missing standard on tomorrow's plan, an unanswered parent email flagged for follow-up, a student note that needs updating. Tech tutorial library gives step-by-step guides for common classroom tech (Google Classroom, Seesaw, Dojo) so teachers stop googling the same things.
Emergency Toolkit
It's 5am and you just woke up sick. A student incident needs documented before lunch. A parent needs an update by end of day. The Emergency Toolkit handles every scenario a K-5 teacher faces — organized, ready, one click away.
Sub Readiness
Emergency substitute plans generated in under 60 seconds. Enter your class grade and any special notes — the AI produces a complete substitute package: class schedule, routine descriptions, student behavior notes, seating chart instructions, emergency contacts, and three full activity blocks with materials and instructions the sub can follow without prep. Plans are formatted as a single printable document. Regenerate in seconds if the sub situation changes.
Assessment
Quick assessment tools for evaluating student progress on the fly. Observation rubrics with grade-appropriate benchmarks, anecdotal note templates with structured fields for evidence and next steps, and data collection forms formatted for small-group instruction. Export assessment records as CSV for gradebook import or PDF for portfolio documentation.
Communication
Emergency parent emails and administration updates for sensitive situations. Incident notification templates with appropriate tone calibration — serious but not alarming. Behavior communication scripts for initial outreach, follow-up, and escalation. All templates include guidance on what to include, what to leave out, and how to document that communication occurred.
Coverage
Classroom coverage coordination when teachers need to leave unexpectedly. Coverage request templates for communicating with team teachers and administration. Student transition protocols for moving students to another classroom safely. Notes format designed so the covering teacher can get up to speed in under two minutes.
Emergency Response
Formal emergency protocols for serious incidents. Lockdown checklists with step-by-step procedures and student accountability documentation. Evacuation protocols with student roster tracking. Medical emergency response guides and post-incident documentation forms that meet district reporting requirements. All content is procedure-based, not legally prescriptive.
Logistics
Field trip planning checklists, supply request forms, room setup guides, and event coordination tools. The Field Trip Organizer walks through permission slips, chaperone ratios, medical needs, transportation, and day-of logistics. Room Setup Guides document your classroom configuration for substitute teachers and after-break setups.
Management
Behavior intervention plans, classroom management strategies, and de-escalation techniques for difficult moments. Behavior Documentation Templates record incident details, antecedents, responses, and outcomes in a format usable for IEP meetings and administration reports. De-escalation scripts with phrase-by-phrase guidance for common classroom conflict scenarios.
Planning
Emergency lesson planning for when the original plan falls apart — technology fails, materials don't arrive, or the schedule changes at 7am. Quick-pivot activity bank organized by grade and time available. No-materials backup lessons for ELA and Math that work with zero prep. Activities are genuinely engaging, not busywork.
Safety
Student safety documentation for daily health management. Allergy and medication tracking templates formatted for substitute and coverage use. Health documentation forms for recording daily observations, nurse visits, and parent notifications. All safety templates are designed to support — not replace — official school health protocols.
SEL
Social-emotional learning activities for difficult days — the class that won't settle after a fire drill, the student who arrives in crisis, or the week before winter break. Check-in tools gauge the room's emotional temperature quickly. Calming activity sequences with duration estimates. Tier 1, 2, and 3 SEL interventions organized by intensity and appropriate use case.
Timesavers
Emergency time-saving shortcuts for the days when there is no time. Batch parent notification tools handle a whole-class update in one action. Auto-fill report templates populate from student roster data. Quick documentation for the 20 things that need to be written down before end of day — incident logs, behavior tracking, IEP notes, and attendance irregularities.
Calming Strategies
Guided classroom reset protocols for high-stress moments. Breathing exercise sequences with timing and visual cues. Mindfulness activities calibrated for K-5 attention spans — under 5 minutes, no materials required. Classroom reset routines that transition students from chaos back to learning readiness. Each strategy includes teacher facilitation notes and a quick read-aloud script.
AI Integration
Each AI system uses a custom-engineered prompt with deep K-5 specificity. Powered by DeepSeek with OpenAI Embeddings for semantic search. Caching layer for cost control at scale.
Lesson Generation
Complete lesson plans with objectives written to Bloom's Taxonomy levels, materials lists with quantity estimates per student, instructional procedures with timing for each phase (hook, instruction, guided practice, independent work, closure), differentiation strategies for below-level, on-level, and above-level learners, and formative assessment checkpoints embedded throughout. The system understands K-5 vocabulary ranges by grade, appropriate activity durations for different age groups, and the pacing challenges specific to self-contained elementary classrooms. The 176-line custom prompt prevents generic outputs and forces grade-specific, actionable content.
Week Planner
Five-day lesson plan generation across all subjects in a single generation call. The week planner maintains coherent skill progression across days — Monday introduces, Tuesday practices, Wednesday extends, Thursday applies, Friday reviews and assesses. Built-in review day scaffolding prevents coverage without retention. The planner respects subject balance across the week based on your grade's schedule requirements. When you specify a focus standard, the planner threads that standard across multiple subjects where authentic connections exist. Save complete week plans to your library and pull forward to the following week with one click — the AI updates dates, adjusts for holidays or events, and refreshes activities while preserving structure.
Newsletter Generation
Parent-facing class newsletters that communicate what's happening in your classroom in a voice that's professional without being distant. Enter your week's highlights, upcoming events, and any special requests — the AI drafts a complete newsletter with a warm opening, subject-by-subject learning highlights, upcoming dates, volunteer opportunities, and a closing call to action. Three tone options: Warm and personal for teachers who build close parent relationships, Professional and informative for schools that prefer formal communication, and Casual and approachable for building community with new families. Newsletters export as print-ready PDF, email-formatted HTML, or plain text for pasting into platforms like Seesaw, ClassDojo, or school email systems.
Runsheet Generation
Takes a complete weekly lesson plan and breaks each day into a minute-by-minute operating schedule. The runsheet AI understands transition overhead — moving students to the carpet, distributing materials, bathroom breaks, lining up — and builds realistic buffer time between activities rather than optimistic back-to-back scheduling. Output includes teacher prep reminders (materials to have ready, tech to test, displays to set up) timed to before the school day and before each subject block. Transitions are spelled out explicitly: what students do, what the teacher does, and what comes next. The runsheet is the document the teacher carries — not a planning artifact but an in-day operational guide that eliminates decision fatigue.
Reflection Coach
AI-powered teaching reflection that transforms quick self-assessments into structured professional growth. Enter what you taught, what worked, what didn't, and how students responded — the Reflection Coach identifies the instructional pattern at play, provides a framework for understanding it (instruction vs. engagement vs. pacing vs. content match), and generates specific, actionable next-steps rather than generic encouragement. The system tracks reflection history so it can surface patterns over time — if you're consistently flagging transition issues, it surfaces that pattern and offers targeted strategies. Reflection records export as documentation for professional development reviews, instructional coaching sessions, or personal growth portfolios.
Content Refinement
Section-level AI refinement toolbar that works inside any generated content. Highlight any portion of a lesson plan, newsletter, or runsheet and choose a refinement action: Adjust Reading Level (up or down a grade), Add Differentiation (insert below-level and above-level modifications), Expand Activity (add more detail, timing, or steps), Simplify Language (reduce vocabulary complexity), Add Transitions (insert bridge language between sections), or Strengthen Standards Connection (tighten the explicit standards alignment). Refinements are applied inline without regenerating the full document. Changes are tracked so you can revert to the original generation at any point. The refinement system respects your edits — it operates on your current version, not a cached original.
Architecture
Frontend
Next.js 15 App Router with React 19 Server Components. 71 components across 16 module directories — planner, communication, documents, emergency, standards, activities, AI, and more. Component library built on Radix UI with Tailwind CSS. Sonner for toast notifications. Lucide Icons throughout. Full responsive design for tablet and desktop — built for the classroom environment where teachers move between devices.
Backend & Database
99 API routes handling lesson generation, communication, document creation, export, Stripe billing, user management, standards search, activities, and the complete emergency toolkit. Supabase PostgreSQL with tables for profiles, lesson plans, activities, standards, favorites, API usage tracking, and billing. Row Level Security on all tables for multi-tenant data isolation. Custom enums for lesson types, subject categories, grade levels, and subscription tiers.
AI Layer
DeepSeek integration with 5 custom prompt systems — lesson generation, week planning, newsletter writing, runsheet creation, and reflection coaching. Each prompt is purpose-engineered for K-5 specificity, not generic education. OpenAI Embeddings power semantic standards search. Caching layer reduces AI API costs on repeated similar requests. AI usage tracked per user account for rate limiting on free tier.
Export & Documents
PDF generation via jsPDF and pdf-lib. DOCX generation via the docx package. Lesson plan exporter with formatting, layout options, and page break control. Name label generator with Avery-compatible label templates. Curriculum document builder with professional formatting for administration presentation. All exports handle multi-page documents with proper headers, footers, and page numbering.
Payments & Subscriptions
Stripe integration with full subscription lifecycle management. Two tiers: Essential ($19.99/mo) and Professional ($29.99/mo). Checkout flow, customer portal for self-service upgrades/downgrades, and webhook handling for subscription state changes. Free trial period with plan feature enforcement via subscription status checks on every protected route. Billing portal gives teachers full control without contacting support.
Monitoring & Infrastructure
Vercel deployment with edge functions for performance. Sentry error tracking with source maps for production debugging. Vercel Analytics for usage patterns and page performance. Zod validation on all API inputs. SEO-optimized blog with 3 published content articles, dynamic routing, sitemap.xml, and robots.txt. Middleware for auth verification on all protected routes.
Security
✓
Row Level Security
All database tables enforce RLS. Teachers only access their own students, plans, and data.
✓
Auth Middleware
Supabase Auth with session verification on every protected route. No unauthenticated API access.
✓
Webhook Verification
All Stripe events verified with signing secret before processing subscription changes.
✓
Input Validation
All API inputs validated with Zod schemas. Malformed requests rejected at the API layer.
✓
AI Context Isolation
No student or teacher data persists in AI model context between sessions.
✓
Error Monitoring
Sentry captures all production errors with source maps. No sensitive data in error payloads.
Pricing Model
Essential
$19.99/mo
Professional
$29.99/mo
What's Included
My Teachers Toolbox is available for acquisition. Complete source code, 5 AI systems, 12-section Emergency Toolkit, document export pipeline, Stripe billing, and live production infrastructure — ready to grow.
Contact Allen Code Co →