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Planning Made Easier: Explore the Latest Elina Upgrades

Updated: Sep 16

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If you’ve been searching for AI lesson planning tools that feel simple, human, and helpful, this update is for you. As a teacher or homeschooling parent, your time is precious. Planning early childhood lessons, supporting diverse needs, and preparing printable activities for preschool can stretch any schedule. 


In this guide, I’ll walk you through what’s new in Elina, why it matters, and how to use these upgrades to save time on lesson planning without losing your personal touch. (And yes, I’ll keep it plain and practical.) You’ll learn how to start faster in chat, create richer learner profiles with AI, use personalized categories, generate printables in minutes, and tap into tools to support inclusive classrooms, all with a calm, step-by-step flow.


Start Where Planning Happens: Chat

The planning flow opens right into chat because that’s where most of us start thinking out loud. From the first page, you can choose from ready-made options:

  • Planning: Plan activities and develop lessons. 

  • Printables: Generate personalized and ready-to-use PDFs for tracing, counting, and more.

  • Special Needs Support: Adapt lessons to meet unique learning needs.

  • Photo Analysis: Get ideas to improve your learning space.

  • Professional Development Guide: Catch up on new learning theories and practices

  • Note to Parents: Plan and write anything from reminders to learning updates

  • Brainstorm ideas: Refine and brainstorm creative lessons

  • Mindfulness break: Look for calming exercises for yourself or your class


How to use chat (1–2 minutes):

  1. Open chat and choose from ready-made options or type your own goal: “Plan a week on autumn leaves for mixed ages (3–5).”

  2. Provide additional constraints like timing, materials on hand, and indoor/outdoor when needed.

  3. Review the suggestion and work together with Elina for a more detailed plan, or just implement it and have fun with your classroom. 


Build Strong Foundations: Learner & Group Profiles

Great plans come from great context. Elina is eager to learn more about your group of children. The more you share about the children and the group, the more personalized Elina’s suggestions will be. The new Group Profile creation flow gives you two easy paths:

  1. Learner-based (recommended): add learners and their strengths, interests, and learning needs, and let Elina work on a summary based on the information you provide. 

  2. Use the Quick Entry: add simple group details for a fast setup.


Once your profiles are in, chat remembers nicknames. That means you can write, “Include a fine-motor option for Leo,” and the smart lesson planner will personalize suggestions on the fly. This supports inclusive education with less effort.


Try this:

  • Tag competences and skills that are important to remember.

  • Add age ranges, interests, strengths, and any special needs to unlock personalized plans and suggestions. 

Group Plan

Get Suggestions That Fit Your Needs: Personalized Categories

After onboarding, every new user sees four tailored categories on day one. This cuts the noise and increases relevance, as Elina always takes into account your focus areas. 

Ideas to try today:

  • “Storytelling + movement” for early childhood lessons with AI

  • “STEM corner” for science exploration (try a “Why does it rain?” mini-unit)

  • “Calm & focus” for transitions and routines

  • “Outdoor learning” for seasons, nature, and community walks


As you use Elina, your categories feel more “you.” That’s the point.


Printables in Minutes (Not Hours)

You asked for fast, flexible printables. Now they’re front-and-center. Ask Elina to prepare exercises for:

  • Line traces (pre-writing practice)

  • Number tracing 1–20

  • Matching objects (animals, shapes, habitats)

  • Sequencing (life cycles, routines)

  • Counting mats (farms, oceans, seasons)


One-prompt example:“Create printable activities for preschool students: 3 tracing sheets, 2 matching activities with farm animals, and 1 counting to 10.”


Plan for Every Learner: Inclusive & SEN Support

Personalization should be practical. In chat, use nicknames and brief notes to guide Elina for special education planning:

  • “Add a sensory-friendly option for Ava.”

  • “Give a visual schedule variation for Kai.”

  • “Include a low-noise, fine-motor station for Sam.”


Quick pattern to copy:“Plan two activity tiers (core + scaffold). Core = whole group; Scaffold = extra visuals and simplified steps for learners who need it.”

This helps you use tools to support inclusive classrooms without re-planning from scratch.


Step-By-Step: A 10-Minute Weekly Setup

Step 1 — Name your week (1 min): “Autumn Weather Week” (include goals: language, science, social-emotional).

Step 2 — Add your group context (2 min):Ages, key interests, SEN notes, space limits (indoor/outdoor), and available materials.

Step 3 — Ask for a draft (3 min): “Create a 5-day plan with one circle time, one center, and one outdoor activity per day. Include one printable daily.”

Step 4 — Personalize by learner (2 min): “Add a calm-corner activity for Leo; a counting challenge for Aino; and a sensory variation for Mika.”

Step 5 — Download printables (2 min): “Export all printables as one PDF.”


Common Mistakes (And Easy Fixes)

❌ Request is too vague: “Plan science.”

✅ Fix: Add purpose and constraints: “Plan a 20-minute rain exploration for Group Rainbows with a water tray and droppers.”


❌ Missing learner context

✅ Fix: Select pre-defined group or learner profiles, or write a line per learner (“needs visuals,” “loves music,” “short attention span”).


❌ No time frame

✅ Fix: Specify: “One circle time + one 30-minute center, Monday–Thursday.”


Planning Made Easier with Elina

If you want fewer tabs and more clarity, these new features were made for you. Opening straight into chat helps you think. Personalized categories reduce the scroll. Group Profiles and learner nicknames make differentiation natural. And printable activities for preschool are always a prompt away.

You still lead the learning. Elina quietly supports your flow, whether you’re in a classroom or homeschooling at the kitchen table.


Conclusion

You don’t need more complexity to plan well. You need a calm structure, clear next steps, and a helper who remembers your learners. With this update, you can start fast, personalize easily, and finish with materials that fit your students’ needs. Try one small change this week: add learner profiles, request printables, or run a short weather mini-unit. See how much lighter planning can feel.

Ready to try a smarter way to plan? 👉 Try Elina for Free


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