Free lesson plan template

How to use this lesson plan template

Pick a Lesson plan format and the page redraws. Every format has a header for the lesson title, date, subject, grade level, duration and student or students. Type the title, subject and grade on screen if you want them printed, or leave them blank and write by hand. Each teaching stage has a Time ___ min line so you can check that the plan fits the time you have.

For a week at a glance, use the weekly lesson plan template. For the whole homeschool binder, the homeschool planner makes daily pages, calendars and attendance sheets in the same style.

How to write a lesson plan that works

1. Start with the objective. Write what the student will be able to do by the end, with a verb you can observe: identify, compare, solve, write, explain. "The student will be able to write a paragraph with a topic sentence and three supporting details" is a target you can check. "Learn about paragraphs" is not.

2. Plan the assessment next. Before choosing activities, decide how you'll know the objective was met: an exit ticket, three practice problems, a short explanation, a work sample. This is sometimes called backward design.

3. Then choose activities that lead there. The detailed template follows the gradual release of responsibility: you model the skill (I do), you practice it together (we do), then the student does it alone (you do). Keep "I do" short; most of the lesson should be practice.

4. Plan for differences. The differentiation box splits into extra support (simpler numbers, a word bank, a worked example) and extension (a harder problem, a creative twist). Even with one child at home, it helps to plan both.

5. Reflect the same day. Two lines in the reflection box ("ran 10 minutes long; skip the second example") make next year's lesson better.

The 5E model for science and inquiry

The 5E model was developed by BSCS in the late 1980s for science teaching. Engage sparks curiosity with a question or demonstration. Explore gives students time to investigate before anything is explained. In Explain, students put their ideas into words, and then the teacher adds vocabulary and fills gaps. Elaborate applies the idea to a new situation, and Evaluate checks what was learned. BSCS describes it as a sequence that can stretch across several lessons or a unit, so don't force all five phases into 40 minutes. Use the 5E lesson plan template to plan one cycle.

Lesson planning by grade

Kindergarten to 2nd grade: short segments of 10 to 20 minutes, lots of modeling and movement, and a quick oral check instead of a written assessment.

3rd to 8th grade: longer guided and independent practice, written exit tickets, and more student explanation. The 5E format shines for science at this age.

High school: objectives tied to course standards, longer independent work, and assessments that build toward tests and projects. Homeschool parents can keep finished plans as evidence of course content for a homeschool transcript.

Printing tips

Print one page per lesson and keep them in a binder by subject or unit. Turn off Color accents to print the section labels in light gray instead of purple. The template fits US Letter and A4.

When you'd rather not write every lesson

Curricula with built-in lessons save hours of planning. Time4Learning delivers scheduled online lessons and grades them, Khan Academy offers free lessons and practice by course, IXL adds skill practice with instant feedback, and Outschool has live classes taught by other teachers. Compare complete programs in the best homeschool curriculum and the best open-and-go homeschool curriculum. Save favorites to your wishlist and check whether scholarships in your state can help pay for them.