Lesson plan template: will it all fit?
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Your lesson plan
Add minutes to your segments and the total shows here.
Counts only the minutes you typed: no time is added between segments, and nothing is rounded.
Pastes headings, lists and a real table into your own Google Doc or Word file, where you can keep editing. Works on a blank sheet too.
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Lesson plan
Lesson
Date
Subject
Grade or level
Class or student
Teacher
Length (min)
Start time
Standards
Objectives
Materials
Timing
| Time | Min | Segment | What happens |
|---|---|---|---|
Total: ____ of ____ min
Check for understanding
Adjustments for individual learners
Homework or practice
How the lesson plan template works
You fill in one lesson: a title, how long it runs, and what happens in it, in segments with minutes. As you type the minutes, the page adds them up and holds the total against the length of the lesson. 45 of 50, five open. Or over by 10, which is the number you want to see on Sunday night, not at minute 40 with the exit ticket still in your bag.
Give it a start time and every segment gets a real clock time, so "Exploration, 15 minutes" becomes 11:45 AM-12:00 PM. The math is whole minutes and nothing else. It doesn't round, and it has no opinion about how long a segment ought to take. A segment that ends after the lesson does gets marked. One that ends right on the bell doesn't.
Two buttons can name the rows for you. 5E gives you the five phases of the BSCS 5E Instructional Model: engagement, exploration, explanation, elaboration and evaluation. Gradual release gives you the three stages P. David Pearson and Margaret Gallagher drew in 1983: modeling, guided practice, and practice or application. Neither touches anything but the rows. You set the minutes.
The sheet keeps only what you filled in. A tutor's plan has no empty Standards box, and a classroom plan carries no student's name unless you typed one. Objectives, materials, timing and the check for understanding always print, with ruled space when they're empty.
Nothing is saved, and we mean nothing. When you're done, print it, or copy it into Google Docs or Word, where it lands as headings, lists and a real table you can keep editing. What you type stays on your screen until you print or copy it, and this tool doesn't send it anywhere.
Who this is for
A classroom teacher on a Sunday night with Tuesday's 50-minute period still in their head. A student teacher whose program wants plans on paper. A piano teacher with a new 30-minute student at 4:30 and a lesson to sort out before the doorbell. A tutor planning tomorrow's hour, or a coach planning a practice. If your school or program has its own form, plan the lesson here and copy it into theirs.
Teacher questions about lesson plans
What should a lesson plan include?
We'd put four things on any plan: what learners should be able to do by the end, what you need on hand, what happens and for how long, and how you'll check it worked. Those are the four parts this sheet always prints. Standards, adjustments for particular learners and homework go on the sheet when they apply and drop off when they don't. If your school or program has its own form, its sections win.
How long should a lesson plan be?
Long enough to teach from after a bad night's sleep, short enough to glance at mid-lesson. For a single lesson we'd aim for one page, and this sheet is laid out to fit a typical plan on one Letter page. If yours spills over, the timing table carries on with its headings on page 2. The length that matters more is the one in minutes. The total at the top of the card tells you whether the plan fits the time you have.
What is a 5E lesson plan?
It's a lesson built on the five phases of the BSCS 5E Instructional Model: engagement, exploration, explanation, elaboration and evaluation. BSCS has used the model in its science curriculum materials since the late 1980s and says the sequence works for whole programs, units and single lessons. In plain terms, you spark curiosity, let learners explore, have them explain, stretch the idea to something new, and then check what they understand. Tap 5E and the five rows are named for you.
What is I do, we do, you do?
It's what many teachers call the gradual release of responsibility, the model Pearson and Gallagher drew in 1983. You show how it's done (modeling). You do it together while learners take over more of the work (guided practice). Then they do it on their own (practice or application). Their paper never uses the words "I do, we do, you do," so the row names on this sheet are theirs. Tap Gradual release and the three rows appear.
How do I write a lesson objective?
Name something a learner could do by the end that you could see or hear. "Compare two fractions with the same denominator" works. "Understand fractions" doesn't, because you can't watch someone understand. For one lesson we'd keep it to one to three objectives, one per line here. Then make sure your check for understanding actually tests them.
What is a check for understanding?
A quick way to find out, before the lesson ends, whether it worked: an exit ticket with one question, three problems on a whiteboard, a learner playing back the scale you just practiced. Nobody has to grade it. What matters is that it tells you what to do tomorrow, which is why it gets its own box on this sheet.
Can I use this lesson plan template in Google Docs or Word?
Yes, and without downloading anything. Fill it in, press Copy for Google Docs or Word, and paste into a new document. The headings, lists and timing table arrive as the real thing, so you can keep editing them there. Press it before you type anything and you get an empty template to paste. For a PDF, print and choose Save as PDF in the print dialog.
How do I fit everything into the time I have?
Put minutes on every segment and read the total before anything else. If it says over by 10, something has to shrink or go, and that's far easier to decide on Sunday than at minute 40. If it says five open, leave them: handing out materials, questions and moving between activities all take time no plan shows. Add a start time and you'll see the clock times too.
Do teachers have to turn in lesson plans?
Whether you do, and in what format, is up to your school, your district or your teacher-education program, so ask whoever you'd hand it to. If they have a form of their own, use this sheet to plan and time the lesson, then copy the content into theirs. We don't claim this sheet meets anyone's required format.
Where do accommodations go on a lesson plan?
Open "Subject, grade, date and more" and use Adjustments for individual learners: a seat near the board, a printed copy of the slides, extra time on the exit ticket. If a learner has a written plan that lists accommodations, keep it close by. This box is just your note of what you'll do in this lesson. It prints on your sheet, and nothing you type in it leaves this tool.
What goes in a lesson plan template
A lesson plan template is only worth filling in if it asks for what you'll actually use in the room. This one asks for four things every time and three more when they apply.
| Part | What to write | On the sheet |
|---|---|---|
| Objectives | What learners will be able to do by the end, one per line | Always |
| Materials | What has to be on hand, one item per line | Always |
| Timing | Each segment with its minutes and what happens; the page adds them up | Always |
| Check for understanding | How you'll know it worked | Always |
| Standards | The code your state or program uses, typed as is | When filled |
| Adjustments for individual learners | What changes for particular learners | When filled |
| Homework or practice | What happens after the lesson | When filled |
Subject, grade or level, class or student, teacher and date print in the header when you fill them in.
A 5E lesson plan template
The 5E model comes from BSCS, which built its science materials on it. These are its five phases, in its order, as its own summary describes them.
| Phase | What happens, in BSCS's description |
|---|---|
| Engagement | Short activities spark curiosity and draw out what learners already know. |
| Exploration | Learners work through shared activities, raise questions and try out their ideas. |
| Explanation | Learners explain what they found, and the teacher can introduce the concept directly. |
| Elaboration | Learners apply the idea in new activities and deepen their understanding. |
| Evaluation | Learners assess their own understanding; the teacher checks progress toward the objectives. |
Time is the catch. In BSCS's own modules for the National Institutes of Health, a full 5E cycle takes five to 10 days of class time. You can fit all five phases into one period, but it's a squeeze, and that's exactly what the minutes total is for.
Gradual release: I do, we do, you do
Pearson and Gallagher described "any academic task" as shared between teacher and learner in shifting proportions, from all teacher to all student. Their figure names three stages.
| Stage | Who carries the task |
|---|---|
| Modeling | All or most of it is the teacher's: you show how it's done. |
| Guided practice | Shared ("joint responsibility" in their figure), with more handed to learners as they take it on. |
| Practice or application | All or most of it is the learner's. |
Printing a blank lesson plan template
Print a blank template gives you one Letter page to fill in by hand: write-in lines for the lesson, date, subject, grade or level, class or student, teacher, length, start time and standards; ruled space for objectives, materials and the check for understanding; a timing table with seven rows and a line for the total; and boxes for adjustments and homework. It works without JavaScript, too: your browser's own Print command prints the same page.
Sources and last checked
- BSCS, "The BSCS 5E Instructional Model: Origins, Effectiveness, and Applications," executive summary (Bybee and others, 2006), Table 1: the 5E phases and what happens in each; the NIH modules' five to 10 days.
- P. David Pearson and Margaret C. Gallagher, "The Instruction of Reading Comprehension," Technical Report No. 297, Center for the Study of Reading, University of Illinois, 1983 (ERIC ED236565), Figure 1: the gradual release stages.
- Common Core State Standards Initiative, grade 3 fractions: the example code in the Standards field. You type the standard yourself, and we never check it.
- Activity presets version 2026-10-07. Last checked: October 7, 2026.
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