Ask any experienced teacher what changed most between their first and fifth year, and you'll often hear a version of the same answer: "I stopped spending three hours on lesson plans and started spending thirty minutes on better ones." The format matters, but so does knowing which format to use.
This guide gives you a practical lesson plan template for every major K-12 planning framework, with notes on when to use each. Print them, copy them into Google Docs, or adapt them to whatever your department requires. No sign-up needed.
What Every Good Lesson Plan Template Actually Needs
Before choosing a framework, it helps to know which components belong in any well-designed lesson plan format, regardless of grade level or subject.
1. Learning objective(s): What will students know or be able to do by the end of class? Write this in student-facing language ("Students will be able to..."), not teacher-facing language ("I will teach students..."). Tie each objective to a specific standard.
2. Standards alignment: List the relevant Common Core, NGSS, state, or district standard by code. This protects you during curriculum reviews and makes your planning decisions defensible.
3. Materials and resources: Everything needed, including digital tools, physical manipulatives, and any handouts. If you need to reserve a laptop cart or borrow a document camera, you'll catch it here instead of at 7:45 a.m.
4. Instructional sequence: The heart of the plan. A time-stamped sequence of what the teacher does, what students do, and how the class transitions between phases. This is where frameworks differ most.
5. Assessment: How will you know students learned what you intended? This includes both formative checks during the lesson (exit tickets, cold calls, circulating observations) and any summative tasks.
6. Differentiation and accommodations: Specific modifications for students with IEPs, 504s, English learners, and advanced learners. More on structuring this section below.
Most planning disasters trace back to skipping one of these six elements. A lesson without a clear objective drifts. A lesson without a differentiation plan leaves some students behind before the bell rings.
The Major Planning Frameworks (And When to Use Them)
The 5E Lesson Plan Template
The 5E model was developed by Roger Bybee and colleagues at BSCS in the 1980s and has become a standard framework in science and inquiry-based instruction. It structures learning in five phases: Engage, Explore, Explain, Elaborate, Evaluate.
The 5E model works particularly well for concept-driven lessons where students need to construct understanding through experience before receiving direct instruction. The key insight is that "Explain" comes after students have wrestled with the content themselves, which changes how much they retain from the explanation.
5E Lesson Plan Template:
| Section | What to Include |
|---|---|
| Grade / Subject / Duration | e.g., Grade 7 Science / 50 min |
| Standard(s) | Standard code + brief description |
| Objective | Students will be able to… |
| Engage (5–10 min) | Hook activity, question, or phenomenon that activates prior knowledge and sparks curiosity |
| Explore (10–15 min) | Structured activity where students investigate before formal instruction; teacher circulates and probes |
| Explain (10–15 min) | Direct instruction, modeling, or student presentations that formalize concepts from the exploration |
| Elaborate (10–15 min) | Application to a new context, problem, or scenario; extends understanding |
| Evaluate (5–10 min) | Formative or summative assessment; exit ticket, quick write, or performance task |
| Differentiation | Scaffolds for ELs, modifications for IEP/504, extensions for advanced learners |
| Materials | Full list including digital tools |
Best for: Science, social studies, and any lesson where discovery precedes definition.
Backward Design Lesson Plan Template (UbD)
Backward design, introduced by Grant Wiggins and Jay McTighe in Understanding by Design, flips the typical planning sequence. Instead of starting with activities and hoping they lead somewhere meaningful, you begin with the end in mind: What do you want students to understand deeply? What evidence would prove they got there?
Most lessons fail not because the activities are bad, but because the activities aren't connected to a clear destination. Backward design forces that connection before you plan a single task.
Backward Design Lesson Plan Template:
| Stage | Questions to Answer |
|---|---|
| Stage 1: Desired Results | What standards apply? What enduring understandings should students carry forward? What essential questions frame the learning? What will students know and be able to do? |
| Stage 2: Evidence | What performance task(s) will demonstrate understanding? What other evidence (quizzes, observations, self-assessments) will you collect? What does "good enough" look like (rubric criteria)? |
| Stage 3: Learning Plan | What sequence of instruction, practice, and feedback will help students reach Stage 1? How will you address prerequisite gaps? Where will you build in formative checks? |
| Differentiation | How will you adjust Stage 3 activities for diverse learners without lowering Stage 1 expectations? |
| Materials / Resources | — |
Best for: Unit-level planning, performance-based courses, and any time your school uses a standards-mastery model.
The 5-Step Direct Instruction Template
The 5-step model (sometimes called the "I Do / We Do / You Do" structure) is the workhorse of explicit instruction. It's not flashy, but it's reliable for skills that require sequential mastery: decoding, math procedures, grammar rules, lab safety protocols.
5-Step Lesson Plan Template:
| Step | Time | Description |
|---|---|---|
| 1. Review / Activate Prior Knowledge | 5 min | Brief review of prerequisite skills; connect to previous learning |
| 2. Introduction / Direct Instruction | 10–15 min | Teacher models new skill or concept with think-alouds; minimize student passivity with frequent checks |
| 3. Guided Practice | 10–15 min | Students practice with teacher support; error correction happens here |
| 4. Independent Practice | 10–15 min | Students work independently; teacher circulates and notes patterns |
| 5. Closure / Assessment | 5–10 min | Summarize, re-state objective, collect evidence of learning |
| Objective | — | — |
| Standard(s) | — | — |
| Differentiation | — | Scaffolds during guided practice; adjusted complexity during independent practice |
| Materials | — | — |
Best for: Reading, math skill-building, procedural content in any subject, and sub plans where a substitute needs clear, step-by-step guidance.
Madeline Hunter's Lesson Plan Model
Hunter's model, developed at UCLA in the 1960s and 1970s, remains influential in administrative observation frameworks. Many formal lesson observation rubrics still use her vocabulary. If your school conducts walk-throughs with a Hunter-based checklist, you'll want to be fluent in this format.
Madeline Hunter Template:
| Element | Description |
|---|---|
| Anticipatory Set | The hook that focuses attention and accesses prior knowledge |
| Objective and Purpose | State the learning goal in student terms; explain why it matters |
| Input | New knowledge or skill the teacher delivers |
| Modeling | Demonstrate the skill or concept clearly, often with a think-aloud |
| Checking for Understanding | Formative techniques (cold call, pair-share, thumbs up/down) used before releasing students to practice |
| Guided Practice | Scaffolded practice with teacher feedback |
| Independent Practice | Homework or in-class individual work |
| Standard(s) | — |
| Materials | — |
| Differentiation | — |
Best for: Schools with Hunter-based evaluation systems; also useful for new teachers who want a clear checklist during the practicum year.
Grade-Level Templates: Elementary, Middle School, High School
The same framework can look different depending on the grade band. Here's what to adjust.
Elementary Lesson Plan Template (K–5)
Elementary plans need more detail in transitions and classroom management, because the instructional day is broken into many short segments and behavior scaffolds are often embedded in the lesson itself.
Key additions for elementary:
- Transition plans: How students move from the carpet to seats, how materials are distributed, what the signal is to stop an activity.
- Engagement strategies: Name the specific protocol (turn-and-talk, think-pair-share, numbered heads) rather than just writing "discussion."
- Read-aloud / anchor text slot: Even in math, a picture book or anchor chart introduction often serves as the engage phase.
- Reading level accommodations: Note Lexile-adjusted texts or visual supports in the differentiation section.
Middle School Lesson Plan Template (6–8)
Middle school teachers juggle multiple preps and adolescent attention spans that can shift mid-sentence. The format should balance structure with flexibility.
Key additions for middle school:
- Re-engagement moment: Build in a deliberate re-focus point around the 20-minute mark. Brains this age need a pattern break.
- Relevance hook: Adolescents respond strongly to "why does this matter to my life?" Name it explicitly.
- Collaborative structure: Specify group roles if using cooperative learning.
High School Lesson Plan Template (9–12)
High school plans tend to have longer instructional chunks but often underestimate how much scaffolding independent work requires.
Key additions for high school:
- Socratic seminar or discussion protocol: If the lesson includes discussion, specify the structure (Harkness, Fishbowl, Philosophical Chairs).
- Writing integration: Note where disciplinary writing is embedded, even informally.
- Independent work scaffolds: Graphic organizers, sentence starters, or annotated examples that prevent "I don't know where to start" paralysis.
Building a Differentiation Section That Actually Works
Most lesson plan templates include a "differentiation" box. Most teachers leave it blank or write "provide extended time" for every lesson. The problem is structural: the box is too small and too vague to prompt useful thinking.
A more functional approach is to structure differentiation around four learner groups, with space for two or three specific strategies each:
Differentiation Planning Grid:
| Learner Group | Access / Scaffold | Practice Modification | Extension |
|---|---|---|---|
| Students with IEPs | (e.g., graphic organizer, preferential seating, chunked directions) | (e.g., reduced problem set, sentence frames) | — |
| 504 accommodations | (e.g., extended time built into lesson pacing, large-print materials) | — | — |
| English Learners | (e.g., bilingual glossary, visual supports, pair with bilingual partner) | (e.g., home language draft before English revision) | — |
| Advanced learners | — | (e.g., open-ended extension task, peer teaching role) | (e.g., independent inquiry option, above-grade text) |
Before finalizing any lesson plan, cross-reference your differentiation section against the IEP accommodations for students in that class. A lesson plan that doesn't reflect documented accommodations creates compliance risk and, more importantly, leaves students without support they're legally entitled to.
The grid format takes about the same time to fill in as a blank box, but it prompts you to think about each learner group specifically rather than in the abstract.
How AI Tools Fit Into Lesson Planning (And Where They Don't)
AI lesson plan generators have improved enough that they're genuinely useful for the drafting phase of planning. A teacher can describe a learning objective, paste in a standard, and receive a structured draft in under a minute. That draft often needs significant revision, but it's a better starting point than a blank page.
AI tools don't know your students. They don't know that three kids in period four had a significant altercation yesterday, that your school uses a specific reading protocol, or that your district has banned certain materials. Every AI-generated lesson plan needs a teacher's eyes before it reaches a classroom.
The most productive use pattern is to treat AI output as a first draft that needs three specific reviews: (1) Does the objective match your students' actual readiness level? (2) Are the differentiation suggestions specific to your learners, not generic? (3) Does the pacing reflect your actual class period, including transitions?
If you use AI to draft plans, keep the template format consistent across your department. Inconsistent formats make collaboration harder and make it difficult to share and adapt each other's plans.
How to Customize and Use These Templates
These templates are designed to be adapted, not followed rigidly. Here's a practical approach:
Start with your district's required format. Many districts mandate a specific lesson plan format for new teachers or for formal observations. If yours does, use that structure as your base and layer in the components above that are missing.
Choose your framework based on the lesson type, not habit. A direct instruction plan works well for introducing a new algorithm. A 5E plan works better for introducing a scientific concept. Using the same template for every lesson is like wearing the same shoes for every occasion.
Keep a personal template library. Maintain three or four go-to templates in a shared folder: one for direct instruction, one for inquiry or lab days, one for discussion-based lessons, one for assessment or review days. You'll fill them in faster with practice, and substitutes will thank you.
Build your differentiation grid before the instructional sequence. If you plan accommodations last, they become afterthoughts. Plan who needs what, then design activities that serve those needs from the start.
Review and revise after the lesson. A five-minute debrief note at the bottom of your plan ("pacing was off in guided practice; extend to 20 min next time") turns your lesson plans into a professional learning archive over time.
Putting It All Together
A lesson plan template is only as useful as the thinking that goes into it. The frameworks here, from the 5E model to backward design to Hunter's elements, are tools for organizing that thinking, not substitutes for it.
The teachers who plan most effectively tend to share two habits: they choose their format deliberately based on what the lesson requires, and they build differentiation in from the start rather than adding it at the end. The templates above are designed to support both habits.
Pick the framework that fits your next lesson, adapt it to your students, and revise it after class. Over a semester, that cycle compounds into something genuinely useful: a library of plans that reflects how your students actually learn, not how a template assumed they would.
These templates are free to use, adapt, and share with your colleagues. If your school or district uses Flip's lesson planning tools, many of these frameworks are available as editable templates within the platform.
