Elementary Unit Planner

Plan multi-week units for K–5 classrooms with age-appropriate pacing, read-aloud integration, hands-on exploration, and the predictable routines that young learners need to engage deeply.

All SubjectsElementary (K–5)

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When to use this template

  • Planning multi-week units for K–5 classrooms
  • When you want to integrate content learning with literacy development
  • Building units that use read-alouds and hands-on experiences as primary instruction tools
  • When you need to plan for centers, small groups, and independent work simultaneously
  • Designing age-appropriate summative assessments that are not limited by writing ability

Template sections

Name the unit, grade, subject, and essential question. Identify the standards and the big ideas.

Unit title:

Grade (K–5) and subject:

Duration:

Big idea (what will students understand?):

Standards:

Connection to literacy:

Design the daily instructional routine that will repeat across the unit.

Morning meeting or activation routine:

Mini-lesson (10–15 min):

Guided/independent practice:

Sharing or closing routine:

Center activities or small group plan:

Identify the picture books, informational texts, and mentor texts that will anchor the unit.

Anchor read-aloud(s):

Informational texts:

Mentor texts (for writing):

How read-alouds connect to the big idea:

Discussion questions for read-alouds:

Plan the concrete, hands-on activities that build understanding before abstract instruction.

Manipulatives or materials:

Exploration activities:

Art, movement, or play-based learning connections:

Science experiments or observations:

Field experience or community connection:

Plan age-appropriate formative and summative assessments.

Formative checks (observation, exit tickets, conferring notes):

Summative task (project, presentation, writing, performance):

How you will differentiate assessment access:

Documentation approach (photos, student work samples):

Plan supports and extensions across the developmental range in a K–5 classroom.

Scaffolds for students who need more support:

Extensions for students who are ready for more:

ELL/EAL language supports:

Sensory or movement needs:

IEP and 504 accommodations:

The Flip Perspective

Elementary unit planning works when it is built around young learners' needs: short cycles, predictable routines, concrete experiences, and meaningful read-alouds that carry real learning. This planner helps you design a coherent multi-week arc for K–5 that keeps instruction focused and intentional without losing the warmth and playfulness that young learners need.

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Adapting this Template

For All Subjects

Apply Elementary Unit by adapting the phase timings and prompts to fit All Subjects's unique content demands.

About the Elementary Unit framework

Elementary unit planning requires a different structure than secondary planning. Young learners need more repetition, shorter segments, more concrete experiences, and routines they can predict. An elementary unit that works is not a scaled-down version of a middle school unit. It is designed from the ground up for how young children learn.

Shorter, repeated cycles: Elementary units work best with short, repeating daily cycles rather than long lesson sequences. A daily routine of warm-up, mini-lesson, guided practice, and sharing takes about 45 minutes and is repeated across several weeks with changing content. This predictability reduces cognitive load and lets students focus on the learning rather than the procedure.

Read-aloud as instruction: The read-aloud is one of the most powerful instructional tools in elementary school. Anchor texts, mentor texts, and informational read-alouds can carry significant content and skill instruction, especially for students who are not yet independent readers. An elementary unit plan should include regular read-aloud moments as instructional time, not just enjoyment time.

Concrete before abstract: Young learners need concrete, hands-on experiences before they are ready to engage with abstract representations or ideas. An elementary math unit should begin with physical manipulatives and build toward symbolic representations. An elementary science unit should begin with direct observation before introducing scientific vocabulary and models.

Centers and small groups: Elementary teachers often teach multiple small groups simultaneously. Unit planning at this level should account for center activities that reinforce the unit's skills and concepts while the teacher works with targeted groups. Centers should be engaging and self-managing, not activities that require constant teacher direction.

Connection to literacy: At the elementary level, content area learning and literacy development happen simultaneously. Elementary units in science and social studies provide vocabulary development, knowledge-building, and comprehension practice that directly support reading growth. A strong elementary unit plan leverages this connection intentionally.

Thematic Unit

Organize a multi-week unit around a central theme or essential question that cuts across topics, texts, and disciplines, helping students see connections and build deeper understanding.

Backward Design Unit

Plan your unit from the end backward: identify the desired results first, then design assessments, and finally plan learning experiences that build toward them. Clear goals, coherent instruction.

SEL Unit

Plan a Social and Emotional Learning unit that develops CASEL competencies through structured reflection, community-building activities, and skill practice, integrated into your classroom culture rather than added on top of it.

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Frequently asked questions

Two to four weeks is typical for most elementary units. Shorter than 2 weeks does not give young learners enough time with the content. Longer than 4 weeks risks losing momentum. K–1 units may be shorter; Grade 4–5 units may extend to 6 weeks for complex content.
Use read-alouds for content instruction and teach comprehension strategies with content-area texts. Teach vocabulary in context. Have students write about content-area topics. Use content knowledge as background for independent reading. These are not add-ons; they are the most efficient use of instructional time in an already packed elementary day.
Centers should reinforce the unit skills and be self-managing. They should require minimal teacher direction because you will be working with small groups. Plan centers in 2-week cycles so students have time to master the routine before the activity changes.
It should not rely primarily on written production. Good K–2 summative assessments include: drawing and labeling, building or creating something, oral explanation to the teacher, performance or demonstration. Written components should be brief and scaffolded.
Build tiered versions of key activities (the same content at different complexity levels), plan for partner and small-group structures where students can support each other, and use flexible grouping that shifts based on the activity rather than grouping students by ability permanently.
Young learners are natural active learners. They learn best by doing: sorting, building, acting out, investigating, and discussing with peers. Flip missions channel this energy into structured collaborative activities that are age-appropriate and tied to learning goals. A second-grade science lesson might become a sorting investigation, while a fifth-grade history lesson becomes a role-play simulation. Teachers use this planner for the unit arc and Flip to generate individual lessons that keep young learners engaged through hands-on participation.
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