Childhood/Early Childhood Lesson Plan Format (September 2023)

Lesson Title/Grade Level:

Essential Question: An upper level, over-arching question, worthy of discussion. Sometimes, written
on the board; sometimes called Key Question (e.g., What was the most important
result of the Civil Rights Movement? Are we more alike or more different? What is the
turning point of the story?).

Standards: One or more of the standards from the Next Generation Learning Standards.
One or more of the content/skills standards from the NYS curricula.
(In social studies, skills are referred to as social studies practices.)

Learning Objectives set content and skills standards for evaluation: 2-3 per lesson; should be
written using measurable verbs. Objectives should answer the question, “What should
children be able to DO?” They should go from lower to upper level a la Bloom’s
taxonomy and are written in the following format: Children will be able to:
1. identify…(lower level objective)
2. compare and contrast…(middle level)
3. evaluate…(upper level)

Vocabulary: of the content area (e.g., wants and needs, density, fluency, fraction equivalency).

Context for Learning: Specific info about the children in the class, including IEP info, numbers of ELLs, etc.

Materials: Materials to be used in your lesson (e.g., photos, songs, speech, technology, puppets,
etc.), appropriate to a variety of learners.

Give time estimates for each activity. Link each activity back to your lesson objectives.
Planned questions are needed in each part of the lesson.

MOTIVATION: Designed to interest the class and raise questions; children set up hypotheses to be
(Obj. # ___) investigated during the rest of the lesson. The activity should “hook” the children into
(___ min.) the topic. This is sometimes referred to as the Anticipatory Set (M. Hunter lingo).
Planned Questions to elicit children’s interest:

Focus: Summarizes what just happened; gives an overview and purpose; links the lesson to
previous and future lessons. Written exactly as you would say it to children. (“We just
identified….Today we will examine…By the end of the lesson, you should be able to….”)

INSTRUCTIONAL Describes what you teach and how you will teach it. Children acquire new information,
ACTIVITY: new knowledge and skills. Summary questions must be asked during and at the end of
(Obj. # ____) this section to check for student understanding. (If you ask children to do an assignment
(___ min.) that requires content knowledge, you must also include the answers to that assignment.)
Planned Questions to check for children’s understanding (yielding informal assessment):

DIFFERENTIATION (based on info about children from context for learning) provides
multi-modal means of engagement:
ASSESSMENT: Demonstrate how you will monitor and assess every child in all planned activities. All
and CRITERIA: numbered objectives must be assessed. Independent practice; children must
(Obj. # ____) demonstrate new knowledge by using it in an upper level, authentic way. Indicate the
(___ min.) criteria you will use to measure success on the assessment activity. And then use student
work from your assessment to inform your next teaching experience…
Planned Questions to help children synthesize and evaluate:

DIFFERENTIATION (based on info about children from context for learning) provides
multi-modal means of assessment:

Follow-Up: (Optional) Raise a related, but perhaps slightly tangential, issue or topic.

When Writing Lesson Plans, Remember To:

• Make sure you can answer the questions: Why am I teaching this? What’s the Big Picture?
• Plan engaging activities that are appropriate for the varied children in your class.
• Link each activity and the assessment to your objectives.
• Include 1-2 important questions in each section of the lesson that deepen children’s learning.
• Think of the plan as a structure that lets you know where you want to go but allows you the flexibility to
really listen to your children, letting them guide the direction and pace of your lesson.

When you actually teach the lesson:

Children’s Work Include several samples, representing the variety of learners (at least 3 levels - higher,
Samples: proficient, lower) in the class, as well as the feedback you provided on those samples.
[Save children’s samples for your professional portfolio.]

Commentary:
Planning: How did children’ prior knowledge guide your planning?
How did research and theory (discuss particular theorists and concepts) guide your
planning?

Instruction: In what specific part of the lesson did you promote a positive learning environment?
How did you demonstrate mutual respect for and responsiveness to children with varied
needs and backgrounds?
How did you engage children in the active, multimodal nature of learning?
How did you make interdisciplinary connections to promote language and literacy
development?
What would you do differently?
Why would these changes promote children’s learning? (Cite evidence, including theoretical
concepts and context-relevant information.)

Assessment: To what extent did EACH child meet EACH lesson objective? What data tell you this?
What did you discover from the data about each child’s strengths and weaknesses?
How did your feedback address children’s needs and objectives?
What opportunities were provided for children to apply the feedback?
How does your analysis of children’s performance guide your instruction?