Elementary Teacher Lesson Plans
Why Are They So Important!!

For me, elementary teacher lesson plans are necessary, valuable and essential teaching tools that are part of the teaching process.

I'm a very organized person and without my elementary lesson plans (part of my day book)I would be totally lost.

I usually planned a week in advance, but that's me. Remember teacher lesson plans are not written in stone, things are always changing or coming up - you must be flexible!

And besides, in some school boards/school districts, you are required to have 3 days planned before you leave each night.

Writing lesson plans in advance is imperative, because you never know when life will throw a curve ball - you leave school feeling fine and then at 2 A.M. you or a family member gets the stomach flu and you're not able to go to school that day.

No teacher lesson plans for your supply/occasional teacher, and what about your students - gulp!

I am quite aware that every teacher is different. As I mentioned, my elementary lesson plans were completed a week ahead.

Some teachers plan for 3 days in advance, others plan a day ahead, while others feel comfortable just winging it and plan when they get to school.

The other important factor is what you write in your elementary teacher lesson plans. I always felt, the more detailed the better for me and my students.

So drawing lesson plans, creating a page for each day, or having a week at a glance (M - F) is obviously up to the individual teacher.

All I'm saying is that I believe very strongly that developing daily or weekly elementary teacher lesson plans are crucial for you and your students' success.

Just as important is for teachers to understand the why and how in writing lesson plans. It's also important for teachers to develop and follow a lesson plan format that is effective in delivering a successful and motivational lesson to their students. Be sure to read my page on the ingredients behind an effective lesson plan. Going hand in hand with elementary teacher lesson plans are lesson strategies.

Read my pages on:

Math Teaching Strategies.

Measurement Lesson Plans

Teaching Place Value

Elementary Reading Strategies

Language Arts Learning Centers

Teaching Dictionary Skills

How to Teach Spelling

How to Teach Grammar

Teaching with Picture Books

Word Wall Activities

Elementary Music Lesson Plans

Art Education Lesson Plans

Elementary Health Lesson Plans

These strategies will add some variety to your lesson plans keeping your students motivated, and make learning fun and easy.

Be sure to read my teaching strategies on fairy tale lessons. They were one of my favorite units and my students enjoyed the numerous fairy tale lessons as well.

Back to school lesson plans may be a little different from the elementary lesson plans that you establish a little later on in the school year. There is so much to do at the beginning of the year; new students, schedules to establish or re-arrange, routines and rules to implement and of course a review of what was learned the previous year and even a grade change.

As you can imagine , it can take a month to get everything in place and your lesson plans may be put on hold until you feel comfortable, organized and ready for writing lesson plans.

One great motivational tool and an excellent educational experience are field trips. Be sure to read my page on school field trip ideas to get some effective field trip ideas and planning strategies.

Another great motivational tool is using the smartboard to deliver your lessons. It's great for encouraging student participation and interaction. Read my page on smartboard lesson plans to learn what they are all about.

A unique and rewarding experience that my students loved was having a student pen pal in another school. Read about all the hows and whys of the student pen pal programme that I set up in my classroom.

Now writing physical education lesson plans is also totally different than writing elementary science lesson plans or grammar lesson plans, etc.

Teaching physical education is truly an art and a real skill (I loved teaching gym/phys. ed.) As you know, no pencils, pens, notebooks or textbooks are required - but depending on what you're teaching, you may need equipment.

When writing these lesson plans it was easier for me to put my students into squads/teams and add details like equipment needed and games to be played.

There is nothing worse than a supply teacher having to go into a gym class and not having any physical education lesson plans for them to go by. It could create chaos!

Now that you learned a little about the importance of elementary teacher lesson plans, I have provided a number of elementary lesson plan templates that you will find useful and will hopefully give you some ideas for drawing lesson plans of your own.

Again, remember that your elementary lesson plans need to be thorough!

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