Preschool Lesson Planning Resources - Stay at Home Educator (2024)

Top 10 Tips for Writing Preschool Lesson Plans

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What to Consider When Planning Activities for Preschoolers

What to Do BEFORE Writing Preschool Lesson Plans

The following are some important things to consider before writing lesson plans for preschoolers.

1. Think about the big picture.
   • What are the goals for the year?A carefully written scope and sequence that is developmentally appropriate helps keep teachers and parents on track.
   • Think of it as monthly little goals that build upon one another to reach the big goals by the end of the school year.
2. Be knowledgeable of your students’ current skills.
   • It’s also important to know what skills they should be proficient in by the end of the school year.
   • To write useful lesson plans, you need to establish your students’ skill sets in the different areas of development, including oral language and reading readiness, number awareness and math readiness, gross and fine motor skills, and social and emotional development.
3. Have a flexible schedule.
   • Schedules are important for children. They help children feel prepared by anticipating order and routines.
   • But schedules do not have to be set in stone. Often the best schedules for young children are those that allow enough flexibility for children to have a say. And, of course, if something in the schedule isn’t working, then change it!
4. Allow for student choices.
   • Children love to make their own choices and allowing children opportunities to make choices encourages independence and critical thinking.
   • When writing preschool or pre k lesson plans, it is important not to eliminate those choices, which is one reason why free choice centers have become so popular.
5. Keep it developmentally appropriate.
   • Notevery teaching strategy is appropriate for preschoolers. They have shorter attention spans and a greater need to move and play than older children do, so keeping activities and games developmentally appropriate should be a top priority.
   • Children learn best by hands on activities that are interactive, so don’t rely on worksheets for this age group.

How to Write Preschool Lesson Plans

The following are some important things to consider whilewriting lesson plans for preschoolers. Simple put, it’s for process for how to lesson plan for preschoolers.

1. Identify purpose.
   • If a lesson or activity is going to be included, it needs to have a specific purpose within the scope and sequence of skills. When choosing an activity to include in your lesson plans, ask yourself what skills it targets.
   • And don’t forget that social and emotional skills, most often practiced through play, are of huge value to the development of preschoolers.
2. Keep activities simple.
   • Chances are that if you have to write out preschool activities in paragraphs of details, you’ve chosen the wrong activity. Don’t underestimate the value of a simple activity.
   • If preschoolers need something more complex, they will show you through their play, however, a single activity still shouldn’t take pages to write up. Sometimes it is the simplest dramatic play, learning centers, or circle time activities that have the biggest impact.
   • Preschool activities should include a range of skills, and ideally, those skills should follow a scope and sequence. Include:
     • math activities
     • alphabet and beginning sound activities
     • fine motor skills
     • gross motor play
     • sensory bins
     • process art
     • dramatic play
     • social-emotional activities
3. Plan around student interest.
   • Let’s face it, if a child isn’t interested, the offered activity won’t be effective. When planning, choose themes that are of high interest to the children in your class, and also consider how favorite activities can be incorporated into the theme, too.
4. Choose an approach.
   • Play-based or skills-based? Teacher-directed or child-led? Or a modge-podge of everything?You will most likely find that your approach will vary based on the objective, and that is ok.
   • The important thing to remember is to choose an approach that is appropriate for young learners. For example, you will find very few worksheets on this website. (wink, wink).
5. Write it down.
   • Use a template to record your ideas for your preschool lessons. You can add as much or as little detail as you want, but be sure it gets written down, even if it is just a list. You’ll thank me.

Pre K Lesson Plans

Developing impactful pre-K lesson plans is a critical aspect of teaching our earliest learners. This comprehensive guide to pre k lesson planning will dive into the importance of preschool lesson plans, offering valuable advice on crafting them, and presenting some of the top lesson plans tailored to your requirements.

It will also discuss ways to evaluate students to guide subsequent lesson planning.

It’s essential when engaging with these young learners to have a diverse set of lesson plans prepared to encourage their overall development and progress.

Get Weekly Lesson Plans for Preschool

Learn At Home Preschool Lesson Plans

Get Systematic Preschool Lesson Plans in the Full Curriculum

Imagine what it would be like if you knew exactly what to teach, when to teach, and how to teach it? These lesson plans for preschool are done-for-you! All you have to do is open and teach!

Daily Lessons in Preschool Literacy and Math Curriculum

How to Write Preschool Lesson Plans a Year in Advance

Intentional teaching begins with planning, which is why your entire preschool year can be planned out with five easy steps. Everything from establishing a calendar to planning fun and educational activities, there are five simple steps to establishing your own preschool curriculum.