Three standards lines, by design

California Lesson Plan Template

California has no state lesson plan template; what California teachers are trained on comes from the teaching performance assessment their credential programs use, and that form has features no other state's does: three standards boxes — content, NGSS where it applies, and the English Language Development standard marked integrated or designated — academic-language supports, UDL considerations and IEP goals alongside the sequence. This sheet is that form. The multilingual learner plan is here for designated ELD time.

Content, NGSS, ELD

2 California lesson plan templates

Portrait California lesson plan with three standards boxes, objectives and academic-language boxes, a four-row into-through-beyond table with a check column, and UDL and assessment boxes

Word Google Docs

California Lesson Plan — Word & Google Docs

Three standards boxes — CCSS, NGSS, ELD integrated or designated — objectives and academic-language supports, an into-through-beyond sequence, UDL and IEP considerations, assessment.

Download Word Open in Google Docs

PDF

California Lesson Plan — fillable PDF

One page, portrait. Type into the fields or print it blank and handwrite.

Download fillable PDF

Portrait multilingual learner lesson plan with paired content and language objective boxes, a three-column supports row, and a sequence table with a language practice column

Word Google Docs

Multilingual Learner Lesson Plan — Word & Google Docs

Content objective beside language objective, a sensory-graphic-interactive supports row, a four-step sequence with language practice built in, and separate content and language assessment.

Download Word Open in Google Docs

PDF

Multilingual Learner Lesson Plan — fillable PDF

One page, portrait. Type into the fields or print it blank and handwrite.

Download fillable PDF

Specifications: US Letter, 8.5 × 11 inches. Word files are editable .docx that open in Word 2007 through Microsoft 365, including Word for Mac; the Google Docs link makes a copy in your own Drive; the PDF has real form fields and prints as plain hairline boxes when blank. Free to use in as many classes as you like, no account, no watermark.

Why it is laid out this way

About the california templates

The reason a California plan has three standards lines is the state's English Language Development framework: every content lesson is expected to carry integrated ELD for the multilingual learners in the room, and some periods are designated ELD with the ELD standard as the main one. A plan with a single standards box cannot show that, and credential candidates are assessed on whether theirs does. The academic-language box — vocabulary, syntax, discourse — is the same framework's other demand, and the UDL and IEP box is the special-education half of what California's teaching performance assessment asks every candidate to address.

The sequence rows are into, through and beyond, the shape California's English learner guidance has used for decades and most of its teacher-preparation programs still teach: get students into the content, take them through it with instruction and practice, and move them beyond it to application. The check column beside them is what turns the sequence into evidence. New teachers who cleared their credential on this structure will recognize every box; experienced teachers will find it a thorough version of what their district form asks.

Questions teachers ask

California lesson plans, answered

What is the difference between integrated and designated ELD?

Integrated ELD is language support built into a content lesson for the multilingual learners in it — every teacher, every subject. Designated ELD is a protected time when the ELD standards are the focus, usually with students grouped by proficiency. The ELD box is labelled for both; a content lesson marks integrated and names the standard it supports.

Do I fill all three standards boxes?

Content always, ELD whenever there are multilingual learners in the class — which in California is nearly always — and NGSS only for science. An empty NGSS box on a history lesson is correct, not incomplete.

Does this match the CalTPA?

It carries the planning elements the state's teaching performance assessment requires — standards including ELD, objectives, academic language, UDL and IEP considerations, assessment — in a one-page form. The assessment's own templates are longer and specific to its cycles; this is the everyday plan in their vocabulary.