The posted plan, and the one behind it

Preschool & Pre-K Lesson Plan Templates

A landscape weekly activity plan that goes on the wall, with the rows most state licensing rules expect to see; a daily sheet for the one activity a supervisor or portfolio needs planned properly; and a centers plan for what is in each area this week and why.

Weekly, daily, centers

3 preschool lesson plan templates

Landscape preschool weekly plan with a time column and Monday to Friday columns across nine rows from arrival and free choice to a second outdoor play, three boxes beneath and a domain-code legend

Word Google Docs

Preschool Weekly Lesson Plan — Word & Google Docs

The posted activity plan: nine activity rows from arrival to closing with a time column, five days across, and boxes for individual children, materials and families.

Download Word Open in Google Docs

PDF

Preschool Weekly Lesson Plan — fillable PDF

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

Download fillable PDF

Portrait preschool daily plan with paired goal and objective-code boxes, tall opening, activity and closing boxes, simplify and extend side by side, and observation and reflection at the foot

Word Google Docs

Preschool Daily Lesson Plan — Word & Google Docs

One activity planned properly: a plain-words learning goal beside the objective code, opening, activity and closing, simplify and extend, then observation and reflection.

Download Word Open in Google Docs

PDF

Preschool Daily Lesson Plan — fillable PDF

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

Download fillable PDF

Portrait learning centers plan with eight center rows from blocks to writing and three columns for materials, learning focus and check-in question, plus rotation and next-week boxes

Word Google Docs

Learning Centers Plan — Word & Google Docs

Eight centers down the side — blocks to writing — with materials and setup, the learning focus, and the check-in question you will ask when you stop by.

Download Word Open in Google Docs

PDF

Learning Centers 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 preschool & pre-k templates

Most state rules never say lesson plan. Texas calls it a written activity plan, Pennsylvania a written plan of daily activities, New York a posted daily schedule — and what the inspector checks is the same list: the group and the dates, each day's activities with approximate times, two outdoor periods, a balance of active and quiet, child-initiated time and teacher-led time, meals and rest. The weekly grid here has those as its rows, a time column, and the posting and three-month-retention notes printed at the foot, so a filled-in copy on the wall is the compliance document. Georgia is the one state that literally says lesson plans; its six-domain language is why the domain codes are there.

The daily sheet exists because the thing preschool teachers say they hate is the miniaturized elementary plan — objectives and assessment criteria on every activity. So the weekly grid asks for none of that, and the daily sheet asks for it once, for the one activity that needs it: a goal in plain words beside the objective code from your own curriculum, opening, activity and closing, how to simplify and how to extend, and a place to write what you actually saw. The objective-code box is deliberately blank; it works with Creative Curriculum® and GOLD®, HighScope, Frog Street or your state's pre-K guidelines, and reprints none of them.

Questions teachers ask

Preschool & Pre-K lesson plans, answered

What must a preschool lesson plan include for licensing?

It varies by state, but the Texas list is the most specific and covers the rest: who the plan is for and the dates, the day's activities with approximate times, at least two outdoor play periods, a balance of active and quiet and of child-chosen and teacher-led activities, meals and snacks, and rest. Post it where families can see it and keep it for three months. The weekly grid is built to that list; the footer says so.

Weekly or daily for preschool?

Weekly, posted, is the working document — and the one inspectors ask to see. The daily sheet is for the activity you want to plan in depth: an observation, a portfolio piece, a new study. Teachers who write a full daily plan for every block stop using the template within a month; that is the complaint behind most abandoned ones.

What are the domain codes for?

Georgia's rule names six developmental domains a program must promote and Ohio names four; accreditation portfolios want the content area of each activity visible. Writing SE or LL in the corner of a cell meets that without a separate form. If your curriculum uses its own codes, write those instead.