The purpose of lesson planning is to set up a framework for the day’s lessons. Kindergarten lesson plans provide an outline of instruction, the method of delivery, the student activities, and a list of any reproducible or technology needed for each subject. They also set the time line for when each lesson will take place and how long it is expected to last.

An effective kindergarten lesson plan will match student learning objectives to state standards as well as national standards. Plans should include a wide variety of activities based on the multiple intelligences to insure all students learning styles are addressed. Questions within the lesson plans should be carefully scaffolded to move students up the learning domain from basic knowledge all the way to evaluation.

Kindergarten lesson plans in literacy are often quite unique to other primary lesson plans. Just like other primary teachers a kindergarten teacher teaches reading, phonics, writing, grammar, social studies, and science. However, in kindergarten these subjects are usually not taught in isolation, rather they are usually wrapped up in a theme that is focused around the letter of the week.

Kindergarten lesson plans in mathematics on the other hand, focus on introducing and building the basic skills in numeracy, algebra, geometry, measurement, data analysis, probability and problem solving. Due to the relatively new nature of these mathematical skills, a large part of kindergarten mathematics is dedicated to teaching students how to think mathematically.

Lesson planning is often the most time consuming part of a teacher’s many weekly responsibilities. Using already developed units available on the Internet can greatly reduce the amount of time spent creating thematic kindergarten lesson plans without sacrificing the quality of instruction. There are many internet resources which provide lesson plans created by other Kindergarten teachers. These sites are often set up in a manner that encourages teachers to use lesson plans and to post lesson plans to share. There are also many corporate sites which provide excellent kindergarten lesson plans based around common themes. Many of these require membership, but often it is free or the yearly fee is quite reasonable considering the time saved by using their services. Both of these types of sites often provide all the worksheets, charts, and any other resources needed to go with the lesson plan as well. Another benefit to these sites is that they often allow you to quickly search their data base by keyword or theme. There is no need for teachers to reinvent the wheel (or the unit) thanks to the vast amount of lesson plan resources available on the Internet.