On this page you will learn how to write a kindergarten lesson plan. Writing a lesson plan can help you structure your time with your students if you are a teacher, and help you enrich your child's education if you are choosing to homeschool.

School curriculum is typically broken down into units which can last anywhere from a day to a few weeks. These units, in turn, are divided into daily or hourly lesson plans.http://www.adprima.com/easyless.htm Lesson plans help structure your classroom and get the most benefit out of the limited hours you have with your students. Lesson plans can also help you organize materials, show parents the progress that their children are making, and develop a sequence of activities that you can repeat year after year with different groups of students.

Writing a kindergarten lesson plan can range from easy to difficult depending on your level of experience teaching, your comfort speaking in front of a class of young people, and your ability to manage a classroom. Remember that all students are different with varying levels of development, especially in kindergarten where some student may have started reading before school started, while some are still struggling with their alphabet.

Before you get started, you should have a basic idea of the knowledge level of the students that you are teaching. Look back at past work if it is available, and make sure that your students have the required prerequisite information to complete the lesson successfully.

If you would like to learn how to write a kindergarten lesson plan, follow the steps outlined below.

If you have previously worked with the students that you are writing the lesson plan for, try to ascertain their level of knowledge concerning the curriculum. Consider the following:

• Were any of your students enrolled in a Pre-K program at the same school? If so, you can check with their teachers from last year to see if they covered similar information previously.

• Ask your students about any knowledge that they have about the curriculum that is going to be taught. You can do this as a class, by asking all of the students to raise their hand and tell you things that they already know about the subject you are going to teach. You can also do this individually at the beginning of the year or learning unit where you can ask each student what they would like to learn and experience. Often students will guide the curriculum through their own curiosity, regardless of the plans that you had for the class that day. Remember to write in plenty of time for student questions into your lesson plan.

• If you have the opportunity for parent/teacher conferences, ask your student's parents about their children's interests or any experience they may have with the curriculum that is being taught.

A basic kindergarten lesson plan is as follows:

• Review prerequisite information. Make sure that all of your students are on the same page about prerequisite information. Some students may need reminders of what they have learned so far that week. Ask the students to each share some information that they already know about the topic being covered.

• Give a quick preview about what your students will be learning that day. This can often get students excited about learning and pave the way for curiosity and enthusiasm. On your lesson plan, you should have one or more learning objectives that you hope to cover.

• Focus their attention on a specific activity. For example, if you are writing a lesson plan on adding, you may want to choose an activity that specifically shows that physically adding one cracker to another cracker equals two crackers. If you are leading a lesson on a foreign culture, you can have a guest speaker come in and show examples of clothing and toys from a different country.

Reinforce Learning with a Synthesis Activity: Choose an activity that reviews the information that the students were supposed to learn. If you are writing a lesson plan on the seasons, you can have the students make a collage about how plants look during the fall, winter, spring, and summer. If you are creating a lesson about a historical event, you can ask the students to create a short skit reenacting the event.

Evaluate Learning Outcomes: To please school boards, teachers, and principals, you will need to prove that your students are actively engaged in the learning process. Choose a final activity that evaluates learning outcomes, such as a short verbal quiz or craft activity that can be displayed around the room.

Working with kindergartners requires a good bit of creativity. Here are some examples of fun elements that you can add to your kindergarten lesson plans:

• Take your students on a field trip: Even a field trip down the street to a local pond or park can be a learning experience for kindergartners. If you are creating a lesson plan about animals, bring your students on a bird-watching trip to the school playground. If you are creating a lesson plan about nutrition, bring your students on a trip to the nearest farmers market or natural foods market. There are many exciting, free field trips that you can take with your students.

• Have your students create a storybook about the information that they learned. This can be a good synthesis activity that can help review the information learned and give the students something to remember the day's activity by.http://atozteacherstuff.com/go/search.cgi?grade=K&catid=23&t=lessonplans

• Have your children create a play or skit about the concept that they have just learned. If you are creating a lesson plan about planets, you can have the children all pretend to be a different planet and show how they all revolve around the sun.http://atozteacherstuff.com/go/search.cgi?grade=K&catid=11&t=lessonplans

• Add an arts and crafts element. A paper plate turned into a turkey, or a shoe box turned into a diorama are always popular choices for kindergartners. http://school.discoveryeducation.com/lessonplans/