What this unit plan template is for
A unit plan maps a whole unit before you plan individual lessons: what students should understand by the end, how you will assess it, and the order of lessons that gets them there. Planning backwards from the assessment (backward design) keeps every lesson pointing at the same goal and stops units drifting.
This landscape template has a header for the essential question, prior knowledge and summative assessment, then an eight-row lesson table with a standards column. Add rows for longer units, or share it with your grade-level team as a common plan.
What's on the template
- Subject, grade, unit title and length
- Essential question, prior knowledge and summative assessment boxes
- Eight-lesson table: standards, learning objective, key content and vocabulary, activities, assessment and materials
- Header row that repeats if you add rows and the table runs onto a second page
How to use it
- Start with the essential question and the summative assessment. Decide what students must be able to do at the end before choosing activities.
- List the prior knowledge the unit relies on, and plan a quick check of it in lesson 1.
- Fill the standards column first, then write one objective per lesson that builds on the one before.
- Add key content and vocabulary for each lesson, then activities and a quick assessment (exit ticket, quiz, extended answer).
- Use the materials column to link worksheets and slides, so the plan doubles as an index for the unit.
Example of a filled-in section
Example: an 8th grade science unit plan, lesson 3.
Each row is enough for a colleague to plan the lesson from, without being a lesson plan itself.
Tips from the classroom
- Build in retrieval: revisit content from earlier lessons and earlier units in starters and homework.
- Plan a review or catch-up lesson before the assessment rather than assuming the sequence will run to time.
- Share the Word file with your team so everyone teaches the same sequence and common assessments line up.
- Review it after teaching: note which lessons ran over and which objectives needed reteaching, ready for next year.
- Mark where common formative assessments sit in the sequence so the whole team checks understanding at the same point and can compare results.
Download it free
Editable Word and PDF, US Letter, ready to print. No account needed.
Fill it in automatically
Enter your topic and grade and LessonHQ writes it for you in about a minute, aligned to your standards. Edit it, then export to Word, Google Docs or PDF.
Fill it in automatically βFrequently asked questions
What is the difference between a unit plan and a lesson plan?
A unit plan maps the whole unit (goals, assessment and the sequence of lessons); a lesson plan details one lesson. Plan the unit first so each lesson has a clear place in the sequence.
How many lessons should a unit have?
Most units run 6 to 12 lessons. The template has eight rows; add or delete rows in the Word version to fit your unit.
Does it include a standards column?
Yes. The US version has a standards column first so every lesson is tied to a standard, plus columns for objectives, content, activities, assessment and materials.
Can LessonHQ write the unit plan for me?
Yes. The unit planner builds a full sequence of lessons for any topic and grade, then lets you generate the slides, worksheets and lesson plans for each lesson.