Pre-K Lesson Plan Template and a Weekly Theme Example

A pre-K lesson plan is usually a weekly plan built around a theme, with learning goals across the developmental domains (language and literacy, math, science, social-emotional, physical and creative) and activities placed into each part of the daily schedule: circle time, read-aloud, small groups, centers, outdoor play and closing. Pre-K children learn mostly through play, conversation and hands-on exploration, so a good plan spends less space on what the teacher says and more on what children will do, the materials in each center and the questions adults will ask. This guide gives you a one-page template, a complete “Weather” week and tips for making plans that work in a real pre-K room.

How pre-K planning differs from K–5

In kindergarten and up, plans usually focus on one lesson at a time. In pre-K, the week is the unit. A theme ties together read-alouds, vocabulary, centers and small groups so children meet the same words and ideas many times in different ways. Teacher-led time is short. Most learning happens while children play, build, pretend and talk with adults who extend their thinking.

Pre-K plans also cover more than academics. Social-emotional skills, such as taking turns, naming feelings and solving problems with friends, and physical skills, such as cutting, climbing and holding a crayon, are part of the plan every week.

The one-page weekly template

Under the weekly page, many programs add a short daily schedule with times for arrival, breakfast, circle, centers, outdoor play, lunch, rest and closing.

Example: a “Weather” week

Learning goals:

• Language and literacy: Children use new weather words in conversation and recognize the first sound in rain, sun and wind.
• Math: Children count and compare amounts on a class weather graph.
• Science: Children observe and describe the weather each day.
• Social-emotional: Children name feelings connected to weather (“I feel happy when it’s sunny”) and take turns as weather helper.

Vocabulary: sunny, cloudy, rainy, windy, snowy, temperature, umbrella, puddle.

Read-aloud plan: Choose one informational book about weather and one story about a rainy or windy day. Read the main book three times during the week: first for enjoyment, second to talk about the words, third so children can retell parts.

Monday: What is weather?

• Circle: A weather song with motions. Look out the window and describe today’s weather together. Introduce the weather helper job.
• Small group: Sort weather picture cards into sunny, rainy and snowy. Children name each card in a full sentence.
• Centers: Dramatic play becomes a weather station with a pretend map and microphone. Art has blue and gray paint for rainy pictures.
• Outdoor: Feel the wind with streamers. Talk about which way they blow.

Tuesday: Rain

• Circle: Make rain sounds by tapping fingers, then patting legs, then clapping (a rainstorm that grows and fades).
• Small group: Fill clear cups with water to different lines and compare: which has more, which has less?
• Centers: Sensory bin with water, funnels and small cups. Writing center with umbrella shapes to trace and decorate.
• Outdoor: If it’s rained, jump over puddles and measure them with footsteps.

Wednesday: Sun and temperature

• Circle: Feel a cool stone from the shade and a warm one from the sun. Introduce warm and cool.
• Small group: Place an ice cube in the sun and one in the shade. Predict and check which melts first.
• Centers: Block area builds shade structures for toy animals. Library includes the read-aloud and other weather books.
• Outdoor: Shadow tracing with chalk.

Thursday: Wind

• Circle: Blow on feathers, paper and a block. Which ones move? Why?
• Small group: Make simple paper fans and test them on light objects.
• Centers: Art with straws to blow paint across paper. Math center counts and sorts objects that do and don’t blow away.
• Outdoor: Run with streamers and pinwheels.

Friday: Weather graph and celebration

• Circle: Look at the class weather graph from the week. Count how many sunny, cloudy and rainy days.
• Small group: Children draw their favorite weather and dictate a sentence: “I like ___ because ___.”
• Centers: Children choose their favorite centers from the week.
• Closing: Read the main book one more time; children fill in words and act out the weather.

Family connection: “Look outside together each morning and talk about the weather. What will you wear?”

Support and extension: Picture cards with each weather word for children learning English or who need more language support; a two-choice question (“Is it sunny or rainy?”) for children who are just starting to talk in sentences. For children ready for more, ask them to predict tomorrow’s weather and explain why.

Theme ideas for the whole year

Themes work best when children can see, touch and talk about the topic in their own lives. A simple year might look like this:

• August–September: All about me, my family, our classroom, friends and feelings.
• October: Fall and leaves, apples, the five senses.
• November: Community helpers, things that go, food and cooking.
• December–January: Weather, winter, light and shadows.
• February: Kindness, the body and staying healthy, construction and building.
• March: Water and sinking or floating, growing plants.
• April: Insects, birds and nests, recycling and caring for the earth.
• May–June: Ocean animals, getting ready for kindergarten.

Plan most themes for one or two weeks. If children are deeply engaged, such as when a class becomes fascinated with a spider in the window, it’s fine to extend a theme or follow their interest in a new direction. The template stays the same; only the content changes.

Avoid themes that depend on a holiday not every family celebrates. When you do mark a celebration, offer it as one activity within a broader theme and invite families to share their own traditions.

Writing good learning goals for pre-K

Pre-K goals should describe something you can see or hear a child do. Compare:

• Vague: “Children will learn about weather.”
• Observable: “Children will describe today’s weather using at least one new weather word.”

Tie each goal to your state’s early learning standards. Most states organize them by the same domains used in this template, though names vary.

Planning the adult talk

The most powerful part of a pre-K plan is often the questions adults ask during play. Write two or three open-ended questions for each center:

• “What do you think will happen if…?”
• “How did you figure that out?”
• “Tell me about your picture.”
• “What else could we try?”

These questions build vocabulary and thinking far more than worksheets do.

Literacy in the pre-K plan

Each week should include rhyming, syllable clapping, letter play and lots of conversation. Formal reading instruction isn’t the goal at this age. If families ask whether their child should be memorizing words, our article on pre-K sight words explains what matters more.

Children who need extra support

Plan supports in advance: visual schedules, picture cards, a quiet space, fewer choices or extra time with an adult in small groups. If a child has an IEP, follow the goals and accommodations the team has written and coordinate with the special education staff; our guide to IEP goals for preschool shows what those goals often look like. Concerns about development go through the program’s screening and evaluation process, where the team and family decide together.

From pre-K to kindergarten planning

If your school has both grades, aligning templates helps teachers plan together and gives children a smoother transition. Our kindergarten lesson plan template uses the same ideas with a more lesson-by-lesson structure.

Plan faster

Filling a weekly theme with centers, small groups and questions takes hours. An AI lesson plan tool can draft a weekly theme plan from a topic and your goals, and you adapt the activities to your children and materials.

For more templates, standards alignment and planning ideas, visit our full lesson planning guide.