Lesson Plan Generator
Enter your objectives, materials and activities into a simple, 5E or Madeline Hunter template. The tool splits your lesson time across the stages so the minutes add up, and lays out a clean plan to print, paste into a document or download. Honest templates, no AI.
Engage, Explore, Explain, Elaborate, Evaluate — the BSCS inquiry model, common in science.
The stages add up to 45 minutes, the full lesson.
Preview
Lesson plan
Duration: 45 minutes
Procedure
| Stage | Time | Activities |
|---|---|---|
| Engage | 5 minutes | |
| Explore | 11 minutes | |
| Explain | 9 minutes | |
| Elaborate | 11 minutes | |
| Evaluate | 9 minutes |
Reflection
To complete after teaching.
How to Use the Lesson Plan Generator
- 1. Describe the lesson. Title, subject, grade and length in minutes. Load example fills in a complete 5E science lesson to show the shape.
- 2. Write the objectives first. One per line, each saying what students will be able to do. The Learning Objective Generator helps if you are starting from a vague goal.
- 3. Choose a template. Simple, 5E or Madeline Hunter. Each stage gets a box for what happens, with a prompt describing its purpose, and a share of the lesson's minutes.
- 4. Adjust the timings. Change any stage's minutes; if the total no longer matches the lesson length, Fit timings rescales them in proportion so they add up exactly.
- 5. Finish and export. Add the assessment, differentiation and, after teaching, a reflection. Print the plan, copy it with headings and the procedure table intact, or download it as text.
The Three Templates
Simple is a four-part sequence — introduction, instruction, practice, closure — that fits almost any lesson. 5E is the BSCS 5E Instructional Model, developed by the Biological Sciences Curriculum Study in the late 1980s and widely used in science: students engage with a question, explore it hands-on, explain what they found while you supply the vocabulary, elaborate by applying it somewhere new, and evaluate their understanding. The defining move is that exploration comes before explanation.
Madeline Hunter's model comes from her work at UCLA, set out in Mastery Teaching (1982). Its elements are the anticipatory set, objective and purpose, input, modeling, checking for understanding, guided practice, closure and independent practice. Sources order the last steps differently, and Hunter herself presented the elements as decisions to consider rather than a script every lesson must follow — delete or shorten any stage that does not serve your objective.
How the Timings Add Up
Each template starts from default shares of the lesson — starting points, not rules. The tool turns them into whole minutes with largest-remainder rounding: every stage is rounded down, and the minutes left over go to the stages that lost the most in rounding. That is why the stages always total the lesson length exactly, with no stage left at zero.
| Stage | Share | Exact minutes | Planned |
|---|---|---|---|
| Engage | 10% | 4.5 | 5 |
| Explore | 25% | 11.25 | 11 |
| Explain | 20% | 9 | 9 |
| Elaborate | 25% | 11.25 | 11 |
| Evaluate | 20% | 9 | 9 |
Rounding every stage down gives 44 minutes. The spare minute goes to Engage, whose remainder (0.5) is the largest, so the plan totals 45.
Tips for a Plan You Will Actually Use
- Plan backward. Write the objectives, then the assessment that will show whether students met them, and only then the activities — the order Wiggins and McTighe argue for in Understanding by Design.
- Make every objective observable. "Explain", "classify" and "solve" can be checked; "understand" cannot.
- Build in checks for understanding. A quick question, mini whiteboards or a thumbs check before independent work saves a lesson that has gone off track.
- Budget for transitions. Handing out materials, moving into groups and cleaning up take real minutes — put them inside the stage where they happen.
- Write the reflection the same day. Two lines on what worked and what to change make next year's plan better than a fresh start.
Frequently Asked Questions
- What should a lesson plan include?
- At minimum: measurable objectives, the materials you need, the sequence of activities with times, and how you will assess whether students met the objectives. Many schools also expect the standards addressed, differentiation for students who need support or extension, and a reflection written after teaching. This generator has a section for each.
- What is the 5E lesson plan model?
- The 5E model, developed by BSCS, structures a lesson in five stages: Engage, Explore, Explain, Elaborate and Evaluate. Students investigate a question before the teacher explains the concept, then apply it to a new situation and check their understanding. It is especially common in science and inquiry-based lessons.
- What are Madeline Hunter's lesson plan steps?
- Hunter's elements are usually listed as anticipatory set, objective and purpose, input, modeling, checking for understanding, guided practice, closure and independent practice — often called the seven- or eight-step lesson plan. Some versions merge input, modeling and checking under "teaching" or put closure after independent practice.
- How long should each part of a lesson be?
- It depends on the objective and the class. The generator's default shares are starting points: in a 45-minute 5E lesson, for example, about 5 minutes to engage and 11 to explore. Adjust any stage and use Fit timings to rescale the rest so the total still matches your lesson length.
- Can I copy the lesson plan into Google Docs or Word?
- Yes. Copy plan puts formatted text on your clipboard, so headings, lists and the procedure table paste into Google Docs or Word as formatting rather than plain text. Download .txt saves a plain-text version for anywhere else.
- Is my lesson plan saved?
- No. Everything stays in your browser and nothing is uploaded, so the plan is gone when you close or refresh the page. Copy, download or print it before you leave.