Standard Lesson Plans for 5th, 6th, 7th and 8th Grade Students

Creating, Finding and Using Lesson Plans for Grades 5-8

Sticking to Core Education Standards

It's important that the lesson plans you use meet your state's education standards because most standardized tests are based on these standards. The purpose of the common standards is to ensure that all students in the state are meeting the same educational expectations and goals that will eventually prepare them for college. As a result, it's a good idea to double check that your objectives match up with the standards.

Finding and Writing Lesson Plans

When writing a lesson plan, it's usually most efficient to begin with a template. You can create your own template or else find a template that suits your needs on the Internet. Many lesson plans include an introduction, a lesson, an activity and a conclusion. Since most textbooks are aligned with state standards, you can use lesson plans and worksheets from the teacher's editions of textbooks that you're teaching. If you want additional ideas for lesson plans, you can find many teacher-created plans online.

English/Language Arts Lesson Plans

Lesson plans for English/language arts can help your class with a multitude of skills, like vocabulary, reading comprehension, critical thinking, writing and much more. You may want to find or create lesson plans that incorporate more than one English/language arts skill. For example, you could read an environmental text together as a class and then have your class write essays about why the environment is important to them.

Math Lessons that Get Kids Involved

Hands-on math lessons can be a great way to get your students engaged in class. Some students get bored listening to lectures and completing countless worksheets, practice problems, tests and quizzes. Although practice problems are an important way for students to practice math operations, hands-on math lessons can reach reluctant learners and help kids understand math more thoroughly.

You can teach key math concepts through fun demonstrations. For example, when you're teaching the distributive property, bring a couple of students up to the front and show how you can distribute cookies to them. Then, divide students into groups and let them practice the distributive property with cookies.