Do you strive to plan engaging science lesson plans, but feel like there’s little time to do this? Are you overwhelmed with all the things you have to do? I know exactly how that feels. So how do we find time to accomplish this? That’s what we will talk about today! All about planning your science lesson plans in less time so you have a clear roadmap of where you’re headed!

In this Post

We will go over 3 steps that I call GPS. I do these steps each time I plan. This works for any unit and any level of experience with the content. I will give a science unit plan and two 5E science lesson plan examples as we work through the process.

Before you read, download your free guide- Plan Your Science Unit in LESS time with 3 Simple Steps! This will walk you step by step to plan your next science unit plan!

Plan your science unit in less time. Get your free guide today!

Start with a Science Unit Plan

When we think of the whole unit and lesson planning process, there are four major steps we go through. They are Plan, Prep, Implement, Reflect and Revise. Right now, we are in the PLAN part of the process.

After you go through GPS, you will be in the PREP part of the process. As you IMPLEMENT your lessons, you’ll go back and forth between REFLECT and REVISE. You’ll likely go through IMPLEMENT again or even back to PLAN and PREP. But it’s important to understand that this plan is flexible and should be changed as we monitor and adjust to do what’s best for our students.

Unit and Lesson Planning Process diagram showing steps (You are here) Plan; Prep; Implement; Reflect and Revise

Using the guide, we will go through 3 steps to plan a science unit plan. This plan will cover about 1-3 weeks, depending on the science unit. Time to turn on the GPS!

Gather

The first step is to gather your resources. This step takes about 5-10 minutes. Things you’ll need are your standards, adopted materials (textbook, online activities), favorite labs and activities, and assessments. You can also skim through your resources and make a list of everything you can use. You should also list ideas to search when you are in the “prep” stage.

Plan

The second step is to plan your science unit. This step is the longest and the time it takes will depend on how much experience you have with this science unit. When I am teaching something new, it takes me about 1 prep period to read through everything and get familiar with the standard(s) and the resources I have. Then it takes about 1 or 2 prep periods to do the planning piece. For content I have taught before, it takes about 1 prep period to plan.

During this step you’ll want to have your science unit plan template (found in the guide) handy. It’s a big brainstorming session where we take the materials we gathered and intentionally plan on how to use them. There are no details or order here yet. This is to get your whole science unit planned out and knowing why you are using certain materials and activities.

Schedule

The third step is to schedule your science unit plan into your lesson plan book or calendar. This step takes about 10 minutes. Here is a free calendar you can use.

Start with your assessment(s) and then work backwards. Think about how long it takes for you to teach a lesson (usually 1-2 class periods) and how long each activity or lab will take.

In this step you are giving yourself a flexible roadmap to follow as you teach your science unit. The details come during PREP when you plan each of your daily lessons.

Those are the 3 steps to take to plan your next science unit in less time! Now let’s talk about science lesson plans. These are the details during the PREP part of the whole unit and lesson planning process.

Visual: Plan Your Science Unit in 3 Simple Steps- map: I'm here- so much planning, so little time; 1-Gather; 2-Plan; 3-Schedule: I feel better knowing what I'm teaching! Now I can prep and teach!

5E Science Lesson Plans

My favorite way to plan my science lessons is using 5E. If you’re new to 5E, I have a series of blog posts all about it. Here is a blog post that compares 5E and Madeline Hunter.

The 5 E’s are engage, explore, explain, elaborate, and evaluate. I use this format when I plan my science unit and I use it the best I can for individual lesson plans. There are times I will use a general lesson plan like Madeline Hunter.

Here’s an example of how I use 5E in a science unit plan:

Cell Theory- (one week)

Engage: show microscopic images of living and nonliving things

Explore: students use microscopes to view different cells

Explain: students explain what they saw; direct instruction about cell theory

Elaborate: students work through stations for deliberate practice; they compare and contrast cells when using microscopes

Evaluate: Cell theory test

5E Example: Cell Theory Unit (one week)- summarizes each of the 5Es from the blog post

5E Science lesson plan examples

Now let’s take that Cell theory unit and make a science lesson plan example using 5E. In this lesson, students are taught about the cell theory. Here is the Cell Theory Notes resource I use for this lesson.

Engage: Class discussion about the previous day’s explore session when looking at different slides of living and nonliving things.

Explore: Students will look at examples of cells (through microscopes or images) in groups. They will note what they have in common or what’s different.

Explain: They will explain these differences and similarities and what it means for life. The teacher will go through the lesson to teach students about the cell theory.

Elaborate: Students will give examples of each part of the cell theory and who contributed to it

Evaluate: Exit ticket or assessment: What are the three parts of the cell theory?

5E Example: Cell theory lesson plan; a visual of each of the 5Es listed in the blog post about a cell theory lesson plan

Here is another science lesson plan example about plate boundaries. In this lesson students are modeling plate boundaries with graham crackers and frosting. Here is the Plate Boundary Lab resource I use in this lesson.

Engage: Review the three plate boundaries- divergent, convergent, and transform.

Explore: Looking at the materials, what do the graham crackers and frosting represent in our model?

Explain: Complete the procedures to model each boundary and collect data- showing observations and what type of boundary was modeled.

Elaborate: What is formed or what happens at each type of boundary? Give examples (in conclusion)

Evaluate: Exit ticket or discussions- What happened when you modeled each boundary and what forms on Earth at each boundary?

5E Example: Plate boundaries Lab - visual showing a description of each of the 5Es from the blog post

Wrap Up

We spent time going through three simple steps to map out a whole science unit. This is part of the PLAN in the whole unit and lesson planning process. This gave us a big picture or a roadmap to plan our individual lessons. I gave an example of a science unit plan about the cell theory and two 5E science lesson plan examples.

Your Turn

How do you like to plan for your science lessons? Use the guide to plan your next science unit. Try to plan some 5E science lesson plans to increase student engagement.