Unit Planning in 5 Easy Steps

Unit planning is such a basic part of teaching, but one that I think gets pushed to the wayside in the mix of everything else us teachers have to do! That’s why I take some time during the summer to get ahead for next year, and unit planning makes my summer to do list.

Before I jump into the steps I want to clarify that unit planning and long-range planning are slightly different. Long-range planning is more like mapping out what units/standards you are going to teach when. Unit Planning is more of the nitty gritty order of your unit. Doing both ensures a solid foundation to plan from during the school year.

Step 1: Look at your Long-Range Plan

Take a peek at your Long-Range Plan or Scope & Sequence and determine how long you have to teach the unit. For example I decided that Multiplying and Dividing Fractions was going to take 4 weeks. This is a lengthy unit with lots of priority standards so I need to make sure that I give this unit the time it needs. I now look at my school calendar and match up how long I can actually spend on this unit. I end up with about 3.5 weeks due to winter break starting.

Grab yourself a unit planning template/calendar of some sort. If you want the template that I use, grab it for free here!

Step 2: Look at the Standards

As I made my Long-Range Plans I put the standards that I need to focus on during the unit. I pretty much have my state standards memorized but I still look over what the standards say. In 5th grade, students need to be able to multiply fractions by whole numbers, fractions times fractions and mixed numbers. There’s also area with fraction sides. For division 5th grade needs to be able to divide fractions by whole numbers. This is good to know so that I don’t try to cram fraction divided by fraction (that’s 6th grade in common core).

Break up the standards into skills that they need & how they can solve. Some standards require just using a model while some require the algorithm. You might have to break the standards down even more.

Step 3: Plot Unit Topics Loosely

Now that I know what the standards say & the topics I broke them into, I can move onto plotting topics. There’s a natural sort of order to teaching most concepts. Determine that order, keeping in mind to build from concrete models toward abstract concepts. Figure out how many days you want to spend on each topic. For example, multiplying fractions by whole numbers will take less time than fractions x fractions. I will also want students to build the models of fraction multiplication for a day before moving onto the algorithm.

Step 4: Assessments in Unit Plan

Think about the assessments that you want to give during the unit. In math, a unit ends at the unit test so that’s always the last day of the unit. Where do you want to put a quiz? Project? Need to have a review day? Plot these into your unit plan.

Step 5: Activities in Unit Plan

Now that you have your topics & assessments, think about what activities you want to do. Activities can be anything from notes, to task cards, stations, performance tasks and project based learnings. I determined I’d spend 3 days on multiplying fractions so 1 day will be the model lab, 1 will be notes/practice and 1 will be multiplication work mats. Activities might have to be flexible, so it’s always good to have a couple extras on hand in case your students need more practice. I also love to have a day each week for stations (for me it’s Fridays) so I already put that on my unit plan.

There you have it, a unit plan that you can refer to when planning during the school year! Want the template that I used? Grab it here!