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Special Education Lesson Plan Template

Plan a special education lesson around IEP goals, with room for accommodations and data collection. Keep individual student details in your school's secure system.

Your plans save automatically in this browser only. Nothing is sent to us or anyone else. Don't enter students' personal details.

The standards the lesson addresses: Common Core or state standard codes, with a short description.

What students will be able to do by the end. Start with a measurable verb: "Students will be able to…"

Everything you need to prepare: texts, slides, manipulatives, handouts, tech.

Words students need to understand and use.

A short opener that grabs attention and connects to prior learning.

Lesson procedure

Each step with its timing: direct instruction, guided practice, independent work.

Support, extension, English learners, IEP/504 accommodations. Describe groups and needs, not named students.

How you will know they met the objective: exit ticket, observation, quiz, work sample.

How students sum up what they learned before they leave.

Optional practice or an extension task.

What worked, what to change, who needs a re-teach.

Save and share

My plans

Saved in this browser on this device only. Clearing your browser data deletes them, so download a backup now and then.

    Week

    Plans appear on the day set in their Date box. Click a plan to open it.

    What makes a special education lesson plan different?

    A special education lesson plan links each activity to IEP goals, lists the accommodations and modifications students need, and plans how you'll collect data on progress (for example, correct responses out of five trials).

    Writing it in this template

    • Standards: note the IEP goal areas the lesson targets, and any grade-level standard it connects to.
    • Objectives: measurable, with the condition and criterion ("with a visual strip, with 80% accuracy").
    • Differentiation and accommodations: visual supports, chunking, extra time, alternative responses.
    • Assessment: how you'll record data for each goal.

    Protect student privacy

    Write about goals and groups rather than named students, and keep IEP documents and data sheets in your school's secure system. Plans in this tool stay on your device, but good practice is to keep identifiable details out of lesson plans entirely.

    For a design-for-everyone approach, try the UDL lesson plan.

    Example: functional math in a resource room

    Here is a complete example made with the maker above. Use it as a model, or load it into the form and change it to suit your class.

    Standard lesson plan (US)

    Counting coins to buy a snack

    SubjectFunctional mathGradeGrades 3–5 (resource room)
    DateLength30 minutes

    Standards

    Linked to each student's IEP math goals (for example: counts a set of mixed coins up to $1.00 with 80% accuracy over three sessions).

    Learning objectives

    Students will identify pennies, nickels, dimes and quarters and count combinations of coins to pay for a snack item.

    Materials and resources

    Real or play coins, coin value visual strip, snack price cards, coin mats with counting boxes

    Key vocabulary

    penny, nickel, dime, quarter, cents, total

    Warm-up / hook (3 min)

    Classroom "store" with three snack cards: which one would you buy?

    Lesson procedure

    TimeActivity
    7 minModel counting coins from highest to lowest value using the visual strip.
    10 minGuided: students count coins on their mats, matching coins to boxes.
    7 minRole-play the store: pay for a snack card with the exact amount.

    Differentiation and accommodations

    Accommodations as listed in each IEP (for example: visual supports, reduced number of coins, extra processing time, calculator). Group by goal rather than by grade. Keep individual IEP details in your school's secure system, not in this plan.

    Assessment

    Data sheet: number of correct counts out of five trials for each IEP goal.

    Closure (3 min)

    Each student shows one coin and says its value.

    Homework / extension

    Practice coin counting with a family member at a store or at home.

    Planned time: 30 minutes of 30

    Frequently asked questions

    What should a special education lesson plan include?

    IEP goal areas, measurable objectives, materials, the teaching sequence, accommodations and modifications, and a plan for collecting progress data.

    Should I put students' names in a SPED lesson plan?

    It is safest not to. Refer to goals and groups, and keep IEPs and individual data in your school's secure system.

    Is UDL better than a SPED lesson plan?

    They work together. UDL builds options into the lesson for everyone; the SPED plan makes sure individual IEP goals and accommodations are met.

    Other lesson plan templates

    Daily lesson plan templateOne plan per lesson, saved by date, with a week view.Weekly lesson plan templateMonday to Friday grid by subject or period.Blank lesson plan templatePrint an empty form in any of 14 formats.Simple lesson plan templateJust the essentials: objective, steps, check, close.Lesson plan template: Word, Google Docs, PDFDownload as .docx, paste into Google Docs or save a PDF.Elementary lesson plan templateK–5 template with a Grade 1 phonics example.Secondary lesson plan templateMiddle and high school, with a chemistry example.UDLUniversal Design for Learning: plan for every learner from the start.