Lesson plans serve as a teacher's daily roadmap, outlining what students need to learn, how the material will be taught, and how learning outcomes will be assessed. These plans consist of daily activities that help teachers stay organized and effective by providing a detailed guide for each class period.
π‘ Lesson plans and activities can only be created on the web. However, teachers and admins can view them on mobile.
View Lesson Plans on Web
Admins can view lesson plans for each classroom for a particular week.
π¨ Staff can only see the lesson plans for their assigned classroom.
From your Admin Dashboard, click Lessons and then Overview.
βYour lesson plans for the current week will open.
Click Week Of and use the calendar to select a different week to view.
β
View Lesson Plans and Activities on Mobile
Lesson plans and activities can be viewed on the mobile app, making it easy for teachers to reference the lesson plan while they are in the classroom.
Open your Playground mobile app, tap the three lines in the top left corner of the screen, and tap Lesson Plans.
βToday's lesson plan will open. Tap a date at the top of the screen to view the lesson plan for that day.
Tap an activity to view the details and instructions.
If you would like to post an observation for this activity, click Post in the top right corner of the screen.
β
Create and Edit Activities
Activities are the foundation of lesson plans. Add new activities to Playground so you can build out lesson plans.
View, Archive or Delete Activities
From your Admin Dashboard, click Lessons and then Activities.
βA full list of your activities will appear in a table.
βYou can filter this list and/or add additional columns to the table.
Click the three dots next to a lesson plan, and then click View, Archive or Delete.
βIf you select Archive, it will prevent the Lesson Activities from being added to new lesson plans. Existing lesson plans will not be impacted.
If you select View, the activity will open, and you can view and edit it.
Click Save to return to the full list of activities.
π‘ Editing an activity will change that activity for all lesson plans it is included in.
Create a New Activity
From your Admin Dashboard, click Lessons and then Activities.
Click the blue New Activity button in the top right corner of your screen. Fill out the information in each section:
βActivity basics
βThe name, brief description of the activity, and age range for the activity
β
Additional information
βInformation your staff will need to properly conduct the activity and/or test the student
β
Resources
βAttach required resources such as a video, PDF file, or other media/documentation.
Click Settings on the left side of the screen to assign the activity to a classroom.
βClick Save to complete.
π‘ Experiment with our beta feature, Autocomplete with AI, to have AI add details to your activity. Simply type the activity name and a brief description, and AI will generate the activity details for you.
Create and Edit Lesson Plans
Prefer to watch a video? Click here.
Lesson plans are created week-by-week and are made up of activities.
From your Admin Dashboard, click Lessons and then Lesson Plans.
βClick the blue New Lesson Plan button in the top-right corner of your screen.
β
βAdd the required information for the lesson plan:
β[Optional] Add a note for each day by typing in the text box that says Enter Note For The Day.
βClick on Add Row to start adding the activities you created to the lesson plan. Each row allows for a section title and one or more activities.
βTo delete a section, click on the red Trash Can icon.
βTo duplicate a section, click on the Multiple-box icon.
β
β
Click on + Add Activity under each day to add activities for that day.
βSelect the activity you wish to add and click Save to add the activity to your lesson plan.
βYou can view additional details about the lesson by clicking on the Eye icon
βTo delete the activity, click the three dots and then click Remove.
β
β
Continue adding activities as many activities as you'd like.
βClick on Settings to customize your lesson plan.
βShow Weekends For This Lesson Plan: If your school is open on the weekends, select this option.
βSet the Teacher's Visibility.
βEditable - Teachers can view and edit the lesson plan
βVisible - Teachers can see the lesson plan but cannot edit it
βHidden - Teachers cannot see the lesson
β
Set the Parent visibility.
βVisible - Parents can see the lesson plan
βHidden - Parents cannot see the lesson plan
β
β
Click Save to create your lesson plan.
β
π‘ You can edit a created lesson plan by clicking into the Lesson Plans tab and then clicking on the lesson plan you want to edit. Make sure to confirm edits made by clicking Save.
Approve Teacher Lesson Plans
Administrators can choose to require approval for lesson plans teachers create before they can be used. This setting can be found in General Settings under Teacher Permissions.
If the lesson plan approval setting is turned on, you will see three tabs on the Lesson Plan screen:
Approved | Lesson plans you've created or approved. |
Pending Approval | Lesson plans your teachers have submitted for approval. |
Rejected | Lesson plans you've rejected. |
Approve or Reject Lesson Plans
From your Admin Dashboard, click Lessons and then Lesson Plans.
βClick the Pending Approval tab. A red number will appear to indicate how many lesson plans require review.
βClick the three dots next to the lesson plan you want to approve, then select Approve.
βThe lesson plan will move to the Approved tab and can now be used by teachers.
Lesson Plan Settings
To access settings for one of your lesson plans, follow the steps below:
From your Admin Dashboard, click Lessons, Lesson Plans, and click into one of your lesson plans.
βSelect the white Settings button in the top right corner of your screen.
β
βShow Weekends For This Lesson Plan: If your school is open on the weekends, select this option.
β
βSet the Teacher's Visibility.
βEditable - Teachers can view and edit the lesson plan
βVisible - Teachers can see the lesson plan but cannot edit it
βHidden - Teachers cannot see the lesson
β
β
Set the Parent visibility.
βVisible - Parents can see the lesson plan
βHidden - Parents cannot see the lesson plan
β
β
After you have adjusted these settings, click the Save button.