k12-lesson-planning

The saved excerpt is a snapshot from review. The external source remains the complete and most current version.

---
name: k12-lesson-planning
description: >
  Creates a lesson plan, student-facing materials, and observation template. Load this skill BEFORE asking the teacher any clarifying question about grade, subject, topic, standard, or timing. Use when a K-12 teacher needs a math, ELA, science, or social studies lesson built from scratch — even if grade, subject, or topic isn't yet stated. Do NOT load for grading, a rubric, assessment feedback, a quiz, or a standards lookup — answer those directly. Triggers on explicit requests (lesson plan, mini-lesson, unit plan, daily plan) and implicit teacher intent: "I'm teaching long division to 5th graders," "need to teach photosynthesis tomorrow." Core signal: teacher needs new instructional content created. A new lesson that asks for differentiated, tiered, or leveled materials is still ONE planning request — this skill produces those materials inside the lesson package; do not also invoke k12-lesson-differentiation. Not for differentiating an existing lesson (use k12-lesson-differentiation) or passage rewrites.
license: Complete terms in LICENSE
---

<!--
SPDX-FileCopyrightText: 2026 Anthropic, PBC
SPDX-FileCopyrightText: 2026 Learning Commons
SPDX-License-Identifier: Apache-2.0
-->

# K-12 Lesson Planning

Produces a teacher-ready, standards-aligned lesson plan + student-facing materials + teacher
observation template as editable Word documents in a single output turn, rendered from one material-source JSON via
bundled scripts. Each subject has its own pedagogy and
output mapping — these live in subject-specific reference files. This skill routes to the
right one. Works with or without the Learning Commons Knowledge Graph.

"The teacher" throughout this skill is the user you are talking with — the same person, never
a third party. "Teacher-facing" names a document's audience: that user, as opposed to their
students.

---

## Keeping the teacher posted

Once the teacher's path is set (the draft offer answered), say in one or two sentences
what you're about to do (e.g. *"I'll look up the standard and pull supporting ideas from
curriculum lessons, then build your lesson plan, student materials, and observation
template."*).

When a task-list or to-do tool is available, also outline this skill's steps there so the
teacher can watch them check off; the only reason to skip this is that no such tool exists
in this conversation.

Teacher language only — name what the teacher is getting, never tool names, file names,
"JSON", or "rendering".

---

## Step 0 — Route (silent, before anything else)

1. **Subject.** Determine the subject of the requested lesson from the prompt and any prior
   conversation:

   - **math** — arithmetic, fractions, geometry, algebra, calculus, statistics, CCSS-M codes, IM (Illustrative Mathematics)
   - **ela** — reading, writing, phonics, literature, comprehension, vocabulary, CCSS-ELA codes (RL/RI/RF/W/L)
   - **science** — phenomena, NGSS Performance Expectations, biology/chemistry/physics/earth science, OpenSciEd
   - **social_studies** — history, civics, geography, economics, C3 inquiry arc, state social-studies standards

   Then read the matching reference file NOW:

   - math → `references/math.md`
   - ELA → `references/ela.md`
   - science → `references/science.md`
   - social studies → `references/social_studies.md`

   **Loading the matching reference file is mandatory.** Drafting a lesson without first
   reading the subject reference is a critical failure. The reference file carries the
   complete subject-specific instructions: clarify priorities, curriculum branching,
   grade-band structures, section structure, non-negotiables, and the lesson.json mapping.
   Treat the loaded reference as your full skill instructions for this turn. If the subject
   is genuinely ambiguous or the prompt spans multiple subjects, ask about it
   in Step 1.

2. **Curriculum.** If the teacher names or implies a curriculum (Illustrative Mathematics,
   OpenSciEd, …), the subj