Sample lesson plan for gifted and talented students

What do lesson planning and laundry have in common?

As soon as you think you’re done, there’s another load to tackle. In my first year of teaching, I wasted so much time lesson planning because I went about it in the wrong way.

Planning Enrichment Philosophy

Unpopular opinion: we need to plan out enrichment for our gifted and high achieving students instead of “early finisher task cards” or “let them choose”.

I know… big words, especially from someone who loves choice boards. But, hear me out. Students will give back what we give them. If my lesson plans are a hot mess and thrown together, student work will be too.

Lesson Planning for Enrichment Workbook

I can hear your sighs now.

If you’re like me, you don’t want one more thing to do. But, this “workbook” is really just a couple of graphic organizers. I originally created them to help plan my enrichment lessons, but thought they might help other teachers, too. Feel free to copy them, share them, or repurpose them. Make them yours. My goal is to make planning easier, not more stressful.

Download your planning enrichment workbook here:

3 Ways to Support Your Lesson Planning

1- share the enrichment planning pathway with students.

I’m a big believer in sharing my map with my students because when they can see the end goal, they are more likely to fully engage. In addition, sharing my thinking keeps confusing and misunderstandings at a minimum. I’m giving my students they how and the why, which keeps them motivated on the task at hand.

2- keep examples of student work for kids to reference.

Every year there is student work that I just beg to keep. As part of a novel study project last year, students could create an artifact to accompany with their book. I now have a beautiful handmade book written from the perspective of a fairy and a portrait of Van Gogh made out of colorful paper clippings from a hole-puncher.

During the year, I keep any piece of work my students want me to have because they can be used as an example for various stages of work or perspectives of the assignment. When I get ready to teach that lesson the next year, I exchange examples to keep things updated and fresh.

3- create a “makerspace” or “acceleration station”.

If I won a classroom makeover, I would want a full maker space with peg boards and tools and all the craft supplies my heart could wish for. Since that’s not likely to happen any time soon, I make due with a little hutch full of scrap paper, craft supplies, various cardboard boxes, glass jars, and more.

On top, I keep my “writer’s basket” full of exemplars, reference tools, writing prompts, and my Story Coins Game. This space is perfect for sparking creativity and imagination with my students.

In a Pinch? Try One of These Ideas

Sketch notes for reading- easy one pagers you can download for free and use with any text! Or, have kids choose a quote from the text they read and then surround it with sketches, reasoning, and connections.

Story Coins Literacy Game for writing- I created this hands-on game to add excitement to writing. Sometimes kids just need to feel like learning is fun!

Legos for designing & critical thinking- when in doubt, get the Legos out! It’s amazing what kids can create when given a little time and imagination.

Pin Ideas