> ## Documentation Index
> Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://docs.learningcommons.org/llms.txt
> Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further.

# K-12 Lesson Planning

> Reference documentation for the K-12 Lesson Planning Agent Skill.

[Skill last updated July 14, 2026](https://github.com/learning-commons-org/agent-skills/tree/main/skills/k12-lesson-planning?utm_source=docs\&utm_medium=agent-skills)

<Note>
  The K-12 Lesson Planning Agent Skill was co-developed with
  [Anthropic](https://www.anthropic.com/) ↗.
</Note>

## Overview

The K-12 Lesson Planning skill creates a lesson plan, student-facing materials, and an observation template for math, ELA, science, or social studies.

It produces teacher-ready, standards-aligned artifacts as native files in Turn 1, rendered from one master JSON via bundled scripts (editable `.docx` Word documents on confirmation). The skill works with or without the Learning Commons Knowledge Graph.

The skill considers:

* Subject routing (math, ELA, science, social studies) with mandatory subject reference files
* Curriculum alignment when a teacher names or implies a curriculum (for example, Illustrative Mathematics or OpenSciEd)
* Standards grounding via Knowledge Graph when connected
* Subject-specific pedagogy, grade-band structures, and output mappings

<Note>
  Do **not** load this skill when the request is only for grading, a rubric,
  assessment feedback, a quiz, or a standards lookup — answer those directly
  without it.
</Note>

## At a glance

|                     |                                                                                                                                                                     |
| :------------------ | :------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ |
| **Workflow**        | Create a new standards-aligned lesson from scratch                                                                                                                  |
| **Subjects**        | Math, ELA, science, social studies                                                                                                                                  |
| **Grades**          | K–12                                                                                                                                                                |
| **Knowledge Graph** | Strongly recommended via [Quickstart: Connect Knowledge Graph](/agent-skills/getting-started/quickstart#connect-knowledge-graph)                                    |
| **Repository**      | [skills/k12-lesson-planning/](https://github.com/learning-commons-org/agent-skills/tree/main/skills/k12-lesson-planning?utm_source=docs\&utm_medium=agent-skills) ↗ |

## Getting started

Follow the [Quickstart](/agent-skills/getting-started/quickstart) to start using this skill:

| Access method           |                                                                                                                                                                           |
| :---------------------- | :------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ |
| **Knowledge Graph MCP** | [Quickstart: Connect Knowledge Graph](/agent-skills/getting-started/quickstart#connect-knowledge-graph)                                                                   |
| **Example prompts**     | [example-prompts.md](https://github.com/learning-commons-org/agent-skills/blob/main/skills/example-prompts.md?utm_source=docs\&utm_medium=agent-skills#lesson-planning) ↗ |
| **Skill instructions**  | [`SKILL.md`](https://github.com/learning-commons-org/agent-skills/blob/main/skills/k12-lesson-planning/SKILL.md?utm_source=docs\&utm_medium=agent-skills) ↗               |

## Triggers

Your LLM will programmatically load this skill when explicitly or implicitly prompted to build a K-12 lesson from scratch:

* **Explicitly**: "math lesson plan," "mini-lesson," "unit plan," "reading lesson," "phonics lesson"
* **Implicitly**: "I'm teaching long division to 5th graders," "planning a lesson on RL.4.3 next week," "need to teach photosynthesis tomorrow"

**Core signal:** teacher has a topic/standard + grade and needs new instructional content created.

## Output

| Artifact                       | Description                                                                        |
| :----------------------------- | :--------------------------------------------------------------------------------- |
| **Teacher-facing lesson plan** | Standards-aligned plan with subject-specific structure and teacher rationale notes |
| **Student-facing materials**   | Materials appropriate for the lesson's grade band and subject pedagogy             |
| **Observation template**       | Template for classroom observation aligned to the lesson structure                 |
| **Rendered files**             | Editable `.docx` Word documents on confirmation                                    |

## Rubrics

The K-12 Lesson Planning skill's outputs are scored by the folllowing [rubrics](https://github.com/learning-commons-org/agent-skills/tree/main/evals/k12-lesson-planning/rubrics?utm_source=docs\&utm_medium=agent-skills) ↗.

<Tip>
  To generate lesson plans, apply the `shared.csv` rubric first, then layer in
  the relevant subject-specific file to extend the criteria set.

  **Example**: For a 7th grade ELA lesson, you would score against `shared.csv` and `ela.csv`.
</Tip>

|                |                                                                                                                                                                                   |
| :------------- | :-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- |
| **Subjects**   | Math, ELA, science, social studies (via subject-specific rubrics)                                                                                                                 |
| **Repository** | [evals/k12-lesson-planning/rubrics/](https://github.com/learning-commons-org/agent-skills/tree/main/evals/k12-lesson-planning/rubrics?utm_source=docs\&utm_medium=agent-skills) ↗ |

| File                    | Description                                              | GitHub                                                                                                                                                                           |
| :---------------------- | :------------------------------------------------------- | :------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- |
| **shared.csv**          | Core criteria for all lesson plans                       | [View in GitHub](https://github.com/learning-commons-org/agent-skills/blob/main/evals/k12-lesson-planning/rubrics/shared.csv?utm_source=docs\&utm_medium=agent-skills) ↗         |
| **math.csv**            | Math-specific pedagogy and discourse criteria            | [View in GitHub](https://github.com/learning-commons-org/agent-skills/blob/main/evals/k12-lesson-planning/rubrics/math.csv?utm_source=docs\&utm_medium=agent-skills) ↗           |
| **ela.csv**             | ELA-specific criteria grounded in the science of reading | [View in GitHub](https://github.com/learning-commons-org/agent-skills/blob/main/evals/k12-lesson-planning/rubrics/ela.csv?utm_source=docs\&utm_medium=agent-skills) ↗            |
| **science.csv**         | Science-specific inquiry and reasoning criteria          | [View in GitHub](https://github.com/learning-commons-org/agent-skills/blob/main/evals/k12-lesson-planning/rubrics/science.csv?utm_source=docs\&utm_medium=agent-skills) ↗        |
| **social\_studies.csv** | Social studies sourcing and argumentation criteria       | [View in GitHub](https://github.com/learning-commons-org/agent-skills/blob/main/evals/k12-lesson-planning/rubrics/social_studies.csv?utm_source=docs\&utm_medium=agent-skills) ↗ |

### How to score

1. Generate lesson materials using this skill.
2. Select `shared.csv` plus the subject-specific rubric that matches the lesson.
3. Run LLM-as-judge or human review against each criterion. See [Evaluating outputs](/agent-skills/getting-started/evaluating-outputs).

See [ATTRIBUTION.md](https://github.com/learning-commons-org/agent-skills/blob/main/evals/k12-lesson-planning/ATTRIBUTION.md?utm_source=docs\&utm_medium=agent-skills) ↗ in the repository for source credits.

## Skill release history

| Date          | Changed                                    |
| ------------- | ------------------------------------------ |
| July 14, 2026 | First release, co-developed with Anthropic |