Lesson Plans for Teaching Microsoft Office or Microsoft 365

Ready-made activities for computer skills in Word, Excel, or PowerPoint

Looking for fun, ready-made lesson plans for teaching ​Microsoft Office skills?

These resources help you teach your students programs such as Word, Excel, PowerPoint, OneNote, Access, and Publisher within the context of real-life scenarios. 

Lesson plans for elementary, middle grade, or high school students. Some may even be appropriate for basic computer classes at the college level. Best of all, most of these are free!

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Check Your School District's Site

Lessons Plans for Teaching Computer Skills and Microsoft Office
Hero Images / Getty Images
What We Like
  • Teachers only access.

  • Professional lesson plans.

  • Tailored toward school policies.

What We Don't Like
  • Limited quality.

  • Limited selection.

Most teachers know whether or not their school district offers computer skills curriculum or lesson plans.

Some school districts even post free resources online, so you can take a look and perhaps even download resources. If you are new to a teaching position, you may want to check out your organization's resources first. That way, you know your curriculum aligns with district policies.

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Teach-nology.com

Teachnology screenshot
What We Like
  • Multiple categories available.

  • Very large selection.

  • Includes many other teacher resources.

  • Includes premade lessons and templates.

What We Don't Like
  • Links to 3rd party websites.

  • Outdated website design.

  • Somewhat cluttered.

Get Microsoft computing lessons with fun topics for elementary school, middle school, and high school students.

You can also find free web quests and other technology-related lessons on this site, as well as overviews of how programs like Word, Excel, and PowerPoint are useful for students' learning in general as well as how they might need it in future pursuits.

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Education World

Education World
What We Like
  • Professional website design.

  • Professionally designed lesson plans.

  • Many other resources for teachers.

What We Don't Like
  • Disorganized listing.

  • Limited selection.

Download free PDF curriculum complete with learning outcomes, images, and more for some versions of Word, Excel, PowerPoint, and Access.

These have been created by Bernie Poole. Some activities require work files. To get those ready-made templates and resources, please know you will need to email Mr. Poole.  

The site also features many more topics for computer integration. 

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Microsoft Educator Community

Microsoft Educator Community
What We Like
  • Built for Office products.

  • Large selection of lesson plans.

What We Don't Like
  • Difficult to find lesson plans.

  • Disorganized website.

  • Lacks search feature.

Find resources for teachers such as the Common Core Implementation Kit and more. This extensive site includes courses, tutorials, resources for tools like Skype, and more. 

Badges, points, and certificates are also available to help motivate and organize your progress. For example, certify to be a Microsoft Innovative Educator (MIE).

Instructors can also share or find Learning Activites for a variety of ages, subjects, and computer programs.

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Microsoft Imagine Academy

Microsoft IT Academy
What We Like
  • Various areas with free lesson plans.

  • Innovative, well-designed lesson plans.

  • Well integrated with Office products.

What We Don't Like
  • Difficult to find lesson plans.

  • Lacks effective search feature.

You may also be interested in integrating Microsoft's own certifications with your curriculum. This prepares your students to be more marketable once they leave your class.

These might include the Microsoft Office Specialist (MOS), Microsoft Technology Associate (MTA), Microsoft Certified Solutions Associate (MCSA), Microsoft Certified Solutions Developer (MCSD), and Microsoft Certified Solutions Expert (MCSE) certifications.

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LAUSD (Los Angeles Unified School District)

Lesson Plans on LAUSD website
What We Like
  • Large selection of lesson plans.

  • Common Core plans.

  • Organized by grade.

What We Don't Like
  • Difficult to find specific topics.

  • Disorganized main page.

For a variety of free lesson plans in Word, Excel, and PowerPoint for middle school students, check out this site.

Another great tool on this site is a matrix showing how these lessons cross over into other subject areas such as science, math, language arts, and more. 

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Digital Wish

Digital Wish website
What We Like
  • Large selection of lesson plans.

  • Organized by topic.

  • Easy search feature.

What We Don't Like
  • Outdated website design.

  • Poorly formatted lesson plans.

This site features an easy-to-use interface for viewing and using free lesson plans.

Most focus on Microsoft Word, with a few for Excel as well. 

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TechnoKids

TechnoKids website
What We Like
  • Well-designed website.

  • Plans organized by grade.

  • One free lesson plan each month.

  • Easy to navigate site.

What We Don't Like
  • Lesson plans are not free.

  • Difficult to find specific topics.

  • Complicated search tool.

This site offers premium lesson plans for Office 2007, 2010, or 2013 at affordable prices.

Lessons feature real-life applications your students will love. Here's a quote from their site:

"Promote an amusement park. Design posters in Word, surveys in Excel, ads in PowerPoint, and more!"
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Applied Educational Systems (AES)

Applied Educational Systems
What We Like
  • Professionally designed website.

  • High-quality lesson plans.

  • Time-saving templates.

What We Don't Like
  • Lesson plans are not free.

  • Sign in to use site.

This site is another offering premium lesson plans for teaching Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Access, and Publisher, for some versions of the Microsoft Office/365 suite.

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