Lesson Planning Template
Curriculum: Accounting 30____ Module/Unit/Outcome: Module 8C: Recording adjustments,
preparing closing entries, Post-closing Trial Balance_
materials/preparation required
 Students will need their texts, workbooks and previous homework questions they have
been working on
 White board and markers
 Photocopies of the worksheet on p.570-71 of text
 Transparencies for solution to homework problem 27-3 and a projector to show them on
prerequisite learning required
 Students should have basic accounting knowledge regarding debits/credits, assets,
liabilities, equity, etc.
 Students will have prepared basic Balance Sheets and Income Statements for
proprietorships and/or partnerships.
 Students should know that capital/owner’s equity is reported differently in partnerships and
corporations (declaration and payment of dividends).
 Students have practiced working off of a Work Sheet to prepare adjusting entries.
target for professional growth
 Time management – did I plan a lesson appropriate for the length of the class time?
co-management preparation for this lesson
 Though we wanted to teach recording adjustments and closing entries in the previous
lesson we broke it into a separate lesson to avoid over-loading students with too much new
information in one lesson.
 This lesson flows quite nicely from the previous one so that if time allows we may begin it
during the previous class
Outcome
for this lesson
Students will learn how to record adjusting entries
and prepare closing entries. Students will be able
to explain why we prepare a Post-closing Trial
Balance.
Indicator(s)
After working through in-class examples as a
group, SWBAT accurately record adjusting
entries, prepare closing entries and explain
the purpose of preparing a Post-closing Trial
Balance.
Lesson Construction:
Set: (about 4 minutes)
When students come into the classroom they will find the following “check list” written on the most
prominent board in the class. The students will also have an entrance slip on their desks.
(depending on where the students sit they may have to be redirected to sit closer to that particular
board)
 Defined/discussed new terms and procedures regarding accounting for corporations
 Declaring and paying a dividend
 Planned end-of-fiscal-period adjustments for a corporation
 Prepared financial statements for a corporation

There will be one item not listed and the question written below it: What do we have left to do?
(There are two goals for this set: First to show students that we are almost there – we have
almost completed all the tasks for this chapter. Second, it will encourage students to open their
text books to look for the answer . . . they will have their books open at least to the chapter if not
the relevant page of the text. Third, it demonstrates completion of the Accounting Cycle.)
ANSWER: journalize adjusting and closing entries for a corporation (and prepare a post-closing
trial balance to “tie it all together”)
Three development sections follow; you may need more or less development sections depending on activities/tasks
you choose to complete in order to achieve the indicators for this lesson.
What do I need to adapt here to help all students be
Development 1: (10 minutes)
successful?
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Students will be instructed to take out
problem 27-3 that they were supposed to
have finished for today’s class. Since
the question the students will be
assigned today depend on them having
finished problem 27-3 we will correct the
question together in class.
The assignment will be corrected by a
peer. This is done for a few reasons:
We will all know who has done their
homework and who hasn’t. Students
who aren’t as confident in their work may
see that everyone makes mistakes. Or
they may learn that they might seek help
from one of their peers (who seems to
know what they are doing) if that is more
comfortable for them. Peer feedback is
important – by viewing your classmates’
work you will better understand what
they might need help with if they seem to
be struggling.
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Solution will be presented on the
overhead projector.
December, 2010. This generic template was designed by T. Houk, based on the work of many print and online professional
resources.
Development 2: (about 20 minutes)
 Segway into recording adjusting entries
by asking the students again what we
have left to do – record adjusting entries.
What report do we look at to record our
adjusting entries? (the worksheet)
Instruct students to look at the worksheet
on pg.570-71 of the text. Ask: What
columns are you going to look at when
recording your adjusting entries? (the
adjustment columns of the work sheet)
Ask: How do you know what order to
record the adjustments in? (look in the
debit column and go alphabetically
according to the small a, b, c, etc.) We
will go through the sequence of entries
on the worksheet ( asking specific
students at random to come up to the
board and write down what the next
entry will be.)
 Ask if there are any questions.
 Have students take 10 minutes to
complete #1 in problem 27-4 p. 590
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Development 3: (about 20 minutes)
 We will move on to discuss closing
entries. Oh, look! Another recipe on
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I picture the adjustment portion of this
lesson to be quick (review really).
We will work through the example for
entering adjusting entries in the text.
Students will be instructed to look at the
worksheet from pg. 570-71 of the text.
(even though the answers are in the text,
hopefully the students will be able to
(After students complete #1 in 27-4)
BRAIN BREAK!! – In a single column on
the board write the letters: MT_ _F_S
and in a second column on the board
write the letters: OT_F_ _SE_T
Have the students stand up and tell them
to sit down when they have figured out
what each letter stands for. (I might give
them the hint that we have been
comparing our accounting work to steps
in a recipe or a pattern. . .) ANSWER:
the first is the days of the week, the
second are the numbers one to ten.
(of course we will disclose the answer
once everyone is sitting down.) ** I will
only spend two minutes on this so if they
have not figured it out by then I will
provide the answers . . . (or maybe save
it for another day!!)
To break up the repetitive nature of
December, 2010. This generic template was designed by T. Houk, based on the work of many print and online professional
resources.
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the bottom of p. 580!! I will read the first
step in the “recipe” and have each of the
three students read one of the remaining
three steps.
We will look at the examples of closing
entries listed in the text book.
Be sure to clarify along the way what a
contra cost account is (an account that
off-sets a cost account – example:
Allowance for Uncollectible Accounts &
Accumulated Depreciation – Supplies-and what a contra revenue account is
(an account that off-sets revenue –
example: Purchases Returns &
Allowances)
Ask if there are any questions once the
example has been reviewed together.
Give students 10 minutes to complete #2
for problem 27-3 on p. 590 of the text.
Whatever is not done will be assigned for
homework.

doing this the same way we did adjusting
entries, I may have students again use
copies of the worksheet from p. 570-71.
I would ask for one volunteer to go up to
the board and be the recorder. The
other two students would take turns
offering up the names of the accounts
used to do the closing entries. (after the
first closing entry is complete the
recorder will have the option to hand off
their position to a different classmate)
This would also promote an “if I write it
I’ll remember it” effect for this
information. I would ask guiding
questions and lead the students through
the examples just as above but they
would be up and out of their seats and
moving around.
I will gauge this by the response I get in
Development 2 of this lesson. I will ask
the students if they would like to review
the example in the text or if they would
find it more useful to go straight into
problem 27 – 3 #2 on p.590 of the text.
Closure: 3 minutes
Ask a few quick questions (letting the students know I want to hear from all of them) to tie the unit
together:
What is the very last thing we need to do? (prepare a post-closing trial balance)
What is the purpose of this? (I expect someone will read to me out of the text!!)
But why do we do this?? What’s the point? What do you do when you are done baking a recipe
at home?? (I am looking for someone to realize that all the accounts we just closed will have a
zero balance and we would not include them on the post-closing trial balance – it is like we did
some tidying up so that when we start the next fiscal period we have a fresh start.)
o
evaluation/assessment that determines if each student has met the indicators for this
lesson? Attach any documents or anecdotal notes that support this.
Students will be assessed on completion of problem 27-4 at the end of the chapter as well as on the
information/answers they provide during our closure discussion.
December, 2010. This generic template was designed by T. Houk, based on the work of many print and online professional
resources.