As standards in the United States change, many teachers are faced with negotiating multiple standards documents. This research examines how pre-service elementary teachers learn to plan for instruction using national standards documents (NGSS and C3 Framework, respectively) and the state content standards. This qualitative case study examines beginning teachers' learning about planning for instruction during their content methods courses. Data includes two interviews with each of six preservice teachers. Interviews with preservice teachers were coded and patterns and themes that emerged from the codes were described. Results indicate several challenges that preservice elementary teachers face when learning to plan for instruction. These findings contain lessons that can be applied to pre-service teacher education in practice-based methods courses.