Learning to plan for teaching mathematics is the focus of an extended research project in initial teacher education. This paper discusses one early part of this project, based on a focus group interview where ten first year primary student teachers reported their planning experiences at the end of their first school practicum. Their one mathematics education course had provided a process for analysing tasks and other planning tools. Findings relate to different phases of planning during practicum, as well as how they accessed tools from course content, and the ways some used internal scripts in analysing, selecting, appropriating and adapting resources for teaching. Implications for initial teacher education are to consider how planning is decomposed within course experiences.