Interactive Reading Strategies for the Common Core
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Teaching is a very rewarding career, but it is also very demanding- and writing emergency lesson plans for substitute teachers just packs on even more stress!
How many other jobs do you need to spend hours planning just to take a day off? Not too many! However, a classroom full of kids are depending on you to be there to do your job every day. If you need to take a day off, then you need to find a sub AND have lesson plans ready for that sub to use during the day.
Having been both a classroom teacher and a substitute teacher, I have seen both sides of this situation. I’ve been the teacher who needed to have lesson plans ready last minute when I was sick. I’ve also been the sub who was left with NO plans whatsoever. Needless to say, neither of these scenarios make for an ideal sub day – not for the substitute, not for you, and not even for your students! One way you can prevent this is to have your sub plans complete ahead of time and ready to go. Here are four tips for writing emergency sub plans to make taking an unexpected sub day as painless as possible.
Every teacher has to take a day off sometimes, either expectedly or unexpectedly! Our guest blogger shares four tips for writing emergency substitute plans in this guest post for when you have to take off unexpectedly. Click through to read more about sub plans!
Sort your ready-to-go sub plans by subject, in the order in which they will be taught. This will help everything run smoothly for your substitute.
It is ideal to have these lesson plans typed. When I was subbing, I had some handwritten plans that were difficult to read. If your plans are handwritten, then please make sure they are legible.
Make sure you keep these sub plans somewhere that you will remember where they are. They should also be easily accessible for a substitute or a coworker to find if you are unable to come into the classroom ahead of time.
At a minimum, the substitute should know when school begins, beginning/ending times for recess and lunch, and the time the final bell rings for the day. A substitute can get by with this information.
You can also include the order subjects are typically taught throughout the day.
It is important to include any special times during the day, such as library time, computer lab, P.E., etc., if they will be a part of the sub day.
Information about the school is nice to have, as well. You could put all of this information together into a substitute binder.
Include some basic classroom management procedures you use with your students. This includes attention prompts, classroom routines, discipline procedures, etc.
Keep it short and sweet, because the sub only has so much time to look over the plans before they jump right into teaching your class. However, it is very helpful for the substitute to know a little bit about how to run your classroom. It will help keep the routine going for your students, as well!
As stated before, a substitute only has a short amount of time to look over lessons before the day begins. A good idea is to have one of the first lessons of the day include some silent reading time for the students so the substitute has some time to look over the lessons for the rest of the day.
Write up a short lesson plan for each subject that goes over the basics of what a sub will need to know.
Make sure that these lessons keep the students’ minds engaged and learning. Don’t just leave a stack of coloring pages for the whole day! Students should learn something every day, even on a sub day!
To get you started on your own ready to go sub plans, you can check out this Sub Plan Mini-Lesson Freebie. Download the free lesson, and just like that, you’re off to a good start on your emergency sub plans! It also includes a substitute notes form so you can know how the day went while you are away. Keep this with your emergency plans!
Want more tips about how to put together your emergency sub plans? Click here to read five things that your emergency sub plans must include!
Kelsey Sorenson is a wife, a licensed teacher, and a stay-at-home mom. She enjoys using her talents to write for her blog, Wife Teacher Mommy, and to create fun, engaging resources for her Teachers Pay Teachers store. She loves sharing her resources and ideas with others! In addition to her passion for teaching and learning, she enjoys music, spending time with her family, and doing Zumba classes.
In addition to having ready-to-go sub plans, there are several other strategies you can implement to ensure your students remain productive and well-behaved in your absence.
These tips not only help maintain a smooth-running classroom but also provide your substitute with the necessary tools to manage your students effectively. Let’s explore some creative and practical approaches to make your substitute’s day, and your return, a seamless experience.
Bex Mawn is an elementary school teacher and reading specialist and has been working in public schools for 18 years. She has a blog, Reading and Writing Redhead, and a TPT store with the same name. Bex loves giant breed dogs, reading and traveling. She is a lifelong learner and enjoys trying new things and has been having a lot of fun trying out Facebook Live this year!
Teaching is a tough job!
It is even tougher when you are sick or when you have to go out to a meeting and need to have a substitute teacher. Some of us find it so challenging to have a substitute that we will drag ourselves sick to school to avoid it. I have some tips that I have implemented over the past few years that have helped my students, and I am happy to share them with you today! I also have a little freebie for you after you check out the tips. Most of these ideas I have gotten from teachers I work with or over the past decade or so on teacher forums, Pinterest, Facebook, and everywhere online.
Thank you to all the amazing teachers who shared their wisdom!
And I don’t mean with a sticky note, but that would work too. Write right ON the desk with an Expo or other dry erase marker. Leave individualized notes for students, encouraging them to do their best. This only works, of course, if you know you will be out in advance.
What do you need for this one? Just sticky notes and a poster, a large piece of easel paper, or a whiteboard. Write in big letters on the surface you choose: “Ms. So-and-So will be proud of me because…”
Leave in the lesson plans instructions for the substitute to give each child a sticky note. Sometime during the day, when your student has done something that she feels would make you proud, she writes it on the sticky notes and adds it to the poster. This can be done whether you know you will be out or not; you just need to leave information in your substitute plans as to where she can find the sticky notes.
Two caveats for this: Prep your class in advance, maybe even right at the beginning of the year (or tomorrow, if you think you might use it between now and the last day of school). Explain how this works and brainstorm ideas of what would be appropriate to put on the sticky notes.
Also, a crucial piece is follow up. Always follow up when you get back by reading some or all of the sticky notes aloud to the class and giving the class positive feedback.
Brainstorm with your class a list of 5-10 rules for when there is a substitute teacher. If you have had your class write their own class rules, or if you have predetermined rules or a school motto, reference this for ideas. Also, I always ask my class, “When I am not here, what should kids be doing so that you have a great day and everyone goes home feeling good?” Hang it in a prominent position in the room.
There are two ways to do this.
First, you can do a class mystery reward. Leave individual cards with the letters of the word “mystery.” Instruct the substitute to check on random students throughout the day. If they are meeting your goals (mine are being on task, putting in good effort, and being respectful), then they earn a letter in the word mystery. If, by the end of the day, all the letters of “mystery” have been earned, then the class gets a little reward when you return, such as extra recess, lunch outside, etc. If you can’t leave cut out letters for the sub, she can simply keep track on the board.
The other option is for the substitute to do a variation of this, which I think works well for when I am out for meetings or half days. Have her pick three random students to check on while you are out, and then if they are doing well, she can leave their names for you and they can earn something, like an extra Class Dojo point or a small prize.
I am so very pleased to welcome Brian and Eric, better known as Wise Guys, to Minds in Bloom. One of the most important activities
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