Create a sub plan so that you are good to go in the event of needing a substitute teacher with little to no time for making preparations. There are many tips on putting together a sub plan from veteran teachers and I’ve collected lots of ideas for you.
These ideas will cover tips on preparing for a sub, tips for writing sub plans, ideas for lesson plans, seeing sample sub plans and free resources to pull it all together.
Tips for Writing Sub Plans
Include Pictures – When you can insert photos into your lesson plans (even ones you just take with your phone) can cut down significantly on the time you spend explaining where things are and help a sub out. We are all visual creatures – sub included!
Formatting – Make your plans easier on the eyes by formatting your plans to be sub-friendly. Use a combination of bold, bullets, and underlining to make things stand out.
Be consistent.
For example, underline the same types of things throughout your plans so that it becomes a cheat sheet for the eye and your sub can find things quickly even if they’ve never subbed for you before.
Go Digital – Going digital means that you just may have your plans already in bullet point for form yourself and will make it that much easier to convert to sub plans.
If you use a cloud storage program like Dropbox or Google Drive, then you’ve got your plans no matter where you are (or what time of the day you need to access them).
Sub Plan Ideas
By Grade Level
Emergency Sub Plans – You’re gonna feel like you’ve hit the jackpot since Rachel @Subhubonline has created emergency sub plans for every primary grade level. She cleverly uses common books as springboards to make preparing for a sub simple. {Free download}
Lessons Listed By Grade Level – A list of lessons by grade level will make a great stop on your tour for collecting plans that you could plug-n-play into a set of sub plans. The second grade list will be helpful, but all grades are included too.
Frog and Toad – Perfect for second grade, these sub plans are a great example of how you can lay out plans to coincide with literature that fits your class. {Free download}
Include ‘Good Anytime’ Activities
Sometimes you need a sponge activity or something that can help bridge a few minutes when planning for a sub. Here are three activities that can be applied to most classrooms and tweaked to fit your grade level.
Hundreds Chart Activity – Students can work in partners or small groups to change up the speed of things. Work on number sense with these 3 activities using the one hundreds chart. Change the range of numbers to fit your students and leave a stack of charts for your sub plans. {Free download}
A-Z Activity – This activity will easily allow you to incorporate vocabulary, science or any non-fiction topic. Students can work on their scanning skills or create alliterations – whatever ELA skill set you are working on can be used with this activity. {Free download}
How to Note Read Fluently – Get a good discussion going on reading fluency. Model how NOT to read fluently and letting students practice too for fun. This will get students reading, discussing and later on help to be more self-aware of their fluency. {Free download}
Sample Sub Plans
If you want to look at someone’s template to look at so you can create one that works for you, then hopefully these two examples can shed some light on how to create a sub plan template.
Template and Tips for Choosing Worksheets – View Amy’s lesson plans that she’d leave for a sub as a sample how to get started and check out her great tips for which types of worksheets to choose when planning for a substitute teacher.
Create-Your-Own Generator – If you just want to “fill in the box” then this template generator is the perfect sample for you. It starts out with pre-planned boxed and you type in the information to work for your classroom.
Kindergarten Emergency Sub Plans – Download these sub plans to have an entire day planned out or to see how you can create your own emergency sub plans template.
Sub Plan Binder Resources
Many teachers will use a binder to contain their sub plan materials. Here are three free sets of binder materials.
Whale Covers and Binder Templates – Grab a cute whale and chevron themed binder cover and set of inserts to divide your binder into sections that’ll help you stay organized for your sub. {Free download}
Frog Cover – This cute frog cover will slip into the front of any binder and be easy for a sub to spot or your partner teacher to pull out for you in a pinch. {Free download}
Teach Junkie Style – If you’ve downloaded any of the free downloads from Teach Junkie for being a facebook fan, or email subscriber then you know I love to do a little design work {wink}. Here is my cover that comes in four different colors. {Free download}
Creating a Sub Plan Organizer
There are many different ways to put all of your sub items together from the binder ideas above. There is no right way or wrong way. Here are some of the top suggested ways you can put all of your fabulous finds from above together.
Tub – Create a tub or bin of your collected materials. Be sure to let your secretary and close teacher colleagues know where you stash it.
Expandable File – This one works great for keeping things organized in chronological order for the whole day and the expandable part should let you stash quite a bit of materials if they are all standard paper size or smaller.
Drawers – Using a set of drawers works great if you can afford the space. You can store books, materials and non-standard sized materials for multiple days. Ideal for storing for a longer leave than just one day out of the classroom.
Thank you fantastic teachers for sharing your tips on preparing for a sub. Your ideas are practical, fun and just might help save the day! Feel free to grab the “I’m a Featured Teach Junkie” blog button as your creations are definitely worth the shout out.
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More Sub Plans
Leslie {aka the original Teach Junkie} loves learning new things to make teaching easier and more effective. She enjoys featuring creative classroom fun when she's not designing teacher shirts, making kindergarten lesson plans or planning her family's next trip to Disney World.