Middle School Math Sub Plans, Emergency Sub Binder, Grades 6-8, 9 No Prep Activities

Nine math activities and a script the sub reads aloud for each one. These middle school math sub plans are emergency sub plans for grades 6-8: one full no prep day of review that runs straight from the printout. Your students get both individual work and team tasks: 3 activities they do on their own (a math reading, an error detective sheet and a practice menu) and 6 with others (partner problems, a garden design project in pairs, a puzzle tournament and a logic mystery in teams, a which-is-greater stand-off and an optional quiz game for the whole class). Every activity starts with a Say this to the class box, every student sheet has a star challenge for early finishers, and every answer is in the key, so the sub needs no math background. No prep and no tech for you: print it once and keep it ready.

Perfect For

• A sudden sick day: emergency sub plans that are ready before you need them
• A sub who does not teach math: the script, the steps and every answer are on the page
• Any middle school math class with a 40 to 50 minute period: run one activity per period, or the same one all day
• Your sub tub or emergency sub folder, printed once for the whole year
• Your own no prep day, a review day before a test, or a planned absence like a conference

How It Works

1. Print the binder and leave it on your desk. The lesson plan on page 4 is already filled in: every activity with its page, its minutes and three short steps.
2. Each activity starts with a sub script: a Say this to the class box of two or three sentences the sub reads aloud, how to set it up, the timing, and the answer key.
3. Every activity fits one class period (35 to 45 minutes), so the sub can run a different one each period or the same one all day. They all stand alone and review math the class has met before.
4. Every student sheet has a core task for everyone and a star challenge for early finishers. The games are optional, a fun way to end a class or to fill extra time.
5. Every answer is in the key, so the sub can check work or simply collect it for you.

What’s Inside: 36 Pages

• 7 front pages: a binder cover, important information, a note to the substitute, the lesson plan already filled in, a schedule of the day, a class list and dismissal sheet, and a "how it went" sheet for the sub
• Quiet Reading (individual, 45 min): Two short readings with math inside: estimating a crowd and scaling a recipe. Questions and keys. It practices reading for detail with math inside: area, rates, the mean, scale factors, multiplying fractions, money.
• Math Error Detective (individual, 40 min): Ten worked solutions, each with one wrong step to find, explain and fix. It practices finding and fixing one wrong step: order of operations, integers, fractions, percent, equations, geometry, mean, powers.
• Practice Menu (individual, 45 min): Three sheets to choose from: a secret message code, a match-up of equal values, and real-world problems. It practices mixed review: integers, powers and roots, percent, equal values, expressions, real-world problems.
• Partner Check (pairs, 40 min): Partner A and Partner B solve different problems with the same answers and check each other. It practices integers, fractions, decimals, percent, equations, area, exponents and slope, checked with a partner.
• Design the Class Garden (pairs or threes, 40 min): Price a raised bed, then plan a whole class garden on a grid inside a budget. It practices area, perimeter and volume of garden beds, unit prices, rounding up, a percent coupon, a budget.
• Math Puzzle Tournament (teams, 41 min): 24 math puzzles in 3 rounds: number sense, shapes and measures, algebra and logic. It practices number sense, angles, area, volume, the Pythagorean theorem, equations, sequences and systems.
• The Math Fair Mix-Up (teams, 40 min): A logic mystery with math clues: a percent increase, sums, differences and booth numbers. It practices percent increase, sums, differences and multiples, reasoning from clues instead of guessing.
• Which Is Greater? Stand-Off (whole class, 40 min): Twelve pairs of numbers: guess which is greater, then prove it. It practices comparing fractions, decimals, percents, negatives, powers, roots, area, volume and probability.
• Whiteboard Quiz Game (whole class in teams, optional, 35 min): An optional board quiz game: percent, integers, equations, geometry and powers from this binder. It practices a review of this binder’s math: percent, integers, equations, geometry, powers and roots.
• A sub script for every activity, with the answer keys printed on it or right after it (10 pages), and 19 student pages

Here is a quick look at the binder: