Elementary Sub Plans, Emergency Substitute Binder, 9 No Prep Activities, Grades 2-5

Woke up sick? Your grades 2 to 5 class already has a whole day planned. These no prep elementary sub plans are emergency sub plans and a substitute binder in one: 9 activities in the order the day runs, each with a sub script and an answer key. Every student page has a core task for the whole class and a star challenge (marked ★) that reaches grade 4 and 5 work, so one binder fits a mixed or unknown class. No prep and no tech for you: print it once and keep it in your sub tub.

Perfect For

• A sudden sick day: emergency sub plans that are ready before you need them
• Any class from 2nd to 5th grade, including a split class or a class the sub has never met
• A sub who does not know your class or your subject: every answer is in the key
• Your sub tub or emergency sub folder, printed once for the whole year
• Your own no prep day, or a planned absence like a conference or training

One Page, Two Levels

• The core task comes first on every page. It reviews skills a grade 2 or 3 class has already met, and it is still good practice in grades 4 and 5.
• The star challenge comes next, in its own box marked ★. It reaches grade 4 and 5 work and keeps early finishers busy.
• With a younger class, simply skip the star challenge. Nobody has to finish it.
• Students you check on the class list as finding the core task easy may start with the challenge.

How It Works

1. Print the binder and leave it on your desk. Today’s plan on page 4 is already filled in: every activity in its place in the day, with its pages and minutes. The sub writes in the start times.
2. The sub scripts (pages 5 to 7) say what to do for each activity, with a Say line written to be read aloud word for word.
3. Activities run 15 to 40 minutes, about 4.5 hours of work in all (265 minutes), so lunch, recess and specials fit around them. Any activity can move to another time.
4. The calm block is a quiet reset that fits any gap. The quiz game is optional: a fun way to end the day, or something for extra time.
5. Every answer is in the keys at the back (pages 32 to 35), with rubrics for the written answers, so the sub never has to make anything up or know the subject.

What’s Inside: 35 Pages

• 10 front pages: a binder cover, important information, a note to the substitute, today’s plan already filled in, 3 pages of sub scripts, a schedule of the day, a class list and dismissal sheet, and a “how it went” page for the sub
• Good Morning, Class (morning opener, 15 min). A quiet start: the Number of the Day and the Word of the Day on one page, with a 5-digit number and a synonym and antonym hunt as the challenge. Focus: place value, expanded form, 10 more and 100 less, odd and even, and a new vocabulary word.
• Math at the School Fun Fair (math, 40 min). Fair ticket problems with regrouping, prize arrays, a booth bar graph and a color by answer quilt. Focus: adding and subtracting within 1,000 with regrouping, arrays and x2, x5, x10 facts, reading a bar graph, color by answer.
• The Laundromat Hour (reading, 40 min). An original story about a girl who helps a stranger at the laundromat: story map, 6 multiple choice, vocabulary, a written response. Focus: key details, sequence of events, vocabulary in context, making inferences, character change and the lesson of a story.
• A Friendly Letter (writing, 35 min). Name the five parts of a model letter, fix four letter lines, then write a friendly letter to a pen pal. Focus: the five parts of a friendly letter, capital letters, end marks, commas in a greeting and a closing, commas with linking words.
• Sound: Vibrations, Pitch and Volume (science, 35 min). Two short readings on sound, a what is vibrating match, pitch and volume sorts and a solid, liquid or gas sort. Focus: sound comes from vibrations, volume (loud and soft), pitch (high and low), how sound travels through solids, liquids and gases.
• Urban, Suburban and Rural Communities (social studies, 35 min). A short reading, three scenes to name, a nine clue sort, six children who say where they live and a town data table. Focus: the three kinds of communities (urban, suburban, rural), what makes each one different, comparing communities with data.
• Whose Lunch Box? A Team Logic Puzzle (team task, 30 min). Teams of four each read one clue strip aloud and fill a logic grid to find whose lunch is whose, then try harder puzzles. Focus: logical thinking, careful reading and listening, and working as a team.
• Learn 8 Math Words, Then Test Yourself (calm block, 20 min). A quiet solo block: learn 8 math words with examples, then turn the page over and take a self-check test. Focus: math vocabulary: sum, difference, product, digit, estimate, fraction, perimeter, array.
• Whiteboard Quiz Game (game, 15 min). Optional, a fun way to end the day: teams pick a category and a number on the whiteboard grid, and the sub reads each question. Focus: mixed questions in math, science, words, time and money, and maps; the 100 to 300 questions are core, the 400 and 500 questions are the challenge.
• 4 pages of answer keys at the back

Here is a quick look at the binder: