High School Math Sub Plans, Emergency Sub Binder, Grades 9-12, 9 No Prep Activities

A robotics logic mystery, an error hunt and a script for the sub. These high school math sub plans are emergency sub plans for grades 9-12: one full no prep day of algebra, geometry and data review that runs from the printout. Your students get both individual work and team tasks: 3 activities they do on their own (a quiet reading with a math article and story, a math error detective sheet and a practice menu) and 6 with others (a partner check, a concert ticket pricing 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 high school math class with a 40 to 55 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, and the open concert pricing project comes with a checklist and a fully worked table, 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: measuring a tree from the ground and two plans to grow a channel. Questions and keys. It practices reading for detail with math inside: similar triangles, the tangent ratio, linear vs exponential growth.
• 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 in equations, exponents, quadratics, trig, probability and radicals.
• Practice Menu (individual, 45 min): Three sheets to choose from: a secret message code, a match-up of equal expressions, and real-world problems. It practices mixed review: equations, functions, quadratics, exponents, radicals and 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 equations, slope, functions, systems, exponents, quadratics, radicals, special triangles and probability.
• Price the Spring Concert (pairs or threes, 40 min): Model concert ticket sales with a quadratic, then choose a ticket price and defend it with a table and a graph. It practices linear and quadratic models: revenue, the vertex, symmetry, profit, a table and a graph.
• Math Puzzle Tournament (teams, 41 min): 24 math puzzles in 3 rounds: algebra, geometry and trig, functions and data. It practices equations, factoring, polygons, distance, arcs, trig ratios, sequences, transformations and data.
• The Robotics Showcase Mix-Up (teams, 40 min): A logic mystery with math clues: a mean, a fraction, a percent increase, a sum, a product and a double. It practices the mean, fractions and percent of a number, sums, products and multiples, reasoning from clues.
• Which Is Greater? Stand-Off (whole class, 40 min): Twelve pairs of expressions: guess which is greater, then prove it. It practices comparing function values, rational exponents, radicals, slopes, trig values, mean and median, probability.
• Whiteboard Quiz Game (whole class in teams, optional, 35 min): An optional board quiz game: equations, functions, quadratics, exponents and geometry from this binder. It practices a review of this binder’s math: equations, functions, quadratics, exponents and radicals, geometry.
• 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: