A few weeks back I posted about my sub woes and a few people asked about my sub plans.
Sub plans seriously, just suck to write.
There's not another word for the emotions they bring near my surface.
It is so hard to explain to someone you may or may not know how to do what you do day in and day out. No matter how many sub tubs, emergency sub plan kits, etc you've bought from tpt, the real deal are the actual plans that go with all that stuff!
I am a little bit anal about what is happening in my room with my kids when I am not there...
ok, a lot anal
I do not want them doing crap work that has come out of thin air. I want our units to continue as much as possible.
like I text throughout the day checking in
It's not very relaxing for me!
So I try to write the best, most thorough and thought out plans I can...when it's a planned absence! those last minute ones are when I depend on my amazing teammates! They have really pulled through for me this week (I'll tell more about that tomorrow!) but when I know I'm going to be out, I certainly expect my kids to be taught what I intended to be teaching that day.
Confession-I DO NOT have a sub tub. I don't know what the hell I'd fill it with! We have to turn in emergency plans at the beginning of each year so I include a very detailed schedule of our day, 2 different Scholastic Magazines with the printables and lessons, a few Kaleidoscope math practice sheets, and that's about it. Last week I left an
entire day of activities from my apple printables! Why miss out on apples just because Mrs. Lamb is at a workshop!? (fyi-pumpkin ones are coming soon)
A few procedures we have set in place from day one really help out the flow when a sub must be there.
1. A morning work routine. My kids have the exact same thing to do every single morning. In fact, one of my students writes the flow chart on the board for me now... this doesn't change. It shouldn't change. If I had to come up with some amazing activity each morning, when would I eat? do attendance? check off who got universal breakfast so the First Lady doesn't get upset with me? When would check my email? the answer-the same time I go to the bathroom...NEVER!
2. Easy behavior management
aka Class Dojo! When all I have to do is ask students to give themselves points or take one away, that's a job my sub can do also. They also know I can see their points on my phone and so can mommy and daddy. There is no wiggle room here. The behaviors are laid out. If you roam around, errr negative. If you turn in your daily homework ding, positive. A sub sees instantly what our class expectations are. I do however, leave the option to just have students write their names on the board, but all my subs the past 2 years have used
dojo.
3. homework-no guess work. Every student has the exact same spelling assignment each night. The words don't matter. Monday is this, Tuesday is this...and it's posted in their spelling notebook. They all have a folder that is turned in. Again, nothing is left to the imagination! They also have a math "remembering" sheet from our math series every single night. Reading logs, math workbooks, spelling notebooks-all stacked together in their bookbags.
Is it always perfect...OH HECK NO! In fact, just a few weeks back, I had a 5 page note left for me by a sub. Did the kids act like hooligans, yes. They took total advantage. Was he a great sub, no. But I expect a certain amount of self-control so I am very tough on misbehavior for a sub. In fact, I read the letter aloud (cue the tears please) and I was simply aghast, distraught, upset, agitated, and downright hurt...let's just say the next two subs had amazing days...
What all this babble is leading up to are my sub plans. All I did was take out the student names for privacy! Feel free to tweak them in any way you need! They are in powerpoint, which is a tad more complicated to type page to page, but I just don't use Word at all! Sorry!
And don't forget to visit
Traci and get all her cute sub labels including the heading I used on
these plans!
I hope you can get some use out of these too!
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