Down with Downtime! K-5 Math Now Released

You finished the lesson plans, but there’s still 10-15 minutes left before the next activity. Now what? Downtime is the enemy of teachers everywhere. However, my new line of Down with Downtime Last Minute Lesson Savers has you covered. 

Down with Downtime is a new line of activities broken down by topic based on the Common Core State Standards, but not grade level. Most of the activities can be modified to fit any grade level K-5, so use your judgement for what is appropriate for your students. And many of them focus on Higher Order Thinking Skills.

In no way is Down with Downtime intended to be an exhaustive list of activities. My hope is that you can find something useful when you need it. And that the activities can inspire you to create some of your own. This is why I have left blanks at the end of each section.

Down with Downtime: K-5 Math is the first Down with Downtime file I created. I plan on releasing ones for Reading, Language Arts, and Science/Social Studies as well. You can also access a free sample of Down with Downtime: K-5 Math here.

Used in conjunction with lesson plans, whether they are my free Emergency Lesson Plans, Just Add Paper plans, or the classroom teacher’s curriculum plans, these activities will prepare you to handle any classroom downtime and turn you into Super Sub.

I Haven't Seen You Since Last Year!

Ha! It was my amazing third grade teacher Mrs. Lehman, a fiery and energetic red-head, who first said this to me, and I thought it was HILARIOUS! She would also tell us, "I haven't seen you since last month." Although this was way more years ago than I would like to admit, I still use it with my students today... and they still think it is hilarious, just like I did. So far, for every student, I have been the first person they have heard it from. I have to say, it brings me great joy to pass on the tradition of Mrs. Lehman.

As 2012 comes roaring into existence, I am thinking about resolutions. I always have a hard time with resolutions because I am not someone who likes to drop the ball... and with resolutions, many times, that is inevitable. Last year I resolved to run/walk the San Antonio Rock 'n Roll Half Marathon with my daughter. That did not happen, because when I started trying to train, I remembered how much I hate to run (and how much pain it causes me). So much for that resolution.

I made a lot of gains in my personal life in 2011 by changing my negative outlook (from not being able to find a job) to a positive one (mostly by starting this blog). So, for 2012, I think most of my resolutions should focus on Sub Hub. I try not to focus on the numbers, but really numbers are one of the only ways we have of measuring. Still, I am not setting any hard and fast number goals. I find that when I do what I love and provide things that you all like and need, the numbers just follow along.

For now, my resolutions are this:
1) Blog timely and relevant ideas that you can instantly take into a classroom and use.
2) Add to my lines of Emergency Sub Plans
3) Create at least two new lines of paid products
4) Create lots of easy-to-use freebies
5) Continue to make new friends with teachers all over the world

So, Happy New World Sub Hub world! May 2012 bring you everything you hope for!

3rd Grade Just Add Paper Plans Online Now

Short and sweet post this time... 3rd Grade Just Add Paper emergency sub plans are available on my Teachers Pay Teachers store now. So, if you are a third grade teacher or a sub in a third grade classroom,  go download your copy. And, get a free sample of the plans here.

I did hear one great use of these plan by Denise Boehm at Sunny Days in Second Grade. She downloaded the second grade version, printed them out, and is keeping them in a ziplock bag along with a picture book or two. What a great way to be ready for any emergency!

Second Grade Just Add Paper Plans Ready

OK, so this line of plans is going a little faster... mostly because I have more time to write them now. I guess that is one good thing about the end of a long-term substituting job. So, here is the second grade installment of Just Add Paper. If you have been reading the last couple of days, you know these plans use very few materials... mostly just school supplies and PAPER!

For second grade, the lessons focus on cause and effect, writing a directed personal narrative, two-digit addition and subtraction, designing an animal, and imagining what they would do as a leader. This set of plans has tips for creating your own math manipulatives and encourages higher order thinking skills.

As with the previous two sets (kinder and first grade), there is a free sample available to download.

Also, a little hint for subs, when grades K-5 of Just Add Paper are ready, there will be a specially priced bundle just for you... so you will never be stuck with nothing to do in any classroom ever again! Just check the Sub Hub Teachers Pay Teachers store for availability.

First Grade Just Add Paper Plans Now Available

Just completed and posted on my Teachers Pay Teachers store is the first grade version of Just Add Paper. Like the kindergarten ones posted yesterday, these first grade plans have reading, language arts, math, science, and social studies lessons and use only basic materials plus paper.

This set of plans covers sequencing, adjectives, addition story problems, life cycles, and inventions. They encourage making connections and the higher order thinking skill of creating.

For a free sample that includes the reading lesson, click here.

If you download the plans, please take the time to give me a rating. You can also rate the other free lesson plans. Enjoy and never worry again if you are unable to write sub plans or find yourself in a classroom with no plans!

Just Add Paper... New Line of Sub Plans

I am quite excited (mixed with a little bit of terrified) to launch into this my new phase of Sub Hub. What I have created is a new line of emergency sub plans... plans for true emergencies, when you don't have time to do any preparation at all. My new line of plans is called Just Add Paper, because that's pretty much all you need besides the downloaded plans.

Right now, Just Add Paper Kindergarten is ready for sale at Teachers Pay Teachers. And you can download a FREE sample of it as well. Plans for grades 1-5 will follow in the next week.

Much like my previous line of emergency lesson plans, they are designed to be one-day plans for use by a teacher or a sub. There are reading, language arts, math, science, and social studies lessons included.

Unlike the other lesson plans, the only additional materials you will need are basic school supplies (pencils, crayons, markers, scissors, and glue), a few picture books of your choice, and a variety of PAPER!

One other difference is that I am venturing into the world of paid products, but I will always provide my fans and followers with a free sample of the item. So, download the free sample, and if you like it, trek on over to my new store at Teachers Pay Teachers and purchase the full day's worth of lessons.

FREE Fifth Grade Emergency Sub Plans

Finally, now my first set of elementary level emergency sub plans is complete! And just in time for cold and flu season. I just put the finishing touches on fifth grade plans based on the book Stellaluna by Janell Cannon. I know fifth grade teachers have differing opinions on the value of teaching through picture books. Many feel students at this age should be reading and analyzing higher level books.

However, my thinking here is twofold:
1) Practically speaking, these plans are meant to be completed in one day while a substitute teacher is in the room. A higher level chapter book cannot even be read in one school day, much less have time to complete activities.
2) Philosophically speaking, I am on the other side of the debate. I am an adult and still many times get much out of picture books. Fifth graders can take picture book analysis to a much higher level. So while, many students may already know the story in the picture book, they have not done such challenging activities with it.

All that being said, here are the fifth grade plans based on Stellaluna. As with my other plans, these contain a warm-up, a reading lesson, a language arts activity, a social studies lesson, a science activity, and some math problems.

Paint with Words

I always tell my students that writing is like painting with words. The writer needs to paint a clear image of what is in the story, just like an artist paints details into a picture. I use this handout with a mini lesson on using descriptions and specific words. This should be used after the students know adjectives and adverbs. And you probably should have done some lessons on "tired" words to help students choose more specific ones. This activity is a culmination of those lessons. It is quite simple. The students look at the basic, boring sentence and choose words to add to it to make it a more descriptive, exact sentence. I usually have the students choose their favorite expanded sentence and illustrate it on the back according to their descriptions. So if your students need some practice with Painting with Words, then download this freebie.

Using "Smart" to Introduce Money Unit

When introducing a unit, I love to generate interest by reading a story or, in this case, a poem. My favorite to introduce a unit on money is "Smart" by Shel Silverstein. It can be found in Where the Sidewalk Ends. The poem is about a boy who trades a dollar for two quarters because two is more than one. It continues until he ends up with only five pennies and is very proud of himself.

To start with, I read the poem straight through and ask students to write in their math journals if they feel "Smart" was an appropriate title for the poem and to explain their answer. We usually come to the conclusion that money isn't about how many of each coin you have; it is about the value of those coins.

I then read the poem through again while the students use manipulatives to show the trades and calculate how much money was lost at each level.

The students love this poem because they love to point out how they are smarter than the boy in the poem.

FREE Scary Story Map

I decided I wanted my third graders to write scary stories for Halloween. Many of my students are into reading Goosebumps and other scary book series, so I thought this would be a perfect writing exercise. I always like to start off any new writing assignment with a planning sheet, and so began looking for the perfect scary story map. When I was unable to find exactly what I wanted, I created my own. And I wanted to share it with you all. I think it would make a great activity for a substitute, but teachers may want to use it in October as well. I will be using it with my students this week and will let you know how it goes.

So, download my Scary Story Map for FREE and see what kind of "dark and stormy night" stories you can get your students to write.

Kinder Emergency Sub Plans Ready!

OK, kindergarten subs and teachers. Ready... set... DOWNLOAD!!! Here are some emergency kindergarten sub plans for you. These are based on If You Give a Mouse a Cookie and include a craft warm-up, a reading lesson, a language arts lesson, a social studies lesson, a science lesson, and a math lesson.

I have to say these have been the hardest ones so far for me to write because of all the things I needed to create. So, hats off to all you kinder teachers!

My husband was just telling me, "I like how all your plans are based around a theme. I don't think it would be good to theme teach every day, but it's nice to have something different when a sub is there." That is basically my purpose in theme-planning the lessons. And I also try to use as few materials as possible because a sub never knows what will be available when they walk into a classroom. Anyway, I hope these plans help even just a few teachers and subs. Enjoy!

Seeing Things from Another Perspective

One of my favorite higher order thinking skills to work on is seeing things from another perspective. I got this idea from my children's gifted and talented teacher Wendy Brake, and I adapted it for use in a regular classroom. Before the first perspective activity we do, I have students make "perspectacles." When worn, these glasses allow students to see an event from someone else's perspective.

I give each student five chenille sticks, two for the eyes and two for the ear pieces and one to cut up for decoration. The student then twist them together to form a pair of glasses, using extra pieces to decorate. I've had students add eyelashes, a moustache, and all sorts of details. It's fun to see their creativity and personality come through.

The perspectacles live in the students' cubbies throughout the year, and every time we do a lesson or activity using perspective, the students are allowed to wear their glasses. The students ask me almost every day if we will be doing something with perspective because they just love to wear the glasses.

Third Grade Emergency Sub Plans

I am so sorry it has taken me so long to get these going, and I promise the wait will not be as long for the fourth grade set. Getting settled into my long-term subbing position has been challenging, but I think I am falling into a nice routine.

Here are my third grade emergency sub plans. I based them on Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs by Judi Barrett. Just like the other sets of plans, these have a warm-up, reading, language arts, social studies, science, and math lesson. Although intended to be used as one day's worth of lessons for third grade, they can be used on their own or modified for other grade levels.

Antonym Charades

Need a new, fun way to learn about antonyms and get those kinesthetic learners on their feet? Try antonym charades. I used it today with my third graders with a good deal of success. All it took to prepare was writing some words like first, take, sitting, raise, etc. on scraps of paper. I folded them and put them in a cup. Next I chose two students (I used my stick drawing system to randomly pick them). The students came up and drew a word from the cup. One student pantomimed the word until the class guessed it. And then the other student pantomimed the antonym. I recorded the results on chart paper. We continued until all the words and their antonyms had been pantomimed. It was great fun, and we created a whole list of words with their antonyms.

What's in a Name?

What an amazingly long week this has been! Thank goodness tomorrow is Friday... and early release for my district. I wanted to share a reading lesson that worked really well for me today with my third graders. All week long we have been working on drawing conclusion, making inferences and making predictions as well as being able to figure things out about a character. So I modified a lesson that I had heard about being used for writing.

First I wrote four "signatures" on the board. Then I asked the students to look at the signatures and use what they already know to draw conclusions, make inferences, and make predictions about who these characters are. I asked for three ideas about each character, and then they could draw what they thought one character looked like.

I got some great responses like Sandy being a girly girl, pretty, and friendly. I also had some students who concluded she was popular, stuck-up, and mean. I was able to point out that because of knowledge we already have, sometimes our conclusions are different even if we have the same clues.

The students were able to predict age of the characters and even infer some interests. Most concluded that Sandy and Rex were somewhere between 10 and 15; Mary was a grown-up; and David was a child. And many thought Rex was into dinosaurs because of his name and the Jurassic Park-like font I used.

It was a really fun activity that brought home using clues and your own knowledge to draw conclusions, make inferences, and make predictions.

Scheduling with Scaredy Squirrel

I am so sorry it's been so long since I have posted. I have been long-term subbing in a third grade classroom and coming home dog tired every evening. Then this weekend my brother, who just returned from an air force deployment in United Arab Emirates, came to visit so I was spending as much time as possible with him. I promise more emergency sub plans are coming, but until then I thought I'd share one of my favorite literature-based math activities.

The activity is based on Scaredy Squirrel by Melanie Watt. I absolutely this book (and all the subsequent Scaredy Squirrel stories). It can be used to spark interest in a number of topics from patterning to telling time to health and safety. What I most like to teach out of this book is scheduling. Every time unit I have seen has schedules incorporated, and this activity is perfect for the students to demonstrate learning. I have used this activity in first, second, and third grades. It is easy to modify by adding or taking away events and the level of detail expected.

I start off by reading the book (dramatically... the story lends itself well to that). And I just ordered a Scaredy Squirrel puppet off of Amazon. I can't wait to incorporate the puppet into the reading of the story. In the book is Scaredy Squirrel's daily routine and (a little later in the story) his new and improved daily routine.

After reading the book, I explain about schedules, making sure to touch on the time-ordered sequence and a.m./p.m. notation meaning. Then I have the students create their own schedule display. Each student gets 3-5 index cards (depending on how many events you'd like them to include). I ask the students to write a sentence explaining what they do in each part of their day. The sentence must include the time with a.m./p.m. notation and the event. And they may illustrate each event as well. Each event goes on a separate card.

Once the cards are done, I give each student a length of yarn, and the events are taped in sequence order vertically on the piece of yarn. The schedules can then be hung as a great classroom work display.

2nd Grade Emergency Sub Plans!

OK, you asked for it, and you got it. Here is the next set of emergency lesson plans... these are targeted at second grade. Although, in my district many of the same topics are taught at different grade levels, so many of these lessons (and the ones posted last week for first grade) could be modified for other grades.

Second Grade Doreen Cronin Lesson Plans

These plans I wrote with a Doreen Cronin theme since 1) I love to teach from picture books, and 2) I love all Doreen Cronin's books. If you are not familiar with her, she has written such fabulous books as Click Clack Moo Cows That Type, Diary of a Worm, and Duck for President. Her books are funny and appeal to students of many ages and levels.

So keep these lesson plans handy and don't get stuck without plans again.

Pick Out Sticks

I have spent most of today preparing for a group of third graders whose class I will be stepping into on Friday. Since I am scheduled to be there through December, I need to treat this class as if it's my own. I made goodie bags filled with a pencil, bookmark, small notepad, and a note from me. I organized my supplies and created my system to keep up with grading. Something else I did, that would be good for long-term and short-term subs alike, is create a class set of craft sticks. I chose fat colorful sticks, but any sticks will do. The great thing is they are very inexpensive at any craft store, and they are small so they store in a sub bag of tricks easily.

All you do with these craft sticks is write numbers on them. Every teacher I have subbed for assigns each student a number, so you are creating a stick for every student in the class. Use as many sticks as there are students in a typical classroom. I created 24. I store my sticks in a pencil holder, but they can be kept in a can or even a baggie.

Use the sticks for anything from calling on students, to taking role, to choosing a line leader. It is always fair and keeps students listening since they never know when they might be called.

Another trick I use with these is to put them in the holder number side down. When I have chosen that stick, I put it back in number side up so I don't call on the same student frequently.

Many teachers I have seen have these in their classrooms already, but as a sub you never know if they will be there or you will able to find them. So it is an inexpensive, easy, and small-to-store thing for you to carry with you.

My "Poetic" Homage to Substitute Teaching

So here's what I did with the words some of you suggested on the Facebook page. Kind of cool... and fun to make at Wordle.

First Set of Emergency Sub Plans Is Here!

 Sound familiar? You're a teacher and you are awakened by the sound of your own sick children. There's no going to school for them or you today. But do you have your sub plans ready? Or maybe you're a sub and you get the call to substitute at 5:30 a.m. You dutifully arrive at the school in plenty of time, and what do you find? No plans! Yikes! What to do? Never fear... Sub Hub is here!

This is the first in a series of emergency substitute plans available for free download. This set of plans is intended for first grade and has a zoo theme. It has a warm-up, reading/language arts lesson, social studies lesson, science lesson, and math lesson. Plus, it has a few additional ideas to fill any extra time or use in place of another lesson. Download the plans, keep them handy in your sub tub or bag of tricks. And never be stuck without lesson plans again.

First Grade Emergency Lesson Plans

Go check out the plans. Let me know what you think... good or bad.