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.

Scary Stories for Halloween

With today being Halloween, my students and I celebrated by reading their scary stories. They had been writing the stories for a little over a week, and used a shortened version of the writing process. They began by using my Scary Story Map. They then went from the story map to their rough draft. I had them proof and edit their own story, and then they traded and had a buddy proof and edit it. We went from there to their final copy which they wrote on notebook paper, glued to black construction paper, and drew a picture in white crayon.

Today, they all got a turn to share. I turned out most of the lights and gave the author a flashlight... and the fun began! I was so proud of all their stories. While they all have plenty to work on, every single student wrote a cohesive story, even my low ones. It was great! And the students really had a spooky good time. Here are a few photos.

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.