What a sub needs

For the teacher

- If you are a teacher reading this, here are some ideas to help your sub and students get through the day with no problems and still do a little learning.

Check out my previous post too For a Substitute Teacher.  It will tell you what I feel is most important to a substitute teacher.


genius- the sub tub, check out all that Pencils, and Crayons, and Books OH My adds to her tub.




These are an amazing idea.  Purchase them here.  Or get together with some of your coworkers and design your own.




This cute idea is free at TPT.  It would go along well with the book Miss Nelson is Missing by Harry Allard and James Marshal.

For the Substitute Teacher

-If you have ever been a substitute teacher you know that you have to catch the attention of the children in that class and establish some kind of management skills before you can teach a lesson.  So get organized and prepared for a day in the classroom.

I have found that a puppet or stuffed animal really got the attention of the kids.  I would pretend it was whispering to me what it wanted to tell the kids. Of course he wanted to know the rules of school.  Make it a surprise and let kids guess what is in your bag.  I was remembered as the lady with the lizard.

Poems, finger plays, or chants-  I love 5 Green and Speckled frogs.  I found some felt board frogs and a sheet of blue felt to make it more visual.  Here is a song you could do to learn the children's names.  It is not very time consuming and it is a lot easier to prove your in charge if you can name kids throughout the day.
     Names are short,
     names are long,
     say your name and clap along. 
     Name Name

Small play things- Playdo, markers, paper, stickers- even older children like them and they make great time consuming activities if you get all your plans done early.  I have been in classrooms where the teacher only planned worksheets all day long.  It was boring for me too. And, they don't take the same amount of time for every child.  If you have something for children to do when they are done, it causes less behavior problems.

Read aloud books- Children love to be read to.  Bring your favorite, but be careful not to bring the very popular books that the teacher has already read a million times.  Learned this the hard way.  No Chicka Chicka Boom Boom.  There are lots of books about substitute teachers.

Something to do in down time- specials- an hour away from the kids can be a little boring.


Something to leave the teacher-  All teachers want a note to read that tells them what actually happened throughout the day.  They want to know who you are.  And if you want them to ask you back again, you should leave your name.  The Dollar Tree usually has some pretty paper you could use to write you note on.  Or try making your own.  Just print out a sheet of paper that says "A note from Mrs. or Mr. Sub"  Pick a cute clip art and you have your own stationary for the job. 

I made a bunch of pretty pens to leave each teacher as a reminder of who I am.  Here is the little poem I wrote to go along with them.

Thank you for having me here today.

When I got the call, I said,"Hooray."

We had lots of fun

And tried to get all of your plans done.

I hope I left things nice and neat.

Each child picked up around their seat.

So that you'll remember me.

I've left my pen.

I hope you'll have me back again.