12 steps to emergency sub plans for the whole year, in one afternoon

Get ready

1. 1. Block out one afternoon

   Pick one afternoon early in the year, after school or on a planning day, and protect it like a meeting. Two or three hours is enough if you follow the steps in order and resist making anything fancy. Plans that exist beat perfect plans that never get written.

   Grades K–8You need A calendar and two or three free hours

2. 2. Gather what you already have

   Before you write anything new, pull together the pieces you already own: the bell schedule, the class list, last year's sub plans, your behavior steps and the names of teachers nearby. Most of the folder is copying these into one place, so having them on the desk saves the most time.

   Grades K–8You need Your class list, schedule, routines and any old sub plans

Write the folder once

3. 3. Fill in the folder pages

   Open the emergency sub folder and fill in each section: the welcome, where things are, the daily schedule, arrival, lunch, dismissal, routines, behavior, drills and who to ask. What you type stays in your browser. Print it when you finish, and each section comes out on its own page.

   Grades K–8You need The emergency sub folder pageUse Emergency sub folder to fill in and print

4. 4. Make a seating chart in first names

   Fill in a seating chart for every class you teach, first names only, with the front of the room marked. A substitute takes attendance and learns names from this one page, so it matters more than almost anything else in the folder.

   Grades K–8You need A printed seating chartUse Seating chart in rows

5. 5. Write a short welcome note

   Write four or five friendly sentences to whoever walks in: who you are, what the class is like on a good day, which students will gladly help and the one thing you most want done. A warm note sets the tone for the substitute before the first bell rings.

   Grades K–8You need Ten minutes and the welcome section

Fill three days

6. 6. Choose review, not new lessons

   For each of three emergency days, pick skills the class already knows well: a reading skill, a math topic and a writing type. Review keeps the day calm and means you won't have to reteach anything when you come back. Write the three choices on a sticky note before planning further.

   Grades K–8You need Your curriculum map or last month's lessons

7. 7. Pull a ready-made pack for each day

   Open the sub day packs and choose one pack per emergency day at your grade, such as the math pack or the writing pack. Each pack gives the substitute a whole block of work with simple directions, so you are choosing and printing rather than writing from scratch.

   Grades K–8You need The sub day packsUse Ready-made sub day packs

8. 8. Write one plan per day on the template

   Use the sub plan template to write Day 1, Day 2 and Day 3. Put the schedule with times in the table, list each activity with where its copies are, and leave out dates so the plans work any week. Keep the wording short enough to read in five minutes.

   Grades K–8You need The sub plan templateUse Sub plan template

Copy, pack and share

9. 9. Copy class sets plus a few extras

   Print each day's sheets as a full class set with three or four extras for new students or spoiled pages. Clip each set with a cover slip that says the day, the block and how long it should take, so the substitute can hand it out without guessing.

   Grades K–8You need The copier and a stack of paper

10. 10. Label and pack the folders

    Put each day's plan and copies in its own folder marked Day 1, Day 2 and Day 3, and set the printed emergency folder in front. Use bright folders that stand out on a cluttered desk. Anyone in the building should be able to grab the right one.

    Grades K–8You need Three folders or a small file box and a marker

11. 11. Tell the office and your neighbor

    Let the front office and the teacher next door know exactly where the box lives, whether that's a drawer, a shelf or the office itself. If the plans sit somewhere nobody knows about, they don't exist on the morning you're out.

    Grades K–8You need A quick email or a word in the hallway

12. 12. Set two check-up dates

    Put two short reminders on your calendar, one before winter break and one in early spring. On each date, update the seating chart and the list of helpers, replace any day that was used, and swap review topics for newer ones the class now knows well.

    Grades K–8You need Two reminders on your calendar

Making it work

• Do the steps in order. The folder pages come first because they are the part every substitute needs, even if the day plans run short.
• Keep the plans dateless. Write "Day 1" instead of a date, and "the math block" instead of a time that might change.
• Leave one quiet activity that needs no copies at all, like silent reading or a writing prompt on the board, in case the copies go missing.
• When a day gets used, read the substitute's note before refilling the folder; it tells you what worked with your class.
• If you share a grade level, build the three days with a teammate and split the copying.

Questions teachers ask

What are emergency sub plans?

They are plans you write ahead of time for a day you can't plan for, such as a sudden illness. They usually include the class information pages, a seating chart and two or three days of review work that any substitute can run.

How many days of emergency sub plans should I have?

Three days covers most short absences. If you're out longer than that, the school usually arranges a longer plan with you, a teammate or a long-term substitute, so three is a sensible number to keep ready.

Should emergency sub plans follow my current unit?

No. Emergency plans sit in a folder for months, so they work best as review of skills the class already has. A substitute can run practice well, and nobody has to undo a new lesson taught in a hurry.

Where should I keep my emergency sub folder?

Keep it where the substitute and the office can both find it, and tell them where it is. Many teachers keep it in a marked drawer by the desk; some schools ask for a copy in the office.