14 library sub plans for a sub who isn't a librarian
Fourteen library lessons a substitute can run without knowing the library's system: settle in with quiet reading, read and talk about books, make something with them, and leave checkout to the people who run it. Every item says what to do, what you need and the grades it fits. They are the same lessons the sub plan generator uses when you pick library, plus four more.
Settle in
1. Quiet reading to start
Students choose a book from the display or the shelves they are allowed to use and read quietly for five minutes while you take the count. Anyone stuck picks from a stack you set on a table.
Grades K–8You need The library's books
2. Book talk in a minute
Hold up one book and talk about it for one minute: the cover, who it is about, and the first line read aloud. Ask who would read it next and why.
Grades 3–8You need One book you chose from the display
Read and talk
3. Read-aloud with a guess first
Show the cover and ask what the book might be about. Read it aloud, stopping twice to ask what will happen next. After: who was it about, what was the problem, and how was it solved?
Grades K–5You need A picture book from the library's display
4. Judge a book by its cover
Each table gets three books. Students guess what each is about from the cover and the back, then read the first page to check. Each table tells the class which book won and why.
Grades 3–8You need Three books for each table
5. Shelf scavenger hunt
Write five finds on the board: a book with an animal on the cover, a book with a number in its title, a book of poems, a true book about a place, and a book by an author whose name starts with your first initial. Students write the titles they find. Books go on the return cart, never back on the shelf, so they stay in order.
Grades 2–8You need A list on the board and paper
6. Picture walk retell
Page through a picture book showing only the pictures and let the class tell the story as you go. Then read the words aloud and ask what the pictures got right and what the words added that the pictures could not.
Grades K–2You need One picture book
7. Fact or story sort
Each table sorts its six books into true books and made-up stories, using the cover, the contents page, photos and the back. Each table names one clue that gave a book away, and you write the clues on the board.
Grades 2–5You need Six books for each table, true books and stories mixed
8. Contents page detective
Write three questions on the board that an information book might answer, such as where an animal lives or what it eats. Pairs use only the contents page and the index to find the page for each answer, then read that page to check.
Grades 3–8You need One information book for each pair
Make something
9. Design a new cover
Students draw a new cover for a book they love, with the title and the author's name on it, and a picture that would make someone want to read it. Older students add a two-sentence blurb on the back.
Grades K–8You need Paper and crayons or markers
10. Spine poems
Students stack three to five books so the titles on the spines, read top to bottom, make a short poem. They write the poem down, read it to a partner, and put the books on the return cart.
Grades 4–8You need Books from the shelves and paper
11. Alphabet line-up
Each student holds a book they chose. The class lines up in A to B to C order by the first letter of the title, then reads the titles aloud in order to check.
Grades 1–3You need Each student's chosen book
12. First-line vote
Each student reads only the first line of the book they chose, aloud, without the title. The class votes with a thumb on whether they would keep reading, and the reader says why they picked the book.
Grades 4–8You need Each student's chosen book
If checkout is on
13. Checkout, only as the library runs it
Ask the office or the library aide whether checkout happens today. If it does, let the aide run it, or follow their steps exactly. If nobody can say, skip checkout and read aloud instead: the books will still be there.
Grades K–8You need The office's answer
14. Read to a partner
Partners take turns reading a page each of a picture book or a short chapter, whispering, and tell each other their favorite part at the end.
Grades 1–8You need Books from the display
Making it work
- Ask the office or the library aide first whether checkout happens today and who runs it. If nobody knows, skip it: the books will still be there next week.
- Books go on the return cart, never back on the shelf, so the library stays in order.
- Pick the read-aloud before the first class arrives, from the display, and keep a second one in case the first runs short.
- Library classes are often 30 to 45 minutes: one settle-in, one main activity and a few minutes to clean up is plenty.
- Write down which classes came and what each did in your note for the teacher.
Questions teachers ask
- What do you do as a sub in the library?
- Start with five minutes of quiet reading, then a read-aloud or a book talk, then a short activity such as a shelf scavenger hunt or a new cover design. Ask whether checkout is on; if it is, let the aide run it.
- Should a sub run library checkout?
- Only if the library's staff asks you to and shows you how. Each library's system is its own, so a sub who guesses can lose books or mix up records. Read aloud instead if no one can say.
- What library activities need no prep?
- Quiet reading, a one-minute book talk, judge a book by its cover, the picture walk retell and the first-line vote all use only the library's own books and a few minutes of setting up.
- What works for older students in the library?
- Spine poems, the contents page detective, the first-line vote and the shelf scavenger hunt suit grades 4 to 8; give them a time limit and ask each table to share one find.
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