1st grade sub plans: a whole day

8:10–8:35Morning work

1. Take attendance and the lunch count the way the office asked.
2. Put the morning board on the projector (/board/morning) and type today's schedule into it.
3. While you take attendance, students answer this on paper or in their journals: “Write about a time you made a new friend.”
4. Students who can't write it yet draw it and tell you about it.
5. Read the plan for the day out loud, so the class knows what's coming.

On the projector: Morning board for the projector

Break: One good thing (45 sec, silent). Think of one good thing from today, big or small. Hold it in your mind for three slow breaths.

8:35–9:40Reading: Ben and Tess Share

1. Hand out “Ben and Tess Share”, a fiction passage of 108 words. Print 24: the student copy is in this packet.
2. Read it aloud once while the class follows along with a finger. Then partners read it to each other in whisper voices.
3. Ask the 5 questions out loud, one at a time. Students answer with a partner first, then share. Each student draws a picture of their favorite part.
4. With five minutes left, go over two questions out loud. The answers are on the key page: keep it with you.

📄 Ben and Tess Share (passage and key)

9:55–10:40Writing

1. Write this on the board: “What is the best season: summer, fall, winter or spring? Tell why.”
2. Give partners two minutes to tell each other their idea out loud before anyone writes.
3. Students draw a picture first, then write one or two sentences about it. Sound words out together rather than spelling each one for them.
4. Volunteers read theirs aloud at the end. Collect the papers for the teacher.

On the projector: Writing prompts by grade

Break: Shoulder circles (30 sec, silent). Lift your shoulders up toward your ears, roll them back and let them drop. Then roll them the other way.

10:40–11:40Math: make 10

1. Warm-up: count together by ones to 100, then by tens to 100.
2. Hand out the make 10 sheet (16 problems). Print 24; the key is on its own page.
3. Students work on their own for twenty minutes, then check with a partner.
4. Early finishers write three problems of their own and swap with a neighbor.

📄 Make 10 (sheet and key)

1:05–1:30Read-aloud

1. Open the read-aloud shelf (/read-aloud) on the projector and pick a book for 1st grade. Read it aloud, or let it read itself.
2. Before: ask what they think the book will be about, from the cover or the title.
3. After: ask who the story was about, what the problem was, and how it was solved.

On the projector: Read-aloud books for the projector

Break: Thigh drumroll (30 sec). Pat your thighs faster and faster like a drumroll, then slow all the way down and finish with one big clap.

1:30–2:20Science: Wheels Help Us Move

1. Before reading, students fill in the first two columns of the K-W-L sheet: what they know about how things work, and what they want to know. After reading, the last column: what they learned.
2. Hand out “Wheels Help Us Move”, a nonfiction passage of 82 words. Print 24: the student copy is in this packet.
3. Read it aloud once while the class follows along with a finger. Then partners read it to each other in whisper voices.
4. Ask the 5 questions out loud, one at a time. Students answer with a partner first, then share. Each student draws a picture of their favorite part.
5. With five minutes left, go over two questions out loud. The answers are on the key page: keep it with you.

📄 Wheels Help Us Move (passage and key) · a K-W-L sheet

Break: Seated march (45 sec, silent). Lift one knee, lower it softly, then lift the other, as if you are marching while sitting down. Add arm swings if you like.

2:20–2:40Extra time

1. Hand out the maze. Students who finish draw a maze of their own on the back and swap with a neighbor.
2. Anyone who would rather read may read their own book.

📄 a maze

If your school's filter allows peabody.kids: Slice: put it on the projector and let the class call out the answers together

Break: Taffy pull (30 sec, silent). Pretend you are holding a piece of sticky taffy. Pull it out as wide as your arms go, squish it back together and twist it. Stay inside your own bubble of space.

2:40–2:55Clean-up and the note

1. Tidy the room on a five-minute timer (/timer/5-minutes on the projector).
2. Ask each student for one thing they learned today. Passing is fine.
3. Fill in the note to the teacher (the last page) and leave it on the teacher's desk with the papers you collected.
4. Dismiss the class the way this school does it. If you're not sure how a student gets home, ask the office before you let them go.

On the projector: 5 minute timer