1st grade sub plans: animals and friends 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: “What is the best game to play with friends? Tell why.”
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: Thumb touch (30 sec, silent). Touch your thumb to each of your fingers in turn, from pointer to pinky and back again. Go slowly first, then as fast as you can without making a mistake. Switch hands.

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: “Pretend you shrink to the size of an ant. What do you see?”
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: Look, listen, feel (2 min, silent). Slowly look around the room and quietly find three things you can see. Then find two things you can hear. Then find one thing you can feel, like your feet on the floor. Keep your answers in your head.

10:40–11:40Math: addition within 20

1. Warm-up: count together by ones to 100, then by tens to 100.
2. Hand out the addition within 20 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.

📄 Addition within 20 (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: Giant yawn (30 sec, silent). Open your mouth wide in a big, silent yawn and stretch your arms out as you breathe in. Let it all out as you bring your arms down. Do it three times.

1:30–2:20Science: Ducks at the Pond

1. Before reading, students fill in the first two columns of the K-W-L sheet: what they know about animals, and what they want to know. After reading, the last column: what they learned.
2. Hand out “Ducks at the Pond”, a nonfiction passage of 84 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.

📄 Ducks at the Pond (passage and key) · a K-W-L sheet

Break: Find a spot (45 sec, silent). Pick one spot in the room, like the corner of the clock, and look at it softly. Notice its color, its edges and how it sits. Keep looking for thirty seconds.

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: Sandstorm: put it on the projector and let the class call out the answers together

Break: Color hunt (45 sec, silent). Choose a color. Quietly look around the room and find five things that are that color. Keep your list in your head.

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