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Peabody TeachFor teachers and grown-ups

1st grade sub plans: a half day

Booked for the morning only? Here is a 1st grade half day a substitute can run with nothing left on the desk: morning work, reading, writing, math, clean-up and the note, from 8:10 until you hand over at lunch, 11:40. The last ten minutes are for clean-up and the note, so the teacher who takes the afternoon knows what was done. For the afternoon half, choose The afternoon in the generator.

Checked October 30, 2026. Made from Peabody Teach's own passages, worksheets and brain break cards.

Make a half day at 1st grade ▸

First, before the bell
  1. Write your name and the date on the board.
  2. Find the attendance and send it the way the office asked. Not sure how? Ask the office before the bell.
  3. Find the emergency folder or the drill map by the door, and say hello to the teacher next door.
  4. Ask the class which signal their teacher uses for quiet, and use theirs. If nobody knows, use the one below.
  5. Read this whole plan once before the students come in.

Signal for quiet: Raise one hand and count down from five on your fingers, saying “Give me five.” Wait until every hand is up and the room is quiet.

1st grade: the morning

8:10Morning work
8:35Reading: Ben and Tess Share 📄
9:40Recess
9:55Writing
10:40Math: addition within 20 📄
11:30Clean-up and the note
11:40Lunch: your half day ends

Block by block

Morning 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 book you have read this year? Tell why you like it.”
  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: Heel-toe taps (45 sec). Tap your heels, then your toes, on the floor to a steady beat. Speed up for a while, then slow down.

Reading: 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)

Writing

  1. Write this on the board: “Write about your family. Tell who is in it and what you do together.”
  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: Desk cat and cow (45 sec, silent). Round your back and tuck your chin like a cat, then lift your chest and look up like a cow. Move slowly. Do it five times.

Math: 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)

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.

Clean-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

Before you leave at lunch

Leave the note for the teacher: what you did, who helped, anything that happened, and any messages. It is the last printed page.

The sheets, on their own pages

Subbing 1st grade

First graders can read short passages with help, write a sentence or two, and are glad to show a new adult what they know. The afternoon is harder than the morning, so the plan puts the reading and the math before lunch.

  • Read every passage aloud once before they read it themselves.
  • Answer questions out loud first, then write: a partner talk turns a blank page into a sentence.
  • Expect lots of “that's not how our teacher does it”. Thank them and ask them to show you.

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