2nd grade sub plans: push and pull 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: “Explain how to play your favorite game so that a new player could follow along.”
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: Heavy hands, light hands (1 min, silent). Make your hands as heavy as stones and let them sink down. Then make them as light as feathers and let them float up. Go back and forth three times.

8:35–9:40Reading: The Lost Mitten

1. Hand out “The Lost Mitten”, a fiction passage of 141 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. Students answer the 5 questions under the passage, in full sentences.
4. With five minutes left, go over two questions out loud. The answers are on the key page: keep it with you.

📄 The Lost Mitten (passage and key)

9:55–10:40Writing

1. Write this on the board: “What is the best thing to do on a weekend? Give two reasons.”
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: Hand on belly (1 min, silent). Rest a hand on your belly. Breathe in for a count of four so your belly pushes your hand out. Breathe out for a count of four so your hand sinks back in.

10:40–11:40Math: two-digit subtraction without regrouping

1. Warm-up: write these on the board and solve them together, asking a student to explain each step: 96 − 65; 25 − 23; 83 − 50.
2. Hand out the two-digit subtraction without regrouping 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.

📄 Two-digit subtraction without regrouping (sheet and key)

1:05–1:30Read-aloud

1. Open the read-aloud shelf (/read-aloud) on the projector and pick a book for 2nd 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: Yes, no, maybe (45 sec, silent). Nod your head slowly for yes. Turn it slowly from side to side for no. Tip your head to one side and then the other for maybe. Go slowly and stop if anything feels sore.

1:30–2:20Science: Magnets Push and Pull

1. Before reading, students fill in the first two columns of the K-W-L sheet: what they know about forces and magnets, and what they want to know. After reading, the last column: what they learned.
2. Hand out “Magnets Push and Pull”, a nonfiction passage of 105 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. Students answer the 6 questions under the passage, in full sentences.
5. With five minutes left, go over two questions out loud. The answers are on the key page: keep it with you.

📄 Magnets Push and Pull (passage and key) · a K-W-L sheet

Break: Tall tree (30 sec, silent). Reach both arms up like branches and stretch as tall as you can. Wiggle your fingers like leaves, then bring your arms down slowly.

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

Break: Eye tour (45 sec, silent). Keep your head still. Look up, then down, then left, then right, then make a slow circle with your eyes. Look at something far away, then something close. Stop if your eyes feel tired.

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