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2nd grade sub plans: a half day

Booked for the morning only? Here is a 2nd 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 2nd 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.

2nd grade: the morning

8:10Morning work
8:35Reading: The Lost Mitten 📄
9:40Recess
9:55Writing
10:40Math: two-digit addition without regrouping 📄
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: “Write about the life cycle of a butterfly or a frog. Put the stages in order.”
  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: Count ten breaths (2 min, silent). Breathe normally and count each breath in your head, from one to ten. If your mind wanders, start again at one. That is part of it.

Reading: 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)

Writing

  1. Write this on the board: “A package with your name on it arrives, but you did not order anything. What is inside?”
  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: Tree in the wind (45 sec, silent). Be a tree with your arms up. Let the wind bend you slowly to the left, and then slowly to the right.

Math: two-digit addition without regrouping

  1. Warm-up: write these on the board and solve them together, asking a student to explain each step: 87 + 12; 10 + 26; 63 + 10.
  2. Hand out the two-digit addition 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 addition without regrouping (sheet and key)

Break: Swim across the lake (45 sec, silent). Swim across a lake with your arms: front crawl, then breaststroke, then backstroke. Keep your arms close so you do not touch anyone.

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 2nd grade

Second graders can work on their own for fifteen or twenty minutes, answer questions in sentences, and usually know the class jobs. A clear schedule on the board does most of the managing for you.

  • Write the schedule on the board first thing and cross off each block as you finish it.
  • Use partners for checking answers, not for doing them.
  • Have the extra-time sheet ready: early finishers are the start of most noise.

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