3rd grade sub plans: a whole day

8:10–8:30Morning 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: “A package with your name on it arrives, but you did not order anything. What is inside?”
4. Read the plan for the day out loud, so the class knows what's coming.

On the projector: Morning board for the projector

Break: Row the boat (45 sec, silent). Pretend to row a boat with big, slow pulls: reach forward, pull back. Row faster for a while, then slow down again.

8:30–9:40Reading: The Class Turtle

1. Hand out “The Class Turtle”, a fiction passage of 179 words. Print 24: the student copy is in this packet.
2. Students read it on their own. Anyone who finishes reads it a second time and underlines the sentence they think matters most.
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 Class Turtle (passage and key)

9:55–10:45Writing

1. Write this on the board: “Should every school have a garden? Tell why or why not.”
2. Give partners two minutes to tell each other their idea out loud before anyone writes.
3. Students write for 35 minutes. Ask for a paragraph: a first sentence that says the idea, details, and an ending.
4. Volunteers read theirs aloud at the end. Collect the papers for the teacher.

On the projector: Writing prompts by grade

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.

10:45–11:50Math: rounding to the nearest ten

1. Warm-up: write these on the board and solve them together, asking a student to explain each step: Round 96 to the nearest ten:; Round 68 to the nearest ten:; Round 17 to the nearest ten:.
2. Hand out the rounding to the nearest ten 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.

📄 Rounding to the nearest ten (sheet and key)

1:15–1:35Read-aloud

1. Open the read-aloud shelf (/read-aloud) on the projector and pick a book for 3rd 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: Big squeeze (30 sec, silent). Wrap your arms around yourself and give a gentle squeeze. Then open your arms wide and breathe in. Squeeze and open three times.

1:35–2:20Science: Solids, Liquids, and Gases

1. Before reading, students fill in the first two columns of the K-W-L sheet: what they know about matter, and what they want to know. After reading, the last column: what they learned.
2. Hand out “Solids, Liquids, and Gases”, a nonfiction passage of 151 words. Print 24: the student copy is in this packet.
3. Students read it on their own. Anyone who finishes reads it a second time and underlines the sentence they think matters most.
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.

📄 Solids, Liquids, and Gases (passage and key) · a K-W-L sheet

Break: Seated twist (30 sec, silent). Sit tall. Put your right hand on your left knee and gently turn your upper body to look behind you. Hold for two slow breaths, then switch sides.

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

Break: Draw with your foot (45 sec, silent). Lift one foot a little and draw a circle in the air with it, then a square, then a triangle. Switch feet.

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