3rd grade sub plans: working together 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: “Remember a time you had to be patient. How did you feel at the start, and how did you feel at the end?”
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: Wrist stretch (30 sec, silent). Press your palms together in front of your chest with your fingers pointing up. Slowly lower your hands toward your waist, keeping your palms together, until you feel a stretch in your wrists. Hold for ten seconds.

8:30–9:40Reading: How Bees Make Honey

1. Hand out “How Bees Make Honey”, a nonfiction passage of 162 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.

📄 How Bees Make Honey (passage and key)

9:55–10:45Writing

1. Write this on the board: “Is it better to have a few close friends or many friends? Explain your thinking.”
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: Jellyfish arms (30 sec, silent). Float your arms up and ripple them like jellyfish. Wiggle faster as the current pulls, then go slow again.

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: 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.

1:35–2:20Social studies: Rules and Laws

1. Before reading, students fill in the first two columns of the K-W-L sheet: what they know about government and community, and what they want to know. After reading, the last column: what they learned.
2. Hand out “Rules and Laws”, a nonfiction passage of 156 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.

📄 Rules and Laws (passage and key) · a K-W-L sheet

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.

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: Rocket Number Blast: put it on the projector and let the class call out the answers together

Break: Shoulder circles (30 sec, silent). Lift your shoulders up toward your ears, roll them back and let them drop. Then roll them the other way.

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