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3rd grade sub plans: a half day

Booked for the morning only? Here is a 3rd 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, 11:50. 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 3rd 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: Say “If you can hear me, clap once,” then “If you can hear me, clap twice.” Wait for quiet before you speak.

3rd grade: the morning

8:10Morning work
8:30Reading: The Class Turtle 📄
9:40Recess
9:55Writing
10:45Math: three-digit addition 📄
11:40Clean-up and the note
11:50Lunch: 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: “Explain how to plant a seed and take care of it.”
  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: Sound detective (1 min, silent). Rest your eyes on your desk and listen. Count how many different sounds you can hear, near and far. Keep the number in your head.

Reading: 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)

Writing

  1. Write this on the board: “Write about a time you tried something new and it did not go the way you expected.”
  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: Giant yawn (30 sec, silent). Open your mouth wide in a big, silent yawn and stretch your arms out as you breathe in. Let it all out as you bring your arms down. Do it three times.

Math: three-digit addition

  1. Warm-up: write these on the board and solve them together, asking a student to explain each step: 869 + 120; 154 + 767; 103 + 265.
  2. Hand out the three-digit addition 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.

📄 Three-digit addition (sheet and key)

Break: Rag doll (45 sec, silent). Let your head, arms and shoulders go floppy like a rag doll. Hang loose and sway a little, then slowly roll back up. Skip this one if you feel dizzy.

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 3rd grade

Third graders read to learn: they can take a page of text and a set of questions, and most can write a full paragraph. Multiplication facts are often this year's math, so the sheets here are review a class has usually met.

  • Ask them to answer in full sentences that use words from the question.
  • Keep math to practice; if a sheet turns out to be new to them, switch to the warm-up problems on the board.
  • A new adult gets tested gently. Say the plan out loud in the morning, and stick to it.

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