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3rd grade sub plans: social studies

A 3rd grade social studies block for a substitute: “The First Airplane Flight”, a 172-word nonfiction passage about inventions and history, with 5 questions and an answer key, and a K-W-L sheet for before and after reading. 5 steps, from handing it out to going over the answers.

Checked October 30, 2026. Made from Peabody Teach's own passages, worksheets and brain break cards.

Make the whole day at 3rd grade ▸

The social studies block

Social studies: The First Airplane Flight

  1. Before reading, students fill in the first two columns of the K-W-L sheet: what they know about inventions and history, and what they want to know. After reading, the last column: what they learned.
  2. Hand out “The First Airplane Flight”, a nonfiction passage of 172 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 5 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.

📄 The First Airplane Flight (passage and key) · a K-W-L sheet

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.

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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