4th grade sub plans: community and money 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: “Write a story that takes place in a lighthouse during a storm and includes a surprising visitor.”
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: Write the alphabet in the air (45 sec, silent). Pick a hand or an elbow and write the letters of the alphabet big in the air, as far as you can get. Make capitals or lower case, whichever you like.

8:30–9:40Reading: The Lemonade Stand

1. Hand out “The Lemonade Stand”, a fiction passage of 216 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 Lemonade Stand (passage and key)

9:55–10:45Writing

1. Write this on the board: “Choose an animal’s adaptation and explain how it helps the animal survive.”
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: Clap, snap, pat (1 min). The leader makes a short pattern such as clap, clap, pat. Everyone repeats it. Each time, the pattern gets one beat longer.

10:45–11:50Math: equivalent fractions

1. Warm-up: write these on the board and solve them together, asking a student to explain each step: 4/6 = 8/; 1/2 = 5/; 1/5 = ____/20.
2. Hand out the equivalent fractions 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.

📄 Equivalent fractions (sheet and key)

1:15–1:35Read-aloud

1. Open the read-aloud shelf (/read-aloud) on the projector and pick a book for 4th 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: Small freeze dance (1 min). Dance in your own spot while the teacher counts slowly. When the teacher says freeze, stop like a statue until you hear go. Keep your dancing small and your feet in place.

1:35–2:20Social studies: The Three Branches of Government

1. Before reading, students fill in the first two columns of the K-W-L sheet: what they know about government, and what they want to know. After reading, the last column: what they learned.
2. Hand out “The Three Branches of Government”, a nonfiction passage of 187 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 7 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 Three Branches of Government (passage and key) · a K-W-L sheet

Break: One good thing (45 sec, silent). Think of one good thing from today, big or small. Hold it in your mind for three slow breaths.

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

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.

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