4th grade sub plans: weather and seasons 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 about a character who discovers a special ability on their eleventh birthday and must decide whether to share 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: Sunflower (45 sec, silent). Curl up small like a seed. Then slowly grow tall, open your arms and turn your face up like a sunflower reaching for the sun.

8:30–9:40Reading: Why Leaves Change Color

1. Hand out “Why Leaves Change Color”, a nonfiction passage of 174 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.

📄 Why Leaves Change Color (passage and key)

9:55–10:45Writing

1. Write this on the board: “Choose a landform, such as a mountain, a river or a desert. Explain how it forms and how it affects the people and animals nearby.”
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: 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.

10:45–11:50Math: two-digit by one-digit multiplication

1. Warm-up: write these on the board and solve them together, asking a student to explain each step: 96 × 7; 18 × 9; 12 × 3.
2. Hand out the two-digit by one-digit multiplication 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.

📄 Two-digit by one-digit multiplication (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: Wave breath (1 min, silent). Breathe in as a wave rolls toward the beach and breathe out as it slides back. Let one hand move like the wave in time with your breath.

1:35–2:20Science: Lightning and Thunder

1. Before reading, students fill in the first two columns of the K-W-L sheet: what they know about weather, and what they want to know. After reading, the last column: what they learned.
2. Hand out “Lightning and Thunder”, a nonfiction passage of 195 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.

📄 Lightning and Thunder (passage and key) · a K-W-L sheet

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.

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

Break: Heavy hands, light hands (1 min, silent). Make your hands as heavy as stones and let them sink down. Then make them as light as feathers and let them float up. Go back and forth three times.

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