5th grade sub plans: a whole 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: “Explain how to solve a problem you know well, such as finding the area of a rectangle, in steps another student can follow.”
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: Swim across the lake (45 sec, silent). Swim across a lake with your arms: front crawl, then breaststroke, then backstroke. Keep your arms close so you do not touch anyone.

8:30–9:40Reading: Supply and Demand

1. Hand out “Supply and Demand”, a nonfiction passage of 176 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 6 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.

📄 Supply and Demand (passage and key)

9:55–10:45Writing

1. Write this on the board: “Should every student learn to play a musical instrument? Argue for your position.”
2. Give partners two minutes to tell each other their idea out loud before anyone writes.
3. Students write for 35 minutes. Ask for two paragraphs: 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: Desk push (30 sec, silent). Press your palms flat against the edge of your desk and push for five seconds. Rest, and repeat three times.

10:45–11:50Math: simplifying fractions

1. Warm-up: write these on the board and solve them together, asking a student to explain each step: 5/10; 2/8; 6/8.
2. Hand out the simplifying 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.

📄 Simplifying 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 5th 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: Square breathing (1 min, silent). Trace a square with one finger. Breathe in along the first side, pause along the second, breathe out along the third, and pause along the fourth. Count to four on every side. If pausing your breath is uncomfortable, just keep breathing slowly.

1:35–2:20Science: How Plants Make Food

1. Before reading, students fill in the first two columns of the K-W-L sheet: what they know about plants and energy, and what they want to know. After reading, the last column: what they learned.
2. Hand out “How Plants Make Food”, a nonfiction passage of 183 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.

📄 How Plants Make Food (passage and key) · a K-W-L sheet

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.

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

Break: Count back (45 sec, silent). Count backward from twenty to zero in your head, slowly. Then try counting back by twos.

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