5th grade sub plans: inventors and engineers day
A whole 5th grade day a substitute can run with nothing left on the desk, all about the first telephone call and how bridges stay up. The reading block reads “How Bridges Stay Up” (205 words, 7 questions), and the social studies block reads “Hello, Mr. Watson” with a K-W-L sheet, both with answer keys. Writing, math, a read-aloud and brain breaks fill the rest, from 8:10 to 2:55, and the last page is the note to the teacher.
Checked October 31, 2026. Made from Peabody Teach's own passages, worksheets and brain break cards. Print it, or save it as a PDF from the generator.
- Write your name and the date on the board.
- Find the attendance and send it the way the office asked. Not sure how? Ask the office before the bell.
- Find the emergency folder or the drill map by the door, and say hello to the teacher next door.
- Ask the class which signal their teacher uses for quiet, and use theirs. If nobody knows, use the one below.
- 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.
5th grade: the day
| 8:10 | Morning work |
| 8:30 | Reading: How Bridges Stay Up 📄 |
| 9:40 | Recess |
| 9:55 | Writing |
| 10:45 | Math: simplifying fractions 📄 |
| 11:50 | Lunch |
| 12:30 | Specials |
| 1:15 | Read-aloud |
| 1:35 | Social studies: Hello, Mr. Watson 📄 |
| 2:20 | Extra time 📄 |
| 2:40 | Clean-up and the note |
| 2:55 | Dismissal |
Block by block
Morning work
- Take attendance and the lunch count the way the office asked.
- Put the morning board on the projector (/board/morning) and type today's schedule into it.
- While you take attendance, students answer this on paper or in their journals: “Write about a sport or hobby. Explain the rules or the steps so that a beginner could start.”
- Read the plan for the day out loud, so the class knows what's coming.
On the projector: Morning board for the projector
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.
Reading: How Bridges Stay Up
- Hand out “How Bridges Stay Up”, a nonfiction passage of 205 words. Print 24: the student copy is in this packet.
- Students read it on their own. Anyone who finishes reads it a second time and underlines the sentence they think matters most.
- Students answer the 7 questions under the passage, in full sentences.
- With five minutes left, go over two questions out loud. The answers are on the key page: keep it with you.
📄 How Bridges Stay Up (passage and key)
Writing
- Write this on the board: “Write a story from the point of view of a library book that has been checked out many times.”
- Give partners two minutes to tell each other their idea out loud before anyone writes.
- Students write for 35 minutes. Ask for two paragraphs: a first sentence that says the idea, details, and an ending.
- Volunteers read theirs aloud at the end. Collect the papers for the teacher.
On the projector: Writing prompts by grade
Break: Slow-motion pour (45 sec, silent). Pretend to pour a glass of water from a heavy jug, as slowly as you possibly can. Lift it, tip it, pour, set it down. Take your time with each part.
Math: simplifying fractions
- Warm-up: write these on the board and solve them together, asking a student to explain each step: 5/10; 2/8; 6/8.
- Hand out the simplifying fractions sheet (16 problems). Print 24; the key is on its own page.
- Students work on their own for twenty minutes, then check with a partner.
- Early finishers write three problems of their own and swap with a neighbor.
📄 Simplifying fractions (sheet and key)
Read-aloud
- 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.
- Before: ask what they think the book will be about, from the cover or the title.
- 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: Parade march (45 sec). March in place with your knees up and your arms swinging, as if you are in a parade. Keep your feet on your own square of floor.
Social studies: Hello, Mr. Watson
- 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.
- Hand out “Hello, Mr. Watson”, a nonfiction passage of 224 words. Print 24: the student copy is in this packet.
- Students read it on their own. Anyone who finishes reads it a second time and underlines the sentence they think matters most.
- Students answer the 5 questions under the passage, in full sentences.
- With five minutes left, go over two questions out loud. The answers are on the key page: keep it with you.
📄 Hello, Mr. Watson (passage and key) · a K-W-L sheet
Break: Row the boat (45 sec, silent). Pretend to row a boat with big, slow pulls: reach forward, pull back. Row faster for a while, then slow down again.
Extra time
- Hand out the maze. Students who finish draw a maze of their own on the back and swap with a neighbor.
- Anyone who would rather read may read their own book.
📄 a maze
If your school's filter allows peabody.kids: Rocket Number Blast: 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.
Clean-up and the note
- Tidy the room on a five-minute timer (/timer/5-minutes on the projector).
- Ask each student for one thing they learned today. Passing is fine.
- Fill in the note to the teacher (the last page) and leave it on the teacher's desk with the papers you collected.
- 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
At the end of the day
Leave the note for the teacher: what you did, who helped, anything that happened, and any messages. It is the last printed page.
The two passages
- Hello, Mr. Watson: 224 words, 5 questions, with the answer key
- How Bridges Stay Up: 205 words, 7 questions, with the answer key
Subbing 5th grade
Fifth graders are usually the oldest in the building and respond to being treated that way: tell them the plan, give a choice where you can, and hold them to the schedule. They can read a passage alone and write two paragraphs.
More 5th grade days
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