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Kindergarten sub plans: social studies

A kindergarten social studies block for a substitute: “Who Helps at School?”, a 47-word nonfiction passage about community helpers, 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 kindergarten ▸

The social studies block

Social studies: Who Helps at School?

  1. Before reading, students fill in the first two columns of the K-W-L sheet: what they know about community helpers, and what they want to know. After reading, the last column: what they learned.
  2. Hand out “Who Helps at School?”, a nonfiction passage of 47 words. Print 24: the student copy is in this packet.
  3. Read it aloud once while the class follows along with a finger. Then partners read it to each other in whisper voices.
  4. Ask the 5 questions out loud, one at a time. Students answer with a partner first, then share. Each student draws a picture of their favorite part.
  5. With five minutes left, go over two questions out loud. The answers are on the key page: keep it with you.

📄 Who Helps at School? (passage and key) · a K-W-L sheet

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.

The sheets, on their own pages

Subbing kindergarten

Kindergarten runs on routines more than lessons: the bathroom, snack, lining up, the carpet. Blocks are short, and the class knows how its day goes better than you do. Read to them rather than expecting them to read alone, and let them show you the routines.

  • Keep each part short: fifteen to twenty minutes of one thing, then change.
  • Ask the class to show you how they line up and how they ask for the bathroom, instead of teaching your own way.
  • Count heads at every door: out to recess, back in, to lunch and back.

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