What to put in your emergency sub tub

What to Put in Your Emergency Sub Tub is such a great topic, but it’s almost ironic that I’m writing about this because I did NOT have a healthy relationship with teaching.  I rarely took a day off, so much so that I ended up with over 120 days of sick leave when I retired.  BUT… I DID have an emergency kit just in case – and I think I only had to use it once, but hey… at least I had it.

Here’s what I know… you don’t want to put undue stress on your teacher friends.  Do crazy things happen?  Yep!  Are your teacher buddies there for you?  Yep!  But I promise it gets old fast when your teacher friends aren’t ready for life surprises and you are the one holding the bag (as in… the one making all of the copies and trying to find things for his/her students to do to keep them learning).

Be prepared!  Your teacher friends will thank you!  Your sub will thank you!  Your admin will thank you!  And ultimately – your students will thank you!

What’s the difference between emergency sub tub and substitute plans?

I’m seriously glad you asked.  For some, there might not be any difference.  BUT FOR US… emergency sub tub doesn’t get touched UNLESS you weren’t able to plan for a sub.  PERIOD!

For us, the emergency sub tub is created before school even starts.  I added all kinds of different things that I know will not only keep my students immersed in the activity but are also geared towards what I know I am teaching for that month.  These are things that don’t typically change over time – meaning I can keep my sub tub intact for several years if I don’t use it.  Does that make sense?  In other words… I create it now (July/August for the year), and if the only month I needed an emergency sub was in December – then December is the only folder I will need to update and print all the things for the next school year.

Whereas sub plans are exactly that – plans that we created for that specific day/week.  These plans are minute-by-minute activities for the substitute that resemble exactly what we would have done if we were there.  (almost).  These are very detailed because we know what we taught today, so we can tell him/her what to teach tomorrow.  With emergency plans, they are not as specific with content, because they are done so far ahead of time.

here’s what you need:

STORAGE:

The first thing you will want to do is buy a sturdy container that holds hanging folders.  I bought this one at Walmart, but you can buy it on Amazon as well.  Just make sure it holds hanging folders letter/legal.  These are legal-sized folders. Oh… and make sure it has a lid!

Then you want to label that sucker so that ANYONE LOOKING FOR IT, will see it.  This is not something that should be hidden.  Put it on your bookshelf, tell your neighbor where it is, tell your students where it is… you get the point. 😉

It’s never fun hearing from your admin that things weren’t prepared or easily found.

Next, you will want to label the hanging folders so that anyone pulling from it will know what to use.  We label by month.

You will also want to put your sub binder in the front of this bin so that all your information is in one place.  The sub binder is the only thing that I pull out of this container when I’m preparing for a sub since this has my class list, procedures, attendance, seating arrangements, and much more.

Another tip:

Make all of the copies ahead of time (and make at least 5 extra).  Everyone will thank you for this as well.  Your teacher friends don’t have time to make copies for you, and the sub surely doesn’t.  For us… our sub didn’t get our number to make copies, so if we didn’t have them for her, she was out of luck.  Make copies now, you will be glad you did!

plan for five days of sub activities per month

I know… sounds crazy… but crazier things have happened.  If you have five days’ worth of work, there will never be a time when your students are idle.  We ALL know what happens when there isn’t anything to do.  Don’t set your students up for failure – keep them learning!

Now let’s look inside our emergency sub tub…

PS – you can find all of these activities in our Elementary Hub Club!

Things that students don’t typically get to do

I always added a lot of things that I typically wouldn’t do – not because I don’t want to, but just because the time was sooooo limited.  Cut and glue activities happen to be one of them.  I know students need to do this, but if we are being honest, it just was not my go-to.  BUT… students love them!  So… add them to that emergency tub!  These are great because it typically takes them a while to get these done (but they are still learning – so it’s not just busy work), but it will fill up some time.

Make sure you have an answer key for this one – subs will NOT know the pictures.  We see these pics all of the time, and we still sometimes question them – so make sure you have the answers for them.

SETUP:  

Print and staple the 5-book pages together so that you have enough for all of your students (plus 5).  I usually had several sets of these in different months – only because I had my picture books by month.

This is a great activity, takes up a lot of time, and the students LOVE it!

Tell the sub that at the end of the day, students can read their books to the class.  This is another time filler, but great activity!

Word Search:

Oh, how first graders love word searches!  So why not have a few in your sub tub?  We used short vowel word searches, animal word searches, seasonal, holiday, and everything in between.

The twist on these… there’s also a hidden message within the puzzle!  Students love this part. 🙂

Please have the answer keys for the sub as well.

STANDARDS-BASED WORKSHEETS:

So I love to be organized!  And I love to get everything covered!  One of my biggest frustrations was that we were required to teach the standards, but so many times we didn’t know what activities/worksheets/tasks were actually hitting that particular standard.

So several years ago,  I decided that my goal was to create worksheets, center games, and boom cards to cover every standard.  And ONLY ONE STANDARD at a time.  In creating this, it has been easy to tell what standard has been mastered, and what standard has not been mastered.

I’ve got K and 1st completely done, but 2nd is still a work in progress.

Anyway – add these to your wishlist – you won’t be disappointed.  And the best part is that there are sooooo many worksheets, you can easily pull 5 or 6 out of the set, and add them to your emergency sub tub.

So look at your calendar and figure out when you are teaching which standards, and then add several of these worksheets to each month.  (Don’t forget to make the copies.)

YEP… all of these are inside our Elementary Hub Club!

WHOLE CLASS GAME

Help your sub out by including a fun game that all subs know how to orchestrate and all students know how to play.  Yep… you guessed it – BINGO!  Now, this could technically be a game that you just have in your stash, but I liked to have one game that they’ve never played before, just to keep it a little more engaging for them.

Think of one that covers something that they can do in August, but it will still be relevant in May… For me, it would be our short vowel word bingo game.   They can match the pictures if it’s August, and by October, they can read the words.

Have everything set up and labeled for the sub.  I put the entire game in a large zip lock bag with instructions and an extra set of discs for the substitute to pass out to the students.  Again – everything in one place so the sub doesn’t have to search for ANYTHING – and you can leave this intact year after year. 

I know for me, if I would write go to the back of the room to get blah blah, and grab this here… it would not be consistent year after year because locations change ALL THE TIME!  I never kept my classroom organized the same – in fact, sometimes that changed several times a year.  So better safe – just have everything in the zip lock for students to play this game.

added tip on the bingo game:

If you print the bingo games 4 to a page, you can save yourself ink and space.  AND then they will fit into those cute little picture containers that we all are loving right now!  Such a great way to “house” all of your centers… and they are pretty cheap and very sturdy.  I buy mine through Amazon and at Michaels.  Michaels has deals on them ALL.THE.TIME!  🙂

Also… students can play this game more than one day if you are out multiple days… There are enough cards that students will get a different one each time.  I promise, they don’t get bored with this one.

These never get old…

Seriously… directed drawings are another go-to activity that students love and never seem to get old.  Students feel so accomplished when they can draw something that looks so complicated.  Love these!!

You can easily stick with a theme for these (as in a-z drawings, animals drawings, or you can do random ones) – but again… I would add about 3 per month so that the sub has at least three days of these if you are out for the week.

The directions are on the pages, but you still could add a directions sheet if you feel the need.

Another tip… if you have ones for different days – make sure to put a directions sheet on each set in case you have multiple subs for the week.  The first sub will not know to put the directions onto the next set.  This applies to ALL directions sheets.

Editable SUB BINDER:

Again… this is the only thing that you will pull out on a scheduled sub day.  This is a working agenda – meaning things are fluid in this binder.  Everything is editable (except border and images) – but you can add what you need and change things as you see fit.  This just gives you an idea of what should be included in the binder to help your sub have a great day! 

Other things to add:

My list isn’t complete… just wanted to show you how I always set mine up.  What other things can you think of that would work well for your emergency sub tub?

Want to read about other tips for the start of the school year?  Read my Classroom Management Strategies blog post here!  It has TONS of different ideas on what to do the first few weeks of school to have a successful school year!

Until next time!

Shanon Juneau

We Are Better Together

Elementary Hub Club

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