Substitute Ideas, Writing Prompts, and FREEBIES!

I wanted to share some ideas that I like to have on hand to use when I need a substitute teacher. Plus, I just put together a great freebie with favorite partner and group games for all ages.

This post also has another use- it's great if you are going to BE a substitute teacher!  My daughter is getting her Master's Degree in Health Education and coaching a local high school swim team while she takes classes.  She is substituting in that district this year. Right now she is doing a long term 4th grade job. I got this from her the other day, so I think it's going pretty well...

Before she started subbing,  I got together lots of my favorite books- most of which I had doubles of, for some reason (hmmm- maybe cause I buy too many books... oops). Although, a lot of the doubles I actually got from Scholastic with points, so it's not that bad... really... (in case my husband reads this...). Now I am so glad I had those books.  Here is some of what I got together for my daughter-

Holiday book ideas with multi-age level activities

I always keep a copy of the activity I like to use with a book right inside the front cover.

That way, it's always right there without me having to search high and low.  I just made a bunch of copies of the activities to go with books, so Emily can have some ready to use and in a bag, just in case she has some extra time in a classroom, or if she goes into a class without great plans.

It's always nice to be able to pull a book with an activity to go along with it, and know you've got at least a 45 minute activity to do.  I use writing prompts that go with my books ALL the time. I see some of my kids' very best writing with the one page writing prompts, and they love them.  So, I decided to put them all together in one place, finally!

I made two sets.  The first set, Author Studies,  has 160 different writing prompts for 100 books. The great thing about these prompts is that they work equally well for K-2, because the students write to the prompts at their level.  If they can write only one sentence to go with a picture, that's fine.  If they can write more details, even better!

The books in this packet are all by 8 authors:  Eric Carle, Donald Crews, Kevin Henkes, Laura Numeroff, Amy Krouse Rosenthal, David Shannon, Mo Willems, and Karma Wilson.  Once we start reading books by one author, my kids love to read more and more, so we do lots of mini- author studies.  That is how I use this set. Although, some days, I will just copy off a  prompt for a favorite Kevin Henkes book and have a great lesson with that.  Here is a more up close look at the individual author sections.  

My other packet, Writing About Books,  has 170 prompts for 102 completely different books.  These are some all time favorites in all areas.  

Here is a closer look at the books in this packet:

If I ever need an activity, or if another teacher or substitute in for another teacher needs some help, these are great to share.


I made Emily files K-5.  I organized activities that I had by grade.  I had lots of K-2 ideas.  The 3-5 grades were tricky, because I don't know the expectations for those grades.

I went to TPT and found some morning work freebies for different grades.  I included these samples in her folder, so that if she has a few minutes, she can do some questions on a white board or play a game, knowing about where each grade is academically by looking at the ideas on the morning work papers.

Here are some great FREE morning work ideas.  The morning work worksheets are great for an activity, or just to give you an idea what a grade's skills are, if you are subbing.


Teacher Addict shared a Daily Math Morning Work Freebie for each grade that is perfect for getting an overview of the grade skill set.
Here is the second grade freebie!
 

Here is her third grade morning work freebie.

She also shared a fourth grade freebie...

And a fifth grade freebie!


Sometimes, the morning work sheets are handy to have to  leave as a center activity or whole group lesson.

This is a free sample from Sherry Clement's Morning Work Packet.


Crystal McGinnis has a FREE September Morning Work Packet for Kindergarten.



This First Grade Morning Work Freebie is from The Imagination Nook.



I also left Emily a little note of what I think is important for a substitute to do in my classroom- just the three things I thought were really important and that make me love a substitute.

1.  Cover what the teacher leaves in the plans.
2.  Leave the room CLEAN- the cleaner and more organized the better.
3.  Leave a quick note that says the kids were great and the day was great.

Period.  I don't really want to read a LONG note about every single thing each kid did wrong.  I don't want to have to address that on my day back, either, once it's all over.  I mean if they were awful, I would have a serious class talk, and want to know to teach them for the next time I was out- but in general, I don't want to know every little mistake that was made.  Just tell me it was a great day. Let me live in denial and start fresh when I get back.

I have two tubs with books and activities in it, that I keep to use only when I need a substitute.  I also have Word Wall Roll games and stickers ready to go.  I have some Bingo games with Smarties to use for markers. Mad Libs books are awesome for older students.

I also put together some FAVORITE games for all ages.

You can print this out, laminate it, (or print it on card stock) and keep it on a book ring for extra time you may have or for those extra moments a substitute may have.   I hope you like it!  It is always handy to have some fun activities on hand, and the kids love these games.

Happy Thanksgiving! Thank you for stopping by!

Favorite Books for Writing Activities or Journals

As I was organizing my classroom for the end of the year, I thought I would share some of my favorite books that I use for an afternoon writing activity, book journal writing, or even sub plans. These are just good everyday books, not holiday themes. What I do is have simple papers printed out for a writing activity specifically for each of these books, and stored right in the front cover of the book.  That way, it is very easy to grab a "go to" book I love and have the writing activity right there, ready to go! Then, I can use that or choose to have the children answer a question about the book in their journal.   Below are some of my favorites with the writing prompt I use.

My children love these That's Good, That's Bad books.  There is That's Good, That's Bad on Santa's Journey, in Washington DC, and in the Grand Canyon.  I haven't seen the last two, but the Santa's Journey is fun, too.  These are great turn and talk discussion starters and for writing ideas! Sometimes I save all the stories, laminate them, and put them together for a class book.

 (I bet your figured out that this would be on the back! :)

 Other similar books I like to use are:

 

This one is great for the vocabulary words "fortunately" and "unfortunately."



 



Always in Trouble is a fun book that the children can easily relate to... (hmmm...)
The stories they shared were so amusing to me that I turned this into a book that I copied and sent home to share with parents. 

 Here are some that amused me...

 (This little guy didn't really write all year long, but he sure did want to tell me all about setting his house on fire!  And that was a great illustration for him, too!- Well, I guess "great" is kind of subjective there since it is a picture of his burning house...So...  Actually, let's say he finally drew an illustration with his story.  :) 

 

Here are some more!

No matter how silly the requests, there is one day a year when kids always receive positive answers: Can I have pizza for breakfast? Yes! Can we have a food fight? Yes! Can I stay up really late? Yes! This day is simply called Yes Day and it's the best day of the year.



 

 

 

Someday

I am going to be

a great artist.

Today

I am off to help my dad

paint the shed.

It’s hard to be content with the present moment when you are little. The future has infinitely more possibilities!

How deep is the bond between a child and a beloved pet? And how far will a pet go to protect his dear friend? To the ends of the earth . . . always

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For this book, sometimes I have the children write and illustrate a story about something wonderful that has happened to them, and other times I have had them write about something they think is wonderful about themselves or their family.

the world is filled with so many wonderful things -- birds that fly through the sky and peaches that grow on trees, spiders spinning webs and cats napping in windows, fresh-baked bread and new-fallen snow. and then there's the most wonderful thing of all -- you!

I have the children write and illustrate a time when they were brave. 

 

 

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This book is about a tiny fish who steals a hat from a big fish.  The ending of the book shows the big fish with his hat back on... It does not say how that happened!  I have the children write and tell me just how they think the big fish got his hat back.  Did he ask nicely for his hat back? Did he eat the tiny fish?  There are LOTS of ideas... :) 

 

 When a tiny fish shoots into view wearing a round blue topper (which happens to fit him perfectly), trouble could be following close behind. So it’s a good thing that enormous fish won’t wake up. And even if he does, it’s not like he’ll ever know what happened. . .

 

 

 

Children LOVE the book If....  It sets them free to imagine and create their own "if" collections. 

 

In her first book, artist Sarah Perry has created twenty magical watercolors that are an open invitation to the imaginations of children. Beautifully produced in full color, these fantastic images conjure up a world of limitless possibilities where anything can happen: leaves turn into green fish...cats fly about on wings...and butterflies become a little girl's coat of many colors.

 

The If book reminded me of our activity for Horton Hatches an Egg.

I have had the children write "Horton was faithful." We talk about what "faithful" means and how what Horton did that made him a faithful friend. 

 

Another activity I like to do is having the children choose and draw two different animals, then combine them into one "new" animal.  Here is a sample one I did to show the children. ( Susanna, at Whimsy Workshop, please don't judge me for the poor, poor artwork quality... ha ha! )

 

 

 

This is an "oldie" but I love it! :) The children love the illustrations and the thought of trying to live in a cave, on an island, or in a tree.  After we read this, I have them write about their perfect place to live with LOTS of details. 

 

These are great for compare/contrast lessons as well as sequencing.

 (any Little Red Hen story of the millions out there! :)
and

 

I also use these for compare/contrast charts and Venn Diagrams:

and

 (of course I have the ORIGINAL 1969 version!  And love it!  :) 

 

The last one I will leave you with is one of my favorites



"The important thing about rain is that it is wet. It falls out of the sky, and it sounds like rain, and makes things shiny,  and it does not taste like anything, and is the color of air.  But the important thing about rain is that it is wet." 

 

It is so wonderful for character education and self-studies.  For older children (2nd grade) I  had the class write a page similar to the actual story, with several facts about themselves, followed by "But the important thing about me is that I am ______."

For my Kindergarteners, I have them just write and illustrate two sentences.  "My name is ______.  The important thing about me is that I am _____________."   Sometimes I hang these up in the classroom and sometimes I make laminate them and make a ... you guessed it.... class book!

 

Thank you for visiting! 

Carolyn :)