Saturday, August 13, 2011

Let's Talk...SUB PLANS

I know, school hasn't even started yet, so why am I talking about sub plans?? Hey, you never know who's gonna end up sick the first day of school...and yes, it's happened to me before!  SO, here we go...

Sometimes it's just easier to go to school than write out sub plans, right?  That is especially hard in the music room.  First, it's hard to find a sub who will take a music job sometimes--they think if they are not musicians, they can't do it, or they are not comfortable singing, etc.  When you do find a sub, you never know what their musical skills will be.  After many years of teaching, I came up with a Sub Notebook that actually works great for me. 

First, there are the usual schedules, who to ask for help, copy codes, etc.  Then comes the special section.  I have a master list called an "Emergency Sub Plan".  For this page, I list games/activities that each grade level already knows how to play.  They are favorites that the kids ask for again and again, so positive participation is almost a guarantee!  I try to update the list at least once every six weeks, to keep current faves on the lists.



The next section contains detailed instructions for each game and activity.  I use a lot of the same favorites every year, so once I write out the directions once, it is done forever!  The songs/games are filed in alphabetical order for easy reference.  It's like an encyclopedia of music favorites, all there for the sub to find and read before class starts. 


I have gotten lots of positive feedback from subs about this plan.  It works great for me, and if I'm too sick to think about a sub plan, it's all good!  I hope this helps you prepare for those unexpected absences during the year, too.  If you would like a copy of my template, check out my TpT store.

What's your favorite sub plan?

2 comments:

Amy said...

Thanks so much for sharing and especially for emailing me your sub plans.. They will help so much!

My Asian Adventure said...

Hi thank you so much for posting this. I was wondering if you could email me the entire sub folder you were referring to. My email is rsneed@iswuxi.com. If you wouldn't mind I would really appreciate it! Thanks again for the great blog!