Life skills · Kindergarten–Grade 5
Free emergency sub plans templates
Free printable emergency sub plans for kindergarten to fifth grade: a welcome cover with where things are and emergency procedures, a daily schedule template, a class information sheet, two generic activity pages any substitute can run with no preparation (reading response for any book, a pick-3 math review menu) and an end-of-day sub report for the teacher.
Welcome, substitute: cover page
Fill-in cover for an emergency sub folder: teacher and room, where things are, adults who can help, student helpers, a red emergency procedures box and notes. Free printable PDF.
Sub daily schedule template
Eleven time blocks with subject, what to do (pages, materials, where they are) and a done box, plus specials, lunch, recess and dismissal lines. Free printable PDF.
Whole set
All 6 in one PDF
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Class information sheet for a substitute
Tables for students who leave the room, allergies and medical needs, behavior notes (what helps), helpful students and classroom routines. Free printable PDF.
Reading response for any book
A generic reading response page a sub can run with any book: title and author, characters, setting, what happened, favorite part, a drawing box, a star rating and a new word. Free printable PDF.
Math review menu: pick 3 of 9
A 3 by 3 menu of short math tasks for grades 2 to 5 (facts to 20, skip counting, shapes, a word problem, time, place value, measuring, calendar, fractions); students choose three. No answer key needed. Free printable PDF.
Sub report for the teacher
End-of-day report for the substitute to leave: how the day went, what was finished by subject (five blocks), helpful students, students who had a hard day, and notes. Free printable PDF.
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Six pages that make up a complete emergency sub folder: the information a substitute needs to run your room, two activities that work with any class and no preparation, and a report so you know what happened. Fill in the first three pages once in September, photocopy the activity pages, and the folder sits in a drawer until the morning you wake up sick. Every page is a plain fill-in form with bold lines that photocopy well; there are no answer keys because nothing here has a right answer.
What's in this set
- Welcome, substitute: cover page. Teacher, class, room and office extension; where things are (plans, attendance, seating chart, extra copies, supplies, first-aid kit, rules and rewards, manuals); adults who can help (teacher next door, grade partner, office, nurse); two student helpers; a red emergency procedures box (fire drill route and meeting point, lockdown, medical emergency, what to take); and a line for anything else.
- Sub daily schedule template. Eleven time blocks with subject, what to do (pages, materials and where they are) and a done box, plus lines for specials, lunch, recess, dismissal time and how students go home.
- Class information sheet. Tables for students who leave the room (where, leaves at, returns at), allergies and medical needs (what to do), behavior notes written as what helps, helpful students, and classroom routines.
- Reading response for any book. Title and author, characters, setting, what happened (beginning, middle, end), favorite part and why, a box to draw a scene, a five-star rating, a recommend yes/no/maybe and a new word. Works with a read-aloud, a library book or the reading series.
- Math review menu: pick 3 of 9. A 3 by 3 menu for grades 2 to 5: facts that equal 20, skip counting by 5s and 25s, shapes with 4 and 6 sides, a word problem about pencils, the time now and in 1 hour 30 minutes, 3,472 in words and place value, measuring against a pencil, days left in the month and year, and a pizza cut into eighths. Children choose any three (or three in a row).
- Sub report for the teacher. How the day went, what was finished by block with where you stopped, students who were especially helpful, students who had a hard day, notes for the teacher and the best way to reach the substitute.
What the pages cover
- Everything a substitute asks in the first ten minutes: where, who, what time, what if
- Safety information in one place a stranger can find in an emergency
- Two whole-class activities that need only pencils and a book
- Independent math practice across number, geometry, measurement and time for grades 2 to 5
- A written record of the day so the teacher can pick up where the class left off
Free printable makers
Make your own emergency sub plans templates sheets
Type your own words or numbers and print in about 30 seconds. No account, no AI, answer key where it applies.
Reward chart and chore chart makerReward or sticker chart with a goal, Mon-Sun chore chart with pictures, behavior chart. Free to print.
Visual schedule makerPicture schedules, First/Then and token boards. Free to print.
Weekly planner and calendar makerWeekly planner, monthly calendar, daily schedule or lesson-plan grid on one sheet. Free to print.
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Teaching tips and common mistakes
How to use these templates
Print at 100% on A4 or US Letter. Fill in the cover, schedule and class information once, by hand or on a tablet, and update them when the timetable or class list changes. Photocopy a class set of each activity page and clip the whole folder together with a seating chart and a class list. Tell the office and the teacher next door where it lives.
- Welcome, substitute. Write the names of the two adults who can actually answer questions, not just their roles. The emergency box is the page a sub will look for first in a drill; keep it current.
- Daily schedule. Write what to do in enough detail to run the block without you: "Reading: read chapter 4 of the class novel aloud (on the shelf by the door), then the reading response page." The done boxes let the sub tick as they go and feed straight into the report.
- Class information. Behavior notes are written as what helps, not what is wrong: "a quiet warning and a job works" tells a sub what to do; "disruptive" does not. This page has names and medical details on it, so keep it inside the folder.
- Reading response. Works for every grade if the sub reads the book aloud; K-1 children draw in the long boxes and dictate a sentence. Pairs well with any picture book left in the folder.
- Math review menu. Children do their work on the back of the page or on lined paper and write the task number next to each answer, so a sub can check the three chosen tasks without a key. Grades 2 and 3 pick the top row; grades 4 and 5 can be asked to do a line through the middle.
- Sub report. Ask in the cover note for it to be left on your desk with the finished work. The "where we stopped" column is the one that saves you time the next morning.
Building the folder
- Add a read-aloud. One picture book or a chapter book with a bookmark, so the reading response page is ready to go.
- Add a class list and seating chart. Attendance and names are the first two things a substitute needs and the first two things that go wrong without them.
- Add a filler. A word search or coloring page from the links below covers the last ten minutes before dismissal.
Common gaps in sub folders
- No dismissal information. Who rides the bus, who is collected, who walks: the schedule page has a line for it, and it is the question subs most often cannot answer.
- Out-of-date pull-out times. Reading groups, speech and band change in the spring. Pencil them in so they are easy to update.
- No way to reach the sub afterwards. The report page asks for it, so a question about a note from a parent can be answered the same evening.
Frequently asked questions
What grades do these emergency sub plans work for?
Kindergarten to fifth grade. The cover, schedule, class information and report pages are the same for any elementary class. The reading response works with any book read aloud; the math review menu is written for grades 2 to 5, so a K-1 teacher would swap it for a counting or tracing page from the links below.
Are the pages editable?
They are PDFs designed to be filled in by hand or with a PDF annotation app on a tablet. The lines and boxes are sized for handwriting, and the information pages take about ten minutes to complete the first time.
Do the activity pages need answer keys?
No. The reading response is open-ended, and the math menu asks children to write the task number next to each answer so a substitute can check the three tasks a child chose without a key.
Can I use these pages for a planned absence as well?
Yes. The schedule and report pages work for any day away; for a planned absence, add the specific lessons to the schedule and leave the emergency activity pages as back-up for early finishers.
Is this set free to use in school?
Yes, for non-commercial educational use: your own folder, a grade-level team or a school-wide template are all fine.
More for the sub folder
The emergency sub plan generator writes a full day of plans for your grade in a minute, and the seating chart maker and parent letter generator cover the other two pages a folder needs. For fillers, the word search printables, reading log printables and all about me worksheets work for any class, and the first grade reading comprehension worksheets are a ready-made reading block for younger students.
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