Guide

A sub-plan packet in ten minutes

Every teacher knows the 6 a.m. version of this problem: you are sick, the class is not, and the substitute walking in at 8:15 deserves better than "do the next page of the workbook". A good sub packet runs without you, teaches something real, and comes with the marking already handled. That is the whole standard. You can assemble one in ten minutes if the pieces are already within reach, and the trick is to build it from this week's actual work rather than generic busywork.

Minutes 0 to 4: the word packet

Start with this week's spelling or vocabulary list, the one already in your plans. Paste it into the Packet Maker, tick the word search, scramble, missing letters and alphabetical order sheets, and download. That is fifteen-plus minutes of settled, silent work, genuinely worth doing, that a substitute can hand out with one sentence of instruction - and the answer keys are in the same PDF, so the marking question answers itself. For a full morning, add bingo with a class set of cards: it is the rare sub activity that is both a treat and a review, and it runs itself once the call list is in the sub's hand.

Minutes 4 to 7: the math set

Open the Math Packet Maker and build a mixed set at your class's grade band, 30 problems, regrouping set to whatever you have actually taught. Mixed review is the right call for a sub day: it consolidates instead of introducing, so nobody comes back to a half-taught concept, and the strongest students still meet problems that make them think. Print the worksheet pages for the class and keep the answer key paper-clipped to your note, clearly labelled, so the sub can check work on the spot or leave it for you, as your school prefers.

Minutes 7 to 10: the quiet extras and the note

Add the work that absorbs the fast finishers and the wobbly last hour: a few sheets of primary or wide-ruled paper from the mini-pack with a one-line writing prompt, and dot grid for the drawers. Then write the note that makes it all run - three short paragraphs at most. Where things are (the packet, the keys, the paper, in that order on your desk). What the shape of the day is (packet after morning routine, math after recess, quiet work to close). And the two things every sub wishes every teacher wrote down: who the reliable helpers are, and what to do if the technology fails - which, with a paper packet, is nothing at all.

Keep a standing version

The ten-minute packet gets faster the second time. Keep a folder - physical, on your desk, labelled - with a generic version: a word packet from a review list, two math sets at your band, spare paper. When the 6 a.m. call comes, you top it up with this week's list if you are able, and if you are not, the standing packet is already there, already real work, already keyed. Being ill is miserable enough without composing curriculum from the couch.