Written for someone with no context

Substitute Lesson Plan Templates

A one-page sub plan with the timed schedule, what to do and where things are side by side, procedures, helpers, emergency contacts, where finished work goes, and a box asking the sub to leave you a note. And a three-page binder kit to build once in August: the checklist, a seating chart, and the note-back form.

The plan, and the binder behind it

2 substitute lesson plan templates

Portrait substitute plan with a seven-row timed schedule table, boxes for procedures, helpers, emergency contacts and finished work, and a note-back box

Word Google Docs

Substitute Lesson Plan — Word & Google Docs

A timed schedule with what-to-do and where-things-are side by side, then procedures, helpers, emergency contacts, where finished work goes, and a please-leave-me-a-note box.

Download Word Open in Google Docs

PDF

Substitute Lesson Plan — fillable PDF

One page, portrait. Type into the fields or print it blank and handwrite.

Download fillable PDF

Three-page substitute binder kit: a checklist page with two tall note boxes, a six-by-five seating chart grid labelled front of room, and a note-back form

Word Google Docs

Substitute Binder Kit — Word & Google Docs

Three pages: a twelve-item binder checklist with routine and student notes, a six-by-five seating chart, and a note-back form for the sub to fill in.

Download Word Open in Google Docs

PDF

Substitute Binder Kit — fillable PDF

3 pages, portrait. Type into the fields or print it blank and handwrite.

Download fillable PDF

Specifications: US Letter, 8.5 × 11 inches. Word files are editable .docx that open in Word 2007 through Microsoft 365, including Word for Mac; the Google Docs link makes a copy in your own Drive; the PDF has real form fields and prints as plain hairline boxes when blank. Free to use in as many classes as you like, no account, no watermark.

Why it is laid out this way

About the substitute plans templates

Substitutes are the most consistent voice in any discussion of lesson plans, and what they say is the same every time: assume I know nothing, put the times and the directions and the materials together, tell me where things are, tell me who to call, and don't give me seven activities when three done well is better. Emailed plans do not reach them; a printed page on the desk does. This sheet is that page.

The binder kit is the part that saves the day you are too sick to write a plan. Its checklist is the twelve things subs say are usually missing — logins, medical flags, the neighbor teacher's extension, where finished work goes — and the seating chart has a note at the foot that these pages get read by strangers, so keep the student notes factual and kind.

Questions teachers ask

Substitute Plans lesson plans, answered

What must a sub plan include?

The schedule with times; for each block what to do, step by step, and what to hand out; where the materials are; attendance and bathroom procedures; the names of a couple of reliable students; the neighbor teacher and the office extension; emergency procedures; and where finished work goes. Then a request for a note back. Everything on the one-page sheet is on that list.

Should sub work be new content?

Almost never. Subs ask for review, practice and reading — work students can do with a stranger in the room — and for more than will fit, so nobody finishes early. Save the new material for when you are back.

How do I keep the seating chart kind?

Record what helps the sub, not what you think of the child: who can be asked to help, who may need a reminder, who sits where. No lists of good and bad. The chart is read by people who do not know your students, and sometimes by the students.