Notes from the workroom
Short, practical pieces on the recurring moments of the school year: homework that runs itself, sub plans that survive contact with a substitute, and what to do with the January forgetting.
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Sub Folder vs. Sub Binder: What Goes Where A sub folder holds the day: the plan, the copies, the answer keys. A sub binder holds what stays true all year. What goes in each, and how to stock the folder. - Multiplication Facts Timed Test Routine, With a Tracker Math fact fluency timed tests printable for 1st to 4th grade: how long a test should be, a tracker students graph, and a free 3rd grade multiplication sampler.
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Sub Binder Template, Editable, K-5 A sub binder template you fill in once: which pages to complete now, which to update as your class changes, plus a free starter kit and a 41-page editable set. -
5th Grade Math Emergency Sub Plans: The 6 a.m. Sick Day Emergency sub plans for 5th grade math: one 45-minute block, five review days plus a spare, answer keys, and the one text you send before school. -
Emergency Sub Plans for 1st Grade: What First Graders Can Do Without You Emergency sub plans 1st grade teachers can leave: a passage the sub reads aloud first, draw-and-write pages every child can start, and a clear going-home list. -
Emergency Sub Plans for 3rd Grade: Math, Reading, and Week Two What emergency sub plans 3rd grade teachers need: a math block and a reading block a sub can run cold, a no-printer backup, and a plan for a second week out. -
Emergency Sub Plans for 2nd Grade: What They Can Do Alone How to write emergency sub plans 2nd grade students can finish without you: review only, directions read aloud, short pages, and a script for a stuck child. -
The Thanksgiving Math Packet: Five Days, One Sheet a Day A Thanksgiving math packet only works if it is sized to the break: five days, one sheet a day, first-semester review, keys in the back. The routine. -
Halloween Week Math: Why Five Days Beats a Stack of Worksheets A Halloween math packet that runs itself for five days, one warm up and one sheet a day, beats a pile of pumpkin worksheets on the loudest week of the fall. The routine. -
Sub Binder Checklist: What to Include What to include in a sub binder, in the order a substitute will reach for it, plus a free printable sub binder checklist to build yours against. -
September Math Routines That Survive October Most September math routines die by Halloween. Here is what is still standing in my room in late October, why, and where a September math packet fits. -
Emergency Sub Plans for Kindergarten: Write Every Word to Be Read Aloud Emergency sub plans kindergarten teachers can leave with a stranger: a read-aloud script for every page, short timed blocks, and bathroom and dismissal notes. -
First Week of School Math Activities for 3rd Grade A day-by-day plan for the first week of 3rd grade math: review they can win at, routines that stick, and a quiet skills check by Thursday. -
Beginning of Year Math Assessment: What to Test by Grade Skip the 60-question diagnostic. A useful beginning of year math assessment tests last year's skills, per skill, in one sitting. Here is what goes on it. -
A Math Homework Routine Families Actually Finish A one-page weekly math homework routine that survives real family life, plus a sample weekly homework letter to parents you can copy and send home. -
Too Overwhelmed to Plan? A Two-Minute System That Decides Tomorrow for You A two-minute system for the overwhelmed teacher: name tomorrow in one phrase, accept one pre-made answer, print, stop. Free sample first, always. -
Emergency Sub Plans for 4th Grade Math, Hour by Hour What actually works when a substitute runs 4th grade math: which skills are safe to leave, which blow up, and how to shape the hour. -
What to Leave for a Substitute Teacher: The Math Block It is 6 a.m., you are sick, and a stranger teaches your math block in three hours. Here is exactly what to leave so the day holds together. -
What Good Math Sub Plans Actually Contain Five parts make math sub plans work: startable review, more pages than the hour, answer keys, a do-not list, and class notes. Here is each one's test.