- What's New in K-2
- Posts
- š No-prep sub plans: Be ready for anything
š No-prep sub plans: Be ready for anything
Plus a growth mindset boost and a classroom tool youāll love
Karly Moura & Christina Sciarrotto
August 26, 2025
Because you deserve a day off without the stress!
Taking a day off shouldnāt feel harder than showing up sick. But too often, prepping for a sub means late nights, piles of instructions, or scrambling for worksheets.
Not anymore!
This weekās issue is all about no-prep and low-effort sub plans that make stepping away easierāwhether youāre out for an hour or the whole day. From print-and-go bundles to editable templates and even AI-powered planning, youāll find everything you need to keep your classroom running smoothly (and keep your peace of mind intact).
Hereās whatās inside this weekās edition:
š” Tips, Tools and Templates: No-prep sub plans that save you time
šŗ TeachFlix Junior: The Incredible Power of Yet
šļø Teacher Finds: A wireless presenter youāll love
š Giggle of the Week: We have a sub!
ā¤ļø Share your best ideas with us
š” Tips, Tools and Templates
No prep sub plans to save you time
Planning for a substitute doesnāt have to mean staying up late writing detailed instructions or scrambling for worksheets. In this section, youāll find everything you need to prep for a smooth dayāeven when you're not there. Whether you want ready-to-use plans, editable templates, or even AI support to generate activities in minutes, these tools will help you feel confident and covered, no matter when you need to be out.
š§° Ready-Made Substitute Plans
The Lower Years Substitute Relief Teacher Bundles are two ready-to-use worksheet collections tailored for Kā2 classrooms. These bundles offer a wide range of engaging, no-prep activitiesāfrom handwriting, counting, and subtraction to creative writing, SEL, and art-based tasks.
 |  |
Emergency Sub Plans for 1st Grade: Perfect for those last-minute needs, these plans guide a substitute through a full day of first grade appropriate activities.
 | Make a copy of the template and edit for your class or use it as is. |
āļø Editable Substitute Plan Templates
No two classrooms are the same, which is why editable templates are your best friend. You fill in your details and share with your guest teacher. Here are three we love:
 | This sub plan template includes sections for daily schedules, important student information, class rules, and contact details for both the teacher and other staff. The template also provides space for fire drill instructions, lunch procedures, and end-of-day tasks. |
 | This template includes a detailed daily schedule, outlining activities from school start to dismissal. The template also dedicates sections for "Helpful Information" and "Lesson Plan," providing a structured guide for substitutes. |
 | This includes essential classroom information and outlines various emergency procedures, a lesson plan template, and a feedback form for the substitute to detail the day and express interest in future assignments |
š¤ Create Sub Plans with AI
1ļøā£ Step 1: Choose a tool
Use an AI tool like ChatGPT, Gemini, Microsoft Copilot or the Brisk Chrome Extension in Google Docs to write your sub plans for you. This can be the first page of your sub plans to give your guest teacher an overview of your day.
Prompt: Customize the bold parts with your own information.
Write a substitute teaching plan for my [grade] grade class. I will attach lesson plans and activities to the plans on subsequent pages. We are studying about [topic], [topic], and [topic]. In PE we are doing a unit on [sport/skill]. If they finish early, students may [activity], [grade], or complete any unfinished work. Include a greeting and a place to insert my information.
My schedule is:
[Schedule]
š See a sample substitute plan using the prompt below:
 | Write a substitute teaching plan for my Kindergarten grade class. I will attach lesson plans and activities to the plans on subsequent pages. We are studying about the seasons, addition, and the letter r. In PE we are doing a unit on catch. If they finish early, students may read, draw quietly, or complete any unfinished work. Include a greeting and a place to insert my information. |
2ļøā£ Step 2: Create activities
Once your outline has been generated you can use follow up prompts to help create activities and resources for your sub plans.
Example: Generate a short story featuring the letter R. Your audience will be kindergartens and the story will be read by the teacher. Make the story humorous and fun.
Use follow up prompts to generate all of the activities and resources you need for your sub plans.
3ļøā£ Step 3: Copy, paste, send!
By clicking the "copy" button in ChatGPT, Gemini or Copilot you can easily cut and paste all of the generated content into a document that you can share with your sub.
This is also the time that you will want to read through and make any adjustments based on your own students, materials available and logistics for the day.
For example, for emergency sub plans, you might want to make sure that no copies are needed for materials so adjust to either read aloud, write on the board or display on the screen instead of handing things out.
Copy your plans into a Google Doc or a Word Document and send!
šŗ Teaching with Teachflix Junior
š The Incredible Power of Yet
š„ Video Link: The Incredible Power of Yet
Start the year with growth mindset magic! In this video, students learn to replace "I can't do this" with "I can't do thisā¦ yet!" Watch how Katie transforms her thinking with help from Mojo the monster.
Key points covered in the video:
Katie learns about growth mindset when she realizes she is not the smartest monster in science class.
Instead of asking for help, Katie freezes, because she fears everyone will think she's not so smart after all.
Mojo stops by to remind Katie that he's realized that if he gets stuck, instead of saying "I can't do this," Mojo says "I can't do this, yet!"
Remember to not be embarrassed to ask for help because you can miss an opportunity to learn something new.
Ready-made video resources:
After watching the video try any or all of these ready-to-go resources with your class.
āļø Discuss the Power of Yet
 | This resource provides class discussion questions such as what to do when stuck on a project and why the word "yet" is powerful. It also includes "take-home" questions for parents. |
āļø Describing The Power of YET
 | Using a guided template, students identify something they canāt do yet, describe how they will work toward achieving it, and record themselves reading their plan. |
āļø Identify the Things You CAN Do
 | Students will watch a Sesame Street video, then identify things they can already do and things they can't do yet. |
šļøTeacher Finds for the Classroom
š Wireless Presenter
How many times have you walked around your classroom and wanted to change the slide that you were on, but had to walk all the way back to your computer? No need to do that anymore. Move freely around your classroom and still control your slides. No more running back to your desk! This wireless presenter is plug-and-playāno extra software needed.
š¤ Giggle of the Week
Our students plotting evil š±
And we expect subs to get through all of our lesson plansā¦ riiiiiiiiigggghhhht
