Super Speedy Sub Plans: Peace of mind in the midst of flu season! PLUS a GIVEAWAY and tip #1 for staying healthy!!

Hey, teacher friends!

Okay, has this flu season been the WORST already or what!?  Oh my word!  So many sick people!

I'm a busy Kindergarten-teaching mama to three babies at home and I feel like I just NEVER know when someone is about to throw up in the middle of the night (happened too many time to count this winter already- for real, like I'm really good at knowing when to grab a bucket or whisk them to the bathroom- ha!)... or the babysitter comes down with a fever at 4 am and I'm left without anyone to watch the babes (happened just yesterday!) or maybe I am even the sick one (been there, done that!) and I'm just too out of it to even THINK about school.  I know you know what I mean... we just never know when something like that might come up, especially this time of year!

Last minute sub plans are miserable, but I finally got smart this fall and whipped up my "Super Speedy Sub Plans" and a binder of sub info that is generic, yet detailed enough to guide a sub through any day.

Here is a pic of my binder, which I always just keep on the corner of my desk:
outside:


(Thanks to whoever created this CUTIE binder cover... found it somewhere on Pinterest, I did NOT make this myself, but I love it!)

inside:


And here is a pic of how I keep my Super Speedy Sub Plans:
outside:


inside:

I have 3 sets of plans created so far and each one is at LEAST 3-4 hours of activities to go along with a classic kid's book that you surely have already in your class library or could easily borrow from the school library or teacher next door:  :)

• The Mitten by Jan Brett (my most popular!)
• If You Give a Mouse a Cookie by Laura Numeroff
• Brown Bear, Brown Bear by Bill Martin Jr.

You can click on the titles to see links to the plans and more pictures of what is included!

When I have had to use the sub plans, no one has needed to use everything that's included-- I've found it to be MORE than enough (and I teach all-day K).  The kids take home most of the stuff they work on so I don't have pictures of that, but every packet does include a class book to create and I have those to show you-- so cute!

This is from Brown Bear, of course:

cover

do you LOVE Kindergarten art or what?!

so sweet

 

And these are from The Mitten packet... each child designs two matching mittens and glues only one onto their page. The rest of the mittens are left separate for matching up with the pages of the book. I'm going to add a tiny piece of velcro to the backs of the lost mittens... kids LOVE this!

look at all these adorable, creative mittens?

 

Because I teach Kindergarten, these are really geared toward K-1 but could probably also work a little higher or lower than that as well. You can buy them individually on my TpT store or even go wild, save money and grab all three bundled together at a discount and be set for the entire year!

There are 2 ways to handle the sub plans and I've personally done both:

1. Get things set up ahead of time (like I've done above with the blue folder, copies made, book popped inside- btw, you just need one copy of the book) or
2. If it's too late and you're not going to make it back to school before you can do #1, just email the file to a friendly teacher next door and ask him/her to pretty please print and hand to your sub.  They'd need a few minutes to make some black and white copies and scrounge up the book, but that's all simple and then they're set!  It works, I promise!

Seriously, y'all.  This concept has changed my LIFE!  No more stress or spending HOURS trying to think of what in the world my poor sub can do and how I can type to describe where she needs to look to find everything.  AND not to mention how much better it is for the sub and the kids, too.  It's just a really, really good thing!

I'm pretty new to the teacher blogging world and I love sharing ideas and trying to make life easier for other teachers.... SOOOO this calls for a giveaway!!!!  Woo-hoooo!  Here's the deal:

I would love to give away a Super Speedy Sub Plan to one, ah why not make it TWO lucky winners!!  

There are lots of ways to enter- you get one entry for each thing you do!  Just leave me a comment to say which sub plan you'd like if you win and tell me how many times you entered!  Here are the choices:

1. Follow me on TpT and leave a comment here to tell me you're a new follower AND tell me which sub plan you'd like! (you can link to my TpT store on the sidebar here)
2. Do you have a blog?  Link to this giveaway and spread the news!
3. Follow this blog by email and again, leave a comment to let me know and tell me which book you'd choose sub plans for!

The lucky winners will be chosen on Friday, January 18.  Best of luck to everyone!!  I will email the winners with the file they have requested!  Thanks for stopping by and have a GREAT weekend!!

p.s.  One more thing!  Like I said, I really just like to share ideas so since we're talking about being healthy, I'm going to tag on my first little quick STAY HEALTHY tip of the season (I'll add more throughout the month)!  This one is tried and true, ladies and gentlemen!  Ready?  Here goes:

If YOU have been exposed to the stomach bug, as in "the throw ups" as we call it at my house, RUN to the store and grab yourself a couple jugs of 100% grape juice!  Hopefully you like grape juice because if you drink a glass 3 xs/day, it is actually powerful enough to alter the pH of your tummy and keep those nasty bugs from setting up shop in your gut.  For real!  I've tried it five times and it worked every single time!!
And then there was that one time when I started trying it, decided I should be even healthier and have less sugar in my life, dropped the grape juice and told myself I'd be FINE... well, I wasn't.  Like the next day, it hit me. and I needed those super speedy sub plans STAT!  :)  So needless to say I really believe in this one.
I even consulted my nutritionist expert about it (knowing she would shame me for all that nasty sugar) but she admitted that YES, it 100% makes sense that the grape juice trick works.  She did give me another, even better, more sugar-free tip... but I'll save that for next time!  Stay tuned!

btw, if you already have the throw-ups, sorry... outta luck, too late... but keep this little idea in mind next time BEFORE you get em and you might be just fine!

Stay healthy, friends!!!