Preparing for a Supply Teacher

I realise I haven't posted on this blog for awhile. Oops! I do have an excuse though. I changed jobs! I left my temporary post as a Nursery teacher and joined the teaching staff at another Primary school as a permanent member of staff. For the duration of this school year, I am teaching Primary 4 (Grade 3). So my excuse is I have been crazy busy. And the first two weeks of April were a holiday. Now that I'm settled in with my new class and my new school, I'm back to posting. And now that I've started my new permanent job, I'm leaving for a week for a wedding! Great first impressions, right? Excitingly, I live in Scotland and I love it, but it makes it tricky when family members get married back home in Canada. As a result, I've prepared some information for the lucky teacher who gets to take my lovely class while I'm gone.





I have a simple cover and welcome letter to give a bit of information about the class.



Next, I have a class list which will have photos of the children. This can definitely come in handy for supply teachers. It's tricky learning 25 new names. Hopefully this will help speed up the process.



After that, I have a page for important information like what to do during a fire alarm, where to put money collected from pupils, and how to log on to the laptop and use the SMARTboard. Every school is different and every class is different, so it's important to me that my supply teacher feels they have the information they need to make the day run smoothly.



For consistency's sake, I have a page dedicated to behaviour systems in place in the class. I'm sure the children would mention table marbles or Mr. Potato Head (because they constantly remind me!), but it's important to have that info in black and white so the supply isn't totally confused when the kids ask, "Can we add a piece to Mr. Potato Head?"



Last, I have a few pages dedicated to the classroom routines. Spelling and Reading are pretty much carried out the same way each day. Kids are creatures of habit and the less change that occurs, the better. I've also included any special things that will pop up in the timetable, like assemblies and swimming lessons.

As someone who has gone into classrooms as a supply, this sort of thing would have been really helpful. I've gone into classrooms where the teacher's desk is a disaster and there is not hint of a plan left to go by. I've just had to fly by the seat of my pants, so to speak. As much as I love going with the flow, I still think there needs to be an element of routine and planning and sanity-saving.

In preparation for my absence, I am also planning to leave some games, worksheets, books, and task cards that can be used so the children are always learning. I still want my kids to accomplish something while I'm away!

What do you do to prepare for a supply/substitute teacher?