Free for teachers
Sub plans
Two free sub plan templates: one for a day you know you'll miss and one for an emergency. Download a blank Word file, or tell Sparky your class and what you're teaching and get sub plans a substitute can follow step by step.
Used by 250,000+ teachers, and built to FERPA, COPPA and GDPR standards.
Free sub plan templates
Sub plan
For a day you know you'll be out: the day's schedule, where to find things, each class's lesson step by step, routines, students to know about, who can help and a place for the substitute's notes.
Emergency sub plan
For a day you couldn't plan for. One lesson that works on any day of the year with no technology, plus the schedule, routines and contacts. Fill it in now and leave it in your sub folder with the copies made.
What to put in sub plans
A substitute walks into a room they don't know, with students they've never met. These are the parts of the sub plan template, in the order a sub needs them.
The day's schedule
Each period or block with its time and room, plus lunch, duties, and your planning period so the sub knows when there's a break.
Where to find things
Where the copies, the seating charts and the attendance list are, and how to take attendance and send it to the office.
Each class's lesson, step by step
What students do from the bell to the end of class, written for someone who doesn't know the unit, with the materials and what students hand in.
Routines
How class starts, the bathroom and hall pass rules, where phones go, and how students are dismissed.
Students to know about
Allergies and medical needs, accommodations a sub has to follow, and two or three students who can help.
Who can help
The teacher next door, the front office, the nurse and an administrator, with room numbers or extensions, and where the emergency procedures are posted.
What makes an emergency sub plan different
It works on any day
The lesson reviews a skill students practice all year, so it still makes sense in September or in May, whatever unit you're in.
It needs nothing from you
No technology, no logins and no lesson you have to explain first. The copies are already made and in the sub folder.
You write it now
Fill it in at the start of the year, put it in your sub folder with the class lists, and update it when your schedule changes.
How to write sub plans with Sparky
Say what you're teaching
Type one line, such as "sub plans for tomorrow, 7th grade science, we're on cells". Sparky writes the plan straight away.
Answer Sparky's questions
Sparky asks what the request left out, such as your schedule or who can help. Answer in a line and Sparky updates the same plan.
Print it for the sub folder
The plan opens beside the chat. Print it, download it as a Word file, or save it to your Google Drive as a Google Doc.
Sub plans, written with Sparky
A teacher asked Sparky for sub plans in one line. These parts come from the document Sparky wrote in Flint.
What the teacher asked
"Sub plans for tomorrow: 7th grade science, we are on cells." Sparky wrote the whole plan straight away: a welcome note, a 50-minute schedule, the lesson, an answer key and contacts.
A lesson the sub doesn't teach
A one-page reading on plant and animal cells with eight tasks. "You do not need to teach the science content. Please read directions aloud, keep students on task, and collect their work."
An answer key for the sub
Students match six cell parts to their jobs, and the sub checks them against the key: the nucleus "contains DNA and holds instructions", the cell membrane "controls what enters and leaves the cell".
What the teacher added
One line: who can help and where the copies are. Sparky changed only those two lines. It left "The actual room storage location was not provided" next to the new location, so delete that line before you print.
Data privacy
Safe to use with student work
What happens to the files you upload and what your students write in Flint.
Not used to train AI
Student data in Flint is never used to train AI models.
Not shared
Flint does not share student data, or any other user data, with third parties.
Kept separate
Each school's data is kept apart from every other school's, and the AI providers Flint runs on can't reach it.
Signed agreements, on request
Flint signs a data processing agreement with any school that needs one, written to US state law and EU GDPR.
Frequently asked questions
What is a sub plan?
The plan you leave for a substitute teacher: the day's schedule, what each class does, where things are, the routines, and who to ask for help. A good one lets someone who has never met your students teach the day without calling you.
What should I include in my sub plans?
The schedule, each class's lesson written step by step, where the copies and attendance list are, start and end of class routines, students with allergies or accommodations, and the names and room numbers of people who can help. The sub plan template has a place for each.
What should be included in emergency sub plans?
One lesson that works on any day of the year with no technology, the copies already made, your schedule, routines and contacts. Keep it in your sub folder and update it when your schedule changes.
Is it free?
Yes. The Word templates are free to download, and writing sub plans with Sparky is free for teachers.
Can I use the templates in Google Docs?
Yes. Upload the Word file to Google Drive and open it with Google Docs. Sub plans Sparky writes have their own Open in Google Docs button, next to the Word download.
Can Sparky make the worksheet the sub hands out?
Yes. In the same chat, ask for the reading, worksheet or exit ticket the plan mentions, with an answer key the sub can check against. Each one comes as its own document you can print.
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