Substitute Math Activities
An emergency math pack for each grade from 1st to 5th. Each one is a note for the substitute, four activities and an answer key, printed as one PDF: copy the student pages, leave it on the desk, and go.
A pack reviews the grade before, so it works on any day of the year, whatever the class has covered. A 3rd grade pack reviews 2nd grade math, a 4th grade pack reviews 3rd, and so on. Nothing needs preparing beyond copying, and nobody has to be taught anything.
Every activity in a pack is a worksheet from this site, so a teacher who knows where the class is can open any of them, change the numbers, and print it on its own instead.
Choose a grade
- 1st Grade Substitute Math ActivitiesA pack for a 1st grade class, reviewing kindergarten math.
- 2nd Grade Substitute Math ActivitiesA pack for a 2nd grade class, reviewing 1st grade math.
- 3rd Grade Substitute Math ActivitiesA pack for a 3rd grade class, reviewing 2nd grade math.
- 4th Grade Substitute Math ActivitiesA pack for a 4th grade class, reviewing 3rd grade math.
- 5th Grade Substitute Math ActivitiesA pack for a 5th grade class, reviewing 4th grade math.
Frequently asked questions
What does a substitute pack hold?
A cover page written for the substitute, a fact sheet, a page of word problems, a spiral review sheet and a color-by-number page, then an answer page for each. Four of the nine pages are copied for the students; the rest stay on the desk.
Why not use the grade's own math for the pack?
Because a substitute cannot know where the class is in the book, and a teacher who is out sick often cannot say. A class in October and the same class in May have covered different things, so a pack built from the grade's own skills would hand some students math they have not met. Last year's math is safe on any day.
Is there a pack for kindergarten or 6th grade?
Not yet. A pack reviews the grade before, and kindergarten has none to review. The five packs here cover 1st to 5th grade. For other grades, the grade pages list worksheets to choose from.