Five Minute Fillers for Substitute Teachers
Easy Activities that a Substitute Can do with a Class
Dec 16, 2008
As a substitute teacher, you may find yourself with extra time before taking your class to lunch, recess or specials. Having several ideas for filling these few minutes can help you keep the class calm, quiet and focused. Although having them sit at their desks reading a book is always a good option, here are a few other ideas that the students will enjoy.
Joke Time
While standing in line you can ask students to tell a joke or riddle. Allowing them to come up with the joke or riddle prevents you from having to memorize the jokes yourself, and ensures that the riddles are not too complicated or too easy for the grade level you are teaching. Trying to answer the jokes yourself will provide the students a great thrill as well.
Minute Mysteries
Think of some short stories that require students to solve a mystery. Students should be allowed to ask yes or no questions to help hone their critical thinking skills to solve the riddles. Think up riddles from when you were young, like “the music stopped and she died”. The answer to this one is that the woman was a blind circus performer, and the music was supposed to tell her that she was at the end of the tight rope. When the music stopped before she was at the end of the rope, she fell off.
Mystery Box
Place an object inside a box and ask the students how they could figure out what the object is without looking at it. Depending on the amount of time you have, you can write the ideas on the board, and then allow the students to try each idea, or simply allow them to try the ideas as they think of them. Some things you can allow students to try include shaking the box, smelling the object, feeling how heavy the object is, and feeling a part of the object without looking.
The students can also ask you questions about the object, similar to 20 questions. To encourage critical thinking skills, have the students only ask yes or no questions. If you would like, put something simple like a pencil in the box, and whoever guesses the object correctly can receive the pencil as the prize.
These ideas, although maybe not the ones the classroom teacher would choose for educational value, are fun, quick, and will keep the students engaged during those extra minutes that you find yourself with. If you are looking for more educational ideas, you can try having them write a journal entry, practice math facts, or review what they learned during the last lesson. If instead you would like to have a little bit of fun with the students, consider these fun and engaging ideas.
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