The Sub Bag

One of your biggest tools as a substitute (besides your knowledge) is your Sub Bag. It is literally "Mary Poppins Carpet Bag." Remember how Mary Poppins had all those AMAZING things in her bag? Well, you should too!

The inside of my Sub Bag.

I decided this year, that I wanted to change my bags. I was tired of the messenger bag. And instead decided to use the backpack I had bought several years ago when I was pregnant with my son to take back and forth to school.

 Now here is what is in my Sub Bag:

1. Office Supplies! I LOVE Post-It Notes. They are awesome for leaving notes for the teacher on papers and on the lesson plan itself. Maybe there was something the students didn't understand on a worksheet. Post-It! Something you didn't get finished? Post-It! I have different sizes and colors. I also have pens, scissors, an Expo Marker, a highlighter, a stapler, a small ruler and paper clips.

2. Mini First Aid Kit! This was given to me by the county in which I substitute in. It's a little first aid kit with band aids and gauze. Plus there is an emergency care guide so I know what to do until help arrives! This is AWESOME!

3. Name Tags and Filler Paper! I don't use name tags in any grade except Kindergarten. And the only reason I use them there is because usually in a Kinder class, the kids are moving around SO MUCH to different centers and activities that I can't seem to keep them straight. I also only do this the FIRST time I substitute in a Kinder class. The filler paper I have is wide ruled. I hate wide ruled paper, but most classrooms use it, so I always have some in my bag, just in case.

4. Clipboard! A clipboard has literally been the best thing I have had. The first thing I do is clip the day's lesson plans on it. I also usually make a seating chart (if one wasn't left for me) and attach that too. This way I have both things to refer back to. On my clipboard currently is a game I found here! (Rick Morris's ones have cool backgrounds. These are just printed on plain paper so I can put them up on the document camera.)

5. Extra Stuff to Do! This book literally has saved my day sometimes. I don't know if it's still available in print, but I found it at a yard sale years ago. It's got all different kinds of games and HOW TO PLAY THEM! This is important. Want to know how to REALLY play tether ball? This book will tell you!

I also have file folders of extra stuff to do. I'm lucky. I have access to a copy machine. (Husband bought it for me when I was preparing for a long term sub.) So I usually have extra things to do already printed. This folder has stuff I have stolen borrowed from other teachers. If you're wondering about the Post-It Notes (I told you I loved them!) inside, well, that was a seating chart of one of the class I frequented a couple years ago. If you are going to be subbing the same class a lot (say, a teacher REALLY likes you), I highly recommend this. I put every student's name on a different Post-It and put them where they were sitting. this way, when I went back, I could just move the Post-It to where their new seat location was. Another thing I keep in my file folders is my Note Sheet. I created one specifically to leave for teachers. The biggest thing on my Note Sheet is that it has my phone number and email address. I feel this is important because it allows the teachers direct access to you if they have a question. (And yes, I have had a few teachers call me DIRECTLY to see if I could substitute in their classrooms.)

6. Rewards/Discipline System! Let's face it, not every classroom you walk into is going to have an easily displayed or understandable discipline systems. Some classrooms I have been in don't have one at all! (Hail to those teachers!) But as for me, well, I like to use tickets, especially in grades 3-6. This seems to work well on several levels. I start out by telling the students that they will get tickets throughout the day for being on task, answering questions, helping, and whatever other behaviors I want to spotlight. I instruct the students to put their name on the back (I don't need addresses and phone numbers as some of the tickets state) and to leave them on the corner of their desk. Several times during the day, I pick up all the tickets I see and put them in my bag. (I like the Starbucks handled bag because I can fold it up and fit it in my bag.) At the end of the day, I draw 5-6 names for a reward. (Usually pencils, but I'm a little low right now, so I threw in some stickers as well.) With this system, I have never had issues with a class pushing their limits. Handing out tickets means I have to keep moving around the room a majority of the time, so I am in close proximity to the students most of the day and thus stopping a lot of behaviors before they start. Not to mention, all the students want to win whatever it is I have and they know the more they behave, the more chances they will get.

7. Books! These are two of my favorite picture books to read to students. I love them because they deal with students having a substitute teacher and there are so many things you can do with them.

8. Business Cards! Okay, I'll admit, I didn't want to give this trade secret up, but when I went to training three years ago, the trainer was the first one to say something about it! Dang! Oh well. Now, you could go and buy business card paper and print your own, or you could do what I did: go to a print shop. I got a box of 500 cards for under $40 and they were professionally done and I didn't have to sit there and figure out how to do it. The other great thing about working with a local print shop is they MIGHT do all the letter head and business cards for the local schools. (Mine did!) So they'll know what color the schools are using for THEIR business cards and be able to help you choose something to stand out, which is what you want if you want jobs.

Now that you know what I keep in mine, what do you keep in yours?

Mrs. C