Five Free ELA Printables for Flu-Season Sub Plans

Flu season is upon us, so I wanted to compile some of my favorite free resources for last-minute sub plans. Everything I’ve chosen is 100% free and ready to print.

These resources don’t take a lot of explanation, and can be easily implemented by a sub. They’re purposeful and provide practice on important skills. Read on!

Reading Comprehension

Erin Cobb has a series she calls “Short Story of the Month” and the first month is free. It has tons of printable materials for comprehension. The seventh grade edition can be found here. This resource is based on a short story called “Seventh Grade” by Gary Soto. The story can easily be printed as well: “Seventh Grade” by Gary Soto full text.

This is a great resource if you have a block schedule or long class period. There are tons of activities included in this resource that you can pick and choose as needed. Erin Cobb also has other grade levels in her book clubs, with free previews for each grade. Check them out! I know I’ll be accessing some of these myself for high-quality sub plans.

Vocabulary

2. Get your kids practicing vocabulary. Teacher Thrive is an awesome creator, and I love the way she set these analogies pages up with “key words bridge sentences” alongside the analogies. I find that this really helps students who struggle with these. This printable resource for grades 7-10 is available here. Teacher Thrive also has a free analogies packet for grades 3-6 if that would work better for your kids here.

This probably won’t take the whole class, so it would be a great addition to a packet.

Grammar

3. Joy Sexton created a freebie for something my students struggle to master: “their, they’re and there.” These worksheets are a great review of this skill. Find them here.

Again, these two pages should be a pretty quick task, so add them to a sub packet if your kids need practice with this skill.

Poetry

4. Another helpful printable–this would be fun for early finishers or for classes that are working on a poetry unit. Laura Randazzo is an awesome secondary ELA creator, and if you don’t know about her, you definitely need to check her out. Find the “How to Haiku” worksheet here.

Growth Mindset

5. This growth-mindset reading comprehension freebie is from my store here. It’s based on a passage on the basketball player Ray Allen, so it would be great for the sporty kids in you class. It includes a reading passage, multiple choice questions and writing responses.

It would take a middle school class about 15-20 minutes, so it would be a great addition to a sub packet.