Free
Substitute Info Card
One page telling any substitute how your room runs: today's schedule, your rules, where things live and who to call.
Get it freeThe Prep Period Co.
Classroom systems built in a real classroom
Editable Google Docs and Sheets for the parts of teaching nobody trains you on: planning the week, keeping grades straight, documenting behavior, calling families, and covering the day you wake up sick. Set them up once and stop rebuilding them every August.
- Editable Google Docs & Sheets
- Print or go digital
- No subscription
Free
7 toolsPlanning, grading, behavior, families and coverage
K–12Elementary, middle and high school
Fully editableGoogle Docs and Sheets, or print them
Year fourStill teaching, still using every one of these
Start with a free one
Complete tools, not trimmed samples. Both arrive by email so they land somewhere you can still find them in March.
Free
First Week of School Checklist
Fifteen concrete moves from the weekend before day one through your first Friday, in the order they matter.
Get it freeThe full set
Seven tools covering the five jobs that eat a teacher's week.
The whole system
New Teacher Survival Kit
The six core tools as one set. Set it up once in August and you are running the same system in May.
- New Teacher Checklist
- Weekly Lesson Plan Template
- Grade Tracker
- Parent Communication Log
- Classroom Behavior Tracker
- Emergency Sub Plan
How these get made
There is no team here. That is the point.
One
Built for one classroom first
Every tool started as something I needed in my own room, usually in the middle of a week that had already gone sideways.
Two
Used for a full year before it is sold
If a tool does not survive a real semester, including the stretch where I am behind on everything, it does not go up for sale.
Three
Fixed when it breaks
If something does not work in your room, email me and I will change the file. Your link keeps pointing at the current version.
Darren
Fourth year teaching · Hawaiʻi public charter school · still using every one of these
Who is behind this
I am Darren, and I am still teaching
Fourth year in a Hawaiʻi public charter school. Not a former teacher selling from the outside, and not a design studio that has never taken attendance. Everything in this store is something I built for my own room, used for a year, then cleaned up so it would make sense in yours.
If you want to know whether a tool fits your grade level or your school's system, write to me at darren@theprepperiod.com and you will get an answer from me rather than a help desk.
DarrenFounder, The Prep Period Co.
Questions people ask first
If yours is not here, email darren@theprepperiod.com and I will answer it.
Do I need a Teachers Pay Teachers account?
For the paid tools, yes. TPT handles checkout, which is also what makes school purchase orders and any TPT credits you have earned work normally. The two free downloads come straight from this site by email, with no account needed.
Can I print these, or are they digital only?
Both. Every file is laid out for US Letter and prints cleanly in black and white. Plenty of people keep the sub plan and the behavior log on paper and the rest in Drive.
What if my school uses Microsoft instead of Google?
The documents open in Word with no trouble. The three spreadsheets are built for Google Sheets, and a few of the newer formula functions behave differently in Excel, so use the Google version of those if you can. If Excel is your only option, email me before you buy and I will tell you exactly what changes.
Can my whole grade-level team use one purchase?
No. TPT licenses are issued per teacher. If your team wants copies, the listing page has an option to add licenses for the others at a reduced price, and your school can pay by purchase order.
What happens after I buy? Do I get updates?
You get a Google Drive link and make your own copy, so the file is yours and nothing I do later can overwrite your work. When I improve a tool, the same link points at the new version and you can take another copy.
If I give you my email, how often do you write?
Every few weeks, usually with a free template attached. One click unsubscribes you and the list is never sold or shared.
Take one for free and see
The Substitute Info Card and the First Week Checklist are complete tools. If they are useful, the rest of the set is there when you need it.