Letter to substitute teacher template
A welcome and instructions letter, not a cover letter — it tells whoever is covering your class how the day runs, what your students already expect, and who to find when something goes wrong.
When to use it
A planned absence is when this letter is easiest to write well. Fill it in the night before while the week's routines are still fresh.
Write the letter with the parts that rarely change — procedures, signals, emergency info — and leave the day-specific lines blank for whoever fills it in.
It is not a cover letter, which is what most search results return. It is a briefing note from you to the adult standing in your room.
Substitute Teacher Welcome Letter
Dear Substitute Teacher,
Thank you for covering my class today — I really appreciate it. Everything
you need should be here, but if something isn't, the school office
([Office Phone]) can help.
CLASS INFO
Class / Grade: [Grade / Class Name]
Today's date: [Date]
Number of students: [Student Count]
Class list: [Attached / On my desk / In the folder]
SCHEDULE FOR TODAY
[Start Time] [Subject/Period 1] — [Room, if different]
[Start Time] [Subject/Period 2]
[Start Time] Lunch — [Location / Duty notes]
[Start Time] [Subject/Period 3]
[Start Time] Dismissal — [Bus / Pickup / Walker procedure]
DAILY PROCEDURES
- Attendance: [How/where attendance is taken, e.g. "Take attendance
using the sheet on my desk and send it to the office by 9:15 AM"]
- Bathroom / hallway passes: [Procedure, e.g. "One student at a time,
hall pass is on the hook by the door"]
- Signal for quiet / attention: [e.g. "Raise your hand and count down
from 5"]
- Where materials are: [e.g. "Handouts for each period are in the tray
labeled with the period number"]
- Technology: [Login info location, what's allowed]
BEHAVIOR AND CLASSROOM MANAGEMENT
- [Note any classroom-specific behavior system, e.g. "We use a clip
chart — clips move up for good behavior, down for repeated
reminders"]
- Students who may need extra support: [General note, avoid naming
individual students' private information in a shared letter — leave
specifics to the school's official plan]
- What to do if a student refuses to cooperate: [e.g. "Send them with a
hall pass to the office, do not leave the room to escort them"]
EMERGENCIES
- Fire drill: [Route and meeting point]
- Lockdown: [What to do]
- Nurse: [Location / how to send a student]
- Emergency contact for me: [Your Name], [Phone Number]
END OF DAY
- Please leave: [What you'd like left behind — a note on how the day
went, completed work in a specific tray, etc.]
- Sign out at: [Location, e.g. "the front office before you leave"]
Thank you again — I hope the day goes smoothly!
[Your Name]
Both templates on one print-ready PDF — free, no email required.
What to put in it
- Your name, room number, grade or subject, and a phone number the office can reach.
- The day's schedule with times, including specials, lunch, and any duty you cover.
- Where the class list, seating chart and attendance procedure live.
- Your attention signal and what the class already expects when it is used.
- The two or three students who need something specific — described by need, not label.
- Bathroom, water, nurse and phone-use rules, because these produce the most conflict.
- Fire drill route, lockdown procedure and who to call in an emergency.
- The name of a nearby teacher who has agreed to be the go-to for questions.
Mistakes that make a sub day go wrong
A sub is scanning your letter with thirty students already in the room. Headings, short lines and a schedule table get read; paragraphs don't.
Every routine you skip becomes a negotiation. If your class lines up by table number, say so — the students will otherwise happily explain a different system.
Write the support, not the label: “[Student] does better with the instructions repeated one-to-one after the whole-class direction.” That is both more useful and safer to leave on a desk.
Guest logins fail constantly. Give a paper fallback for anything that depends on a device.
The Sub Plans Bundle — a print-ready PDF with grade-band versions of both free templates, plus the rest of the folder:
- Elementary and secondary (multi-period) welcome letters
- Elementary and secondary emergency lesson plans
- Printable sub folder checklist — what to put in it, in order
- No-prep filler activities list, for when a lesson runs short
Instant download. The two templates on this page stay free forever — the bundle is the grade-band versions and the folder system.
FAQ
What should a letter to a substitute teacher include?
Schedule, routines, behavior expectations, student notes, emergency procedures and a named colleague to ask. Anything a stranger to your room would have to guess at belongs in the letter.
How long should the letter be?
One page, two at most. If it runs longer, move the day-specific detail into the lesson plan and keep the letter to the things that are true every time you are out.
Is this the same as a substitute teacher cover letter?
No — and that is what most search results give you. A cover letter applies for a job. This letter is written by the classroom teacher to brief whoever covers the class.
Should I leave the letter out or in a folder?
Both: one copy on the desk where it is impossible to miss, one in the sub folder the office hands over when you are out unexpectedly.