After-school classes: 40 minutes a week each for grades 1&2, 3&4; and 5&6. No big deal, right?

I know I'm stressing myself out over something that I shouldn't be, but every Monday I get that sinking feeling: I have to plan 2 after-school lessons (1&2 is on Tuesday).

I dread these because unlike the regular classes, there's no set curriculum and I'm kind of on my own for ideas and activities. Some freedom is nice, but too much freedom is paralyzing.

In addition, the kids are hard to manage at the end of the day. My rural students aren't the brightest or most privileged, and by the end of the day all they can do is screw around and talk to their friends unless Teacher and co/teacher are breathing down their necks.

Finally, the level gap between, for example, the dumb fifth-graders and the bright sixes makes leveling the class difficult.

Any suggestions for making these classes less odious?  Could be I just need a perspective adjustment, or additional resources.

I had 10 after school classes at my last school. It was hell. Basically, because they were so low level, I just used that time to give them more practice on the lessons we were learning. So I would make crossword puzzles, wordsearches, fill in the blank worksheets, matching worksheets or just get them to practice more writing. And having them do worksheets helped with the grade gap. If I did do an activity, I made sure it was something that both high and low level students could participate in. When other kids are presenting or answering questions, ask the students who are goofing off what that student said. Hopefully, it'll make them focus more when other students talk.

You have to be very firm in after school class because there are no co-teachers. I would write the names of the students misbehaving on the board and put strikes for each time they misbehaved. If they misbehaved enough, I would give them homework. If they misbehaved more than that, I would have them go to their homeroom teacher. If they misbehaved more than that, I would send them to the vice principal (This was kind of a hollow threat because the vice principal and I weren't on good terms. He believed I should discipline the students by myself despite the huge language barrier and the fact that the kids don't respect foreigners but the students never misbehaved enough to call my bluff). So let's say 3 times gets them homework, 6 times gets them homework and they have to go to their homeroom teacher, and 9 times gets them all that plus a trip to the vp. If you have the budget, buy some candy. If they get enough points for the whole class (they're attentive, they answer questions, they stay on task), give them a piece at the end. Don't play favorites. Be as impartial as you can about the points because students are very sensitive and they're not the most self aware about how badly they're behaving and they only care when others misbehave.

Same. I teach more after school classes than I teach regular classes. I teach K-6 after school. It's dreadful. I feel like every class is just surviving. I'm going to try and see if my school will/can buy books for next semester.