With individual student whiteboards, you can save paper, make learning fun, and keep your whole class engaged all at the same time. There are many uses for these handy boards! If you don’t already have a class set, you don’t have to spend a ton of money to get one. The material is inexpensive and available at your local hardware store, and most stores will cut it for free. A 12 x 12 size seems to work well for most classrooms, but you can have it cut to whatever size you want.
Once you have your boards, you will need to decide whether you want students to keep them in their desks or if you’d rather keep them in a central location and distribute as needed. I prefer the latter, as I think it keeps the boards in better shape. A good way to get dry-erase pens is to have students bring them at the start of the school year with their school supplies. A clean, white sock makes a good eraser.
Now that you have your boards, here are some ideas on how to use them:
To Display Answers
Students can easily write short answers on their boards and then hold them up for you to quickly scan and check. Consider using for mental math problems, spelling, or review of pretty much any subject.
Students can practice spelling words in partners, with one partner giving the word and the other writing it on their whiteboard. They could also use the board to keep score when playing a game.
For Handwriting Practice
Using a whiteboard is a good place to start just to get the motion of the letter down. Of course, it is different than writing on paper, and you will need to do some of that, too, but it can be a fun first step.
Instead of Scratch Paper
Save paper by having students use whiteboards as scratch paper whenever they will not need to save their work.
Instead of Clipboards
This is a great idea for when students are moving around the classroom to collect data that they will not need to keep permanently. They’re also good for times when students are sitting on the carpet for instruction rather than at their desks.
As a Quick Mood Gauge
Ever feel like your class is just off, but you can’t quite put your finger on it? Try having your students each draw a quick face on their boards – a smiley face, a sad face, or a neutral face (straight line for the mouth). It gives you a quick read and may possibly lead to a class discussion about what is going on.
For Indoor Recess and Other Free Times
These are great for games like hangman or just for drawing. Kids love to use these during their free time.
Do you use individual student white boards in your classroom? Please share your ideas!
Next Week: Name Sticks!