Crazy Classroom: How to Get a Class Set of Whiteboards for Under $20.00

A class set of whiteboards. Why do you need them? Whiteboards are a simple way to make learning exciting. I have never met a child who wasn't thrilled with using their own whiteboard, even if they were doing a MATH PROBLEM (insert theme song from Friday The 13th movie).

Whiteboards can be used in any grade. You can always use them to put a little pizzazz into asking review questions.

In first grade, show students coins and have each record the monetary value on their whiteboard. On your cue, ask students to hold up their answers. Instant assessment!

In upper grades, have students record math problems on whiteboards. To teach decimals, tell students to cut three circles out of paper to represent decimals.
Tell students to put a little tape on the back of each. As they write out math problems, ask students to place the decimals they just made appropriately in the equation.

Also, see the Crazy Classroom article on the review game, "Are You As Smart As A Fifth Grader", which includes the use of whiteboards as a participation strategy.

The problem with a class set of whiteboards? Teachers don't exactly make millions of dollars, and they typically aren't given that much to spend in their classroom either. Sometimes having a fun classroom can get expensive, but not when you're reading a Crazy Classroom article!

Forget spending twenty bucks per whiteboard like you see in the teacher catalogues. Go to your local Lowe's or Home Depot. (But don't stop reading here.)

You will need to walk to the lumber department, and find an employee who looks like they are in a really good mood. In my experience, the employee was happy to make some cuts for me, but I have heard stories of employees who didn't exactly feel like it.

Good mood or not, cutting lumber is a free service at these hardware stores. Find a big sheet of white board, should only be about $11.00 per sheet. It's heavy; so don't try to carry it in heels. Find the happiest looking employee, and ask them if they would carry the sheet to the cutting machine and cut the sheet into one-foot by one-foot squares.

On one sheet, you should end up with thirty whiteboards, a few which are a bit less than one-foot by one-foot. But think of all the math and measurement possibilities with a one- foot board!

Just considering math and measurement, you could have students measure their boards, then record their measurements. They could put whiteboards together with a classmate and measure.

Or, you could put four whiteboards in one corner, three in another, two in another, and one in another. You could hold up an object and have students go to the corner they estimate equals the length of the object you are holding, knowing their whiteboard is one foot. See how fun this is?

Now, you're thinking, "great, but what about the markers and erasers?" Crazy Classroom has a solution for that too. Go to Wal-Mart; get a big sheet of felt. While you're sitting in front of the TV, recruit everyone in your family to help you cut them into small squares. Store these in a bucket in your classroom next to the whiteboards to serve as erasers.

The markers, well, you must bargain shop. At Target, look on the ends of the office isles for clearance. You always want to look for the low odor markers. In Wal-Mart, they often have low odor markers in their clearance isle as well.

If you are worried about inappropriate behavior, make whiteboard usage a reward. I had one student who loved the whiteboard so much; I created a token economy system so he could earn his very own whiteboard. (Cost me less than giving him a pencil!)

I know your students will be thankful you read this article! Enjoy!

For more classroom ideas to stimulate any learner, see my other Crazy Classroom articles. Who needs a quiet classroom when your students are having fun learning in a crazy classroom?

Adapted from Dr. Edward Pieper and Dr. Kristi Fragnoli, Methods of Instruction, College of Saint Rose