DIY: Dry Erasers

“Miss O., can I hand out the socks?!”

This may not be a normal request in your classroom, but it is in mine!

When I posted the other day about using page protectors to create instant dry erase boards, it reminded me of another idea! I got this idea from my cooperating teacher when I was student teaching. I was perplexed when all the students brought a sock with their school supplies, then Mrs. Huisman explained that the socks were used as dry erasers. Brilliant! Of course, I forgot about this until later…

When I started using page protector dry erase boards on a regular basis, I would hand out tissues to everyone to erase their boards. But then cold and flu season hit, and we did not have tissues to spare! Then I remembered those socks. I made a run walmart and picked up a class set of socks (only one per student, not a pair!). Then I put one skinny marker and one thick marker in each sock.

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Ok, clearly these socks have been used! :) The great thing about storing your dry erase markers this way, is that you get your markers and erasers handed out in one step…and the kids can’t see what color marker they are getting, no arguing… perfect. I store my markers in a container like this:

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Remember that container from my garage saling this summer?! I have put it to good use.

So there you go, DIY dry erase boards and dry erasers! Unfortunately, I do not have an idea DIY ideas for making dry erase board markers…we have these on our school supply list at the beginning of the year.

Page Protectors: Wipe-off Review

This is a super simple resource that you can use for anything. All you need is enough plastic page protectors and dry erase markers for your whole class.

I have found that there are some papers that we use on a regular basis in the classroom, but it bugged me to have to make/waste copies. So, in an effort to be green, I made a very small investment in a big box of page protectors. (I think I got mine at Staples for about $8 for 50) Tip: Get the crystal clear or diamond clear kind, not matte, they erase better.

So when we do an activity that needs a paper resource, but not one that the kiddos will turn in, we pull out the page protectors and slip the page in. It might be easier just to show you…

For comparing and ordering fractions we use fraction bars, but it would take a LOT of paper to do one homework assignmnet! So I have the kids slip their fraction bars into a page protector and wha-la, they can shade to their hearts content!

Here you can see the fraction bars in action!

Here you can see the fraction bars in action!

Other things that we put in page protectors:

I also have a template of each of these on my SMARTBoard Notebook so that I can show them on the board too, check them out here:  Math Templates.

You can also find a complete list of SMART templates here: SMART Resources