One of those classroom supplies that I can just simply NEVER have enough back stock of has ALWAYS been EXPO MARKERS! I am sharing 6 tips and tricks with you for using dry erase boards in your classroom! These tips will save you time, save you from having your EXPO markers running out of ink, and possibly even give you an idea or two use TOMORROW with your kiddos!
**This post includes amazon affiliate links! **
This post is one in a series of THREE DRY ERASE BOARD POSTS! The other posts include:
DRY ERASE BOARD WORD WORK AND SIGHT WORD ROUTINES
DRY ERASE BOARD ENGAGING ACTIVITIES FOR LITTLE LEARNERS
I want to share with you 6 tips and tricks for building dry erase board routines that work best for my students from the moment they get their dry erase materials to that pesky moment that their marker dries up!
TIP #1 SETTING EXPECTATIONS FOR DRY ERASE BOARD SUPPLIES
Our dry erase boards, markers, and erasers (which are facial scrubber pads that you can find at the Dollar Tree) are community style supplies that we do NOT keep in our desks. We keep them on a supply cart in the back of the classroom. With that being said – when I say “get your white boards and materials!”, the kiddos know exactly what that looks like, what that sounds like, and, more importantly, what that DOES NOT include!
They know our routine for getting our white boards {see more in tip number 4!}, what they need, and EXACTLY what to do with those supplies when they get back to their desk, to the carpet, to the small group table, ETC!
Each classroom is different and each classroom teacher’s expectations for handling supplies are different, too, but here are a few expectations and routines that work for my students and me!
- As soon as they get back to their seat with their supplies, they put down their marker and eraser and they fold their hands and wait. Period.
- EXPO markers are a tool for writing and learning, NOT for excess doodling. We aren’t making doodle like fonts our of our answer – we aren’t adding extra punctuation – we aren’t adding what looks like sprinkles all over the board so I can “see the answer better”. Nope. Just nope.
- If our marker is NOT in use, the cap is ON at all times.
- Monkey see, monkey do behaviors such as, “oh I’m going to erase and rewrite my sentence again for fun because Sally did!” is strictly prohibited. {that would be a waste of precious white board marker ink}
If I’m being honest, MY list goes on – but you can feel free to use none of these and make your own list of your own expectations – whatever works best for YOU!
These are what work best for my classroom expectations!
Tip #2 HAVE SMALL GROUP WHITE BOARD RULES
It would be ideal to have a separate set of white boards JUST for you to keep set up at your small group table; however, I don’t have that many extras, so I have routines for using white boards in small groups to maximize every precious moment of my small group time with my students.
When they bring their “white boards and materials” to the small group table {which they will be told to do only as needed!}, they bring it to the table, or to a small group designated area on the floor!, and put their white boards as well as ANY OTHER MATERIALS THAT THEY BRING down in one neat pile and fold their hands to wait for directions. They’re tools. Not toys. And they have yet to know what we need those tools for because the lesson hasn’t started yet!
Set HIGH expectations for these small group routines to be followed and you will be AMAZED at how quickly you can get started with your small group lessons!
Tip #3 HEAR YOUR MARKERS CLOSE
Tip number three is one of my favorites to TEACH at the beginning of the year! This tip isn’t only fantastic for little learners, but I have a high school teacher of a friend who does this SAME thing with her high schoolers!
During the first weeks of school as we are learning about how to use the supplies while meeting expectations in our classroom, we learn what it means to put our white boards and materials away. This includes – HEAR YOUR MARKER CLOSE.
It clicks, y’all. If it’s closed? IT CLICKS.
I model. And model. And MODEL. And we practice opening and CLOSING those marker caps until we’ve got it!
No more run away EXPO marker caps. NOPE! No more because they learn to HEAR THE MARKER CLOSE!
Tip #4 ONE WAY STREET
This is such a simple, but FANTASTIC tip to use in your classroom ANY time you have to have your students all come to one area to pick up a supply, to turn something in, etc!
I call it my ONE WAY STREET!
For white boards, I simply say “WHITE BOARDS AND MATERIALS – ONE WAY STREET – GO!” while pointing in the direction of the one way street – which is 90% of the time clock wise but may change if there’s good reason for it! The kids know that means we are all headed into a single file line on the SILENT ONE WAY STREET to get the materials we were directed to pick up!
Here is a little video clip of the one way street in my classroom!
TIP #5 ERASE, ERASE, ERASE
When we use our white boards, often – okay, ALWAYS – the kids are finishing their white board responses at A BAJILLION DIFFERENT TIMES!! When the kids are ready for me to look at their work, they hold their board up, I read it, and if they’re good to go to move on to the next task, I SILENTLY just point to their board and they erase. That’s it. Done. SILENT CUES ARE MY LOVE LANGUAGE! No more time LOST in giving individual direction to each kiddo!
Now, if I need to help them with something, I will obviously offer them feedback to help guide them to fix their mistake – OR if it’s an answer that deserves a “HOLY MOLY YOU ARE A ROCK STAR” response – I will stop the lesson and share said rock star response! But for the most part, erasing an answer is a silent routine!
Also – if we are doing something whole group or even in small groups with our white boards, I will let them know that after I point to them this time for them to erase, they should put their white boards and materials away and then get ready for _______. (insert whatever comes next in your day here!)
Tip #6 HAVE A PLAN FOR WHAT HAPPENS WHEN THE MARKER DIES MID LESSON
You know that moment that you dread – when your principal is observing you and all of a sudden, Sally doesn’t know where her pencil is or even where to get another one, or Sally can’t find her reading notebook, or Sally’s EXPO MARKER DIED at the beginning of the lesson and she has sat there the entire lesson doing nothing because her marker died?!
Enter anxiety filled shudder here.
NOPE. Not in my classroom.
There are a few questions in my classroom that always deem the “you don’t even have to ask” response. One of those questions is “can I get a new EXPO marker?” after a kiddo’s marker runs out of ink!
When you are building routines and expectations that I mentioned in tip #1, explain to your kiddos that if your marker dies mid lesson or mid activity, throw it away and get a new one! Period. End of story. Moving on with life!
Annnnnd BONUS!!!
GOOD NEWS Y’ALL!! EXPO NOW HAS BRAND NEW INK INDICATOR MARKERS so you can actually SEE where the ink level on the markers is! No more guessing and hoping about when it will and won’t run out of ink!!
These INK INDICATOR EXPO MARKERS are now available in six different colors that you can see below! What color do you think your kiddos would love the best? Black, red, blue, purple, light green, or dark green?!
**affiliate link to these markers below!
Our students LOVE using the dry erase boards in our classroom! I hope these tips and tricks help you to maximize your teaching time with these awesome teaching tools this school year!
A huge thanks goes out to EXPO for sponsoring this post! I received compensation and/or free product from EXPO for this post; However, the opinions in this post are 100% my own.
