Create DIY Whiteboard Math Warmups
These do it yourself (DIY) whiteboards are a great and flexible tool for your classroom. They are perfect to use for whiteboard warmups or even in the middle of the class for a quick formative assessment. One of the greatest things about these DIY whiteboards is that once they are created you can put ANY blackline master or graphic organizer that you create inside the whiteboard and use it as a background. Number lines, fraction models, line plots, coordinate grids, place value charts are all good options. You are bound only by your imagination.
The materials needed for each DIY whiteboard are:
- Plastic sheet protector
- Two sheets of different colored 8 ½ x 11 card stock (red and green is standard, but any two colors will do)
- A sheet of 8 ½ by 11 white paper
- A small square of felt
- A narrow dry erase marker
Plastic Sheet Protectors
The sheet protector will provide the surface of the DIY whiteboard. Make sure you check the supply room in the school before you go out and purchase them! If you have a choice in sheet protectors, try marking them up with the dry erase markers you will use. See which one works best, smears the least, and is easy to clean.
Card-stock Colored Paper
You use the two pieces of card-stock to provide the firmness of the whiteboard. Use the same two colors for the whole class and insert them into the sheet protector. You can then use them as ways for your class to answer questions or signal you. If the colors are red and green, you can do a quick series of true/false questions where green is true and red is false. You can also use it for individuals or groups to signal you. If the green is showing on the table, they are OK. If they flip it over to red, then they need some help from you.
White Paper
The white piece of paper is used as the “white” part of the whiteboard. When using it as a whiteboard, you put it on top of the card-stock pieces. When using the card-stock colors, you can have students put it in between the two sheets of card-stock.
Dry Erase Markers and Felt
You will also need dry erase markers. Although brand name markers tend to last longer, whatever brand you buy, you want to get the narrow ones, not the wider ones you usually use on the whiteboard as a main display in a classroom. You will use the small square of felt to erase the blackboard. The square can be any size from 2” to 4” square, though it doesn’t need to be a perfect square… Choose a darker color. White felt gets to look dirty fairly quickly and students won’t want to use them.
34 Blackline Master Inserts for DIY Whiteboard Math Warmups
If you are planning to do some math warmups using the DIY whiteboards, then you will appreciate this collection of 34 blackline master inserts included in the Do-It-Yourself Whiteboard Math Warmups Kit. Just print up the blackline master you are interested in and insert it into the sheet protector on top of the card stock so that students have a stiff surface to write on. You will have a large palette to work from to create whiteboard warmups that will engage your class right from the first few minutes of the class!
In the earliest grades, some of the most useful inserts for whiteboard warmups would be ten frames and number bonds. As students are learning to add within 20, these inserts would allow you to have students model these numbers and their relationships to five and ten, as well as flexible ways to decompose numbers using number bonds. I like using number bonds at every grade level, but they can and should be used quite early. You can give students simple scenarios with two parts and a whole, and have them complete a number bond. This leads to students being able to reason about parts and wholes as they develop an understanding about the operations of subtraction and addition. You can also use the clock template in a math warmup to see if students can place the hands correctly to tell time in hours and half hours.
As students progress in the elementary grades, they are developing more formal ways to add and subtract numbers, first within 100, then within 1000. There are several sets of whiteboard warmer inserts that are addition and subtraction frames, and that you will find useful. They include being able to add coins and dollars. A hundred chart can be used in developing ideas about place value. At this level, students first start using number lines and there are a variety of whole number lines and a thermometer for you to use. Use the clock inserts to not only assess students’ ability to express time, but also to relate half and quarter hours and even other fractional amounts like thirds, sixths and tenths of an hour!
The development of fractions is a central idea the student develop in elementary school. Whiteboards are great for this as student can create visual representation so you can see how they are thinking about fractions. There are several shapes you can use to see how students are doing at creating equal subdivisions of a whole. Also, tenths and hundredths grids extend the area model concept and help students make connections between fractions and decimal numbers.There are more number lines that include fractional amounts and some rulers divided into fourths and eighths. I also love using number bonds with fractions!
Geometric concepts are also great for using with whiteboards and can they easily be used to create a math warmup. You will find several inserts for your DIY whiteboards in this area: shapes to subdivide, a protractor, a first quadrant coordinate plane, dot papers and grid papers.
For upper elementary grades, you will find that the whiteboard inserts will help students develop circle graphs (pie charts) using either degrees or percents. These circles, with their circumferential subdivisions can also be used to draw figures (triangles, quadrilaterals, hexagons) and neat designs. Fractional and decimal number lines, standard and metric rulers can be used to further develop students’ number sense. Don’t forget that number bonds can be used at any grade level to model the relationship between parts and wholes in adding and subtracting word problems.
Download the Do-It-Yourself Whiteboard Math Warmups Kit to get the complete list of blackline masters by grade level.
