Do you get tired of making copies? It can’t just be me! While I love the paperless movement, I resigned myself to the fact that I may not strive to be completely paperless but I do want to use less paper. One of my favorite strategies for using less paper, is using Write and Wipe activities.
I’ll share my favorite tips and tricks and links to some items I’ve purchased. I use affiliate links which means if you click and buy something, it won’t cost you extra but I’ll get a small percentage of what you spend.
Print Once Use for Years
A few years back, I bought these dry erase pockets. That one little step saved me so much time. I love using math mats and graphic organizers. Now, I print them once, put them in these pockets and three years in, we are still using them. These pockets are also great for games you want your class to play over and over.
Before I had the dry erase pockets, I used sheet protectors. Put any paper inside and you can use it over and over. They aren’t quite as easy to erase and the protectors get a little rough after a year of use.
The Plastic Debate
I’ll be honest, I think long and hard before laminating things. Wrapping a piece of biodegradable paper in plastic means it will last forever. So, for most things, I will print on card stock and not laminate. The reality was, though, that my kinders weren’t great about switching things in and out of the dry erase pockets.
The papers would end up covered in dry erase marker smudges from their grubby little fingers and sometimes they’d tear.
So, I decided to be conscientious and ask myself these questions before laminating. Is this a skill that needs a lot of repetition? How often will I use them? Will these be used year after year? Do we need to write on them? Now that I have that plan, I’ve let go of the guilt of laminating.
Write and Wipe Facts
My absolute favorite write and wipe activities are for math facts. As students are pushed to go deeper in their thinking, they need a strong foundation. Students who don’t have fact fluency get mental fatigue when asked deeper questions.
Check out all my Write and Wipe Resources on TpT here.
Write and Wipe Centers
I love using Write and Wipe cards as centers. Kids feel comfortable working together and independently and I can focus on working with another small group without distractions.
Using Manipulatives
One of the great things about Write and Wipe Cards is that they can be used with manipulatives. Instead of having kids draw pictures, they can use manipulatives.
I like to keep lots of different manipulatives around to keep repetitive activities fresh. The kids love these craft jewels. Other favorites this year were acrylic gems and pom poms.
Which comes first? The laminator or the scissors?
I used to cut, laminate, cut every time. My husband, who loves to laminate and hates to cut, has convinced me to laminate and then cut. At first I was resistant, but it turns out it is fine, especially in the home laminators. I can’t believe I resisted getting my own laminator for so long! Turns out it is worth the cost of doing it myself instead of using the old school laminator (double meaning there ;). First, I can laminate one page right now. I don’t have to wait until I have a bunch to do and time to spend in the staff room. But, most importantly, the quality is so much better. I don’t know about you but even the 3 mm laminating pouches are so much thicker than the lamination the school uses.
I’ve started making resources with my husbands hatred of cutting in mind. Most of what I make can be cut on a paper cutter. I also provide light gray lines for where to cut to make it as simple as possible (and so if the cut isn’t perfect you can’t really tell). I recently discovered this paper cutter that has a magnetic bar to place at the measurement. It is great not having to look at the numbers when cutting a large batch.
Dry Erase or Wet Erase?
We use dry erase markers a lot on my white boards and with write and wipe activities. The kids think it is a special treat when I let them use the wet erase markers. They love that they can get a spray bottle from under the sink, but they definitely need to be reminded that one squirt is fine. By the end of the year, we start running out of good markers. That is when I pull out the dry erase crayons.
They are a novelty at first, but they take a lot more elbow grease to erase.
Looking for the resources in these pictures? Find them here:
These 7 write and wipe sets make great kindergarten math centers for addition fluency. Simply laminate and cut. Three sets provide pictures and the students write the equation and sum to add within 5. Four sets provide the equation and students draw the pictures and write the sum. These write and wipe sets make great kindergarten and first grade math centers for addition fluency practice. Simply laminate and cut. One set provides pictures and the students write the equation and sum and add within 10. The other set provides the equation and students draw the pictures and write the sum. These write and wipe sets make great first grade math centers for addition fact fluency. Simply laminate and cut. One set provides pictures and the students write the equation and sum so they can add within 20. The other set provides the equation and students draw the pictures and write the sum. These write and wipe sets make great first grade math centers to help your students become fluent in addition. Simply laminate and cut. One set provides pictures and the students write the equation and sum. The other set provides the equation and students draw the pictures and write the sum. These 7 write and wipe sets make great kindergarten math centers for subtraction fluency. Simply laminate and cut. Three sets provide pictures and the students cross off to subtract within 5 and write the answer. Four sets provide the equation and students draw the pictures and write the difference. These write and wipe sets make great kindergarten and first grade math centers for subtraction fluency practice. Simply laminate and cut. One set provides pictures and the students cross off to subtract within 10 and write the answer. The other set provides the equation and students draw the pictures and write the difference These write and wipe sets make great first grade math centers for subtraction fact fluency. Simply laminate and cut. One set provides pictures and the students cross off to subtract within 20. The other set provides the equation and students draw the pictures and write the difference. These write and wipe sets make great kindergarten and first grade math centers to help your students become fluent in subtraction. Simply laminate and cut. One set provides pictures and the students cross off to subtract write the difference. The other These write and wipe sets make great first grade math centers. Simply laminate and cut. The first addend is provided in pictures. Students draw until the reach the sum. This helps give students hands on practice at counting on to find the unknown addend. This work mat can be used for any number line activity. You can laminate it for use with white board markers or wet erase markers. Another option is to insert them into reusable dry erase pockets. An Open Number Line can be used for: *place value Fact Family Addition and Subtraction to 18 Monster Theme Focusing on Fact Families is a helpful strategy for learning the relationship between addition and subtraction. Some of my student seem to have an aversion to subtraction. When I show them that knowing how to add can help them subtract they see it as a short cut. Fact Family Multiplication and Division Animal Theme Focusing on Fact Families is a helpful strategy for learning the relationship between multiplication and division. Some of my student seem to have an aversion to division. When I show them that knowing how to multiply can help them divide, they see it as a short cut. Memorizing multiples helps students memorize their multiplication facts. It also prepares them for concepts like Least Common Multiple. This packet covers multiples 2-10. This can be used for differentiated practice. A student trying to memorize the 8s times tables can take a baggie with the multiples of 8 and practice putting them in order SAVE 25% Numbers 0-20 BUNDLE Playdough Mat, Worksheets, Counting Mat, and More I wanted my kinders to have fun while practicing recognizing, writing, and counting to five. What is more fun than playdough? I made two styles of mats. Numbers 0-5 Playdough Mat, Worksheets, Counting Mat, and More I wanted my kinders to have fun while practicing recognizing, writing, and counting to five. What is more fun than play dough? I made two styles of mats. One I call playdough mats and the other Numbers 6-10 Playdough Mat, Worksheets, Counting Mat, and More I wanted my kinders to have fun while practicing recognizing, writing, and counting to five. What is more fun than playdough? I made two styles of mats. One I call playdough mats and the other Numbers 11-15 Playdough Mat, Worksheets, Counting Mat, and More I wanted my kinders to have fun while practicing recognizing, writing, and counting to five. What is more fun than playdough? I made two styles of mats. One I call playdough mats and the other Numbers 16-20 Playdough Mat, Worksheets, Counting Mat, and More I wanted my kinders to have fun while practicing recognizing, writing, and counting to five. What is more fun than playdough? I made two styles of mats. One I call playdough mats and the otherWrite and Erase Resources
*addition
*subtraction
*two digit addition
*two digit subtraction
*fractions
*decimals
*multiplying
*comparing
*creating a visual to solve word problems
