What a Deal! - White Boards

As we all know budgets are terrible right now so it's great to be able to find a way to go about business as usual but spend less money. A couple years back my partner teacher and I started to use the Mad Minutes program with our 6th graders who were lacking in basic computation skills but making copies of them was  killing our allotted amount for the year! So we started using page protectors! The kids can slip their Mad Minutes in (or any worksheet for that matter) and write on the outside with a dry erase marker. It works perfectly! We then added a sheet of white cardstock and presto! the back works as an individual white board! The kids can even store them in their binders. Yay! Less stuff for me to store and keep track of!

Cost
Box of Page Protectors (50): $16.00 (Use the shiny ones, not the non-glare! They erase better.)

Ream of White Cardstock (250): $12.00

Dry Erase Markers (50): $15.00 (bought at back-to-school sales)

Total per Student:  approx. $0.75

Price @
Lakeshore - $1.40 each
School Outfitters - $1.45 each
Amazon - $2.93 each

The cardstock lasts forever and I'm sure there are even better deals on sheet protectors. The key to keeping the cost down is stocking up on markers when they are on sale. I can usually get them 3-5 for a $1.00!

The downside is that the kids take their boards home at the end of the year so there they are not reusable but I have found that to be a very small downside. If they get wrecked or lost I charge them a dollar to replace it.