Wipeboards

Wipeboards are on my mind today!
But first... When I logged in to write this today, I have to say, I know it's been a long time since I blogged, but WOW! Way too much time has gone by! All I can say is, it's been a really long, trying year! I'm sorry I haven't been a very faithful ambassador for several great organizations, and I've been trying some fantastic products, too! I have some wonderful firsties this year, but they are making me earn. my. keep! 😅 As we say in Minnesota, "Ooftah!"
Today I want to tell you about a great classroom lifesaver I've been using for large groups, which can also be moved to my small group instruction. It is call the Wipebook Flip Chart. It is awesome! The charts come with 10 sheets! One side has 1" grids (PERFECT for people like me who write uphill all the time) and the back side is blank. Think about the possibilities for graphing in math, and drawing shapes with symmetry using the grids! YES! The blank side is great for my students to have for writing words during Daily Five, when they do not have to worry about lines.
Each page has holes for hanging, which the rings go through on my stand. They are very durable with the cardboard encasement. Here are a few pictures to see how I use it in my room:

 

You can see that I have my new Wipeboard Flip Chart hanging on my old whiteboard stand (never mind the mess underneath-oh, my goodness!). A few summers ago the custodians tried to clean several of our stands with heavy duty cleaner, and it scratched the finish off, leaving us without a whiteboard to use! Major BUMMER! So when the great guys at Wipebook asked if I would be interested in trying out one of their new Flip Charts, I jumped at the chance!

Here's some more details - I shared five of them (I wanted to keep several just in case they didn't clean as well as Frank Bouchard @Wipebook said they would clean. Wow! First of all, use Expo markers - that is the recommendation of Wipebook, and I did not stray from that. However, when Frank told me black worked best, so I just HAD to try red. I know how it goes when a guest teacher comes into the classroom. They grab the first  marker handy and start writing. I wanted to know if other colors were going to be a problem. Do we really have to always have to use black? I didn't know if I could endorse a product if black was the only color I could use. I do teach first grade, after all, lol!
 Since we were working on a long-term weather unit and going to be researching, I needed to leave choices up for a period of time. The words were on the Wipeboard for over 2 weeks. This is where even more of their awesomeness comes in!


 If you have something you want left up for longer, after about 7-10 days, the marker dries and becomes more permanent, but can be wiped away EASILY with Expo White Board Care. Here's an example:The first video was taken without using any Expo cleaner.  The marker had been on the Wipeboard for at least two weeks. The second video was taken seconds later, using the Expo cleaner. I just sprayed it onto the paper towel, because I didn't want to erase all of the weather words - we still needed them.  

Ugh! Scratch the videos! I Can't get them to upload! I've tried 3 different platforms. Sorry! Please trust me from this photo, when I say it was truly just a simple wipe across the chart with the expo cleaner - no back and forth!

I want to also show you how you can move it around the room! The back is pretty sweet. It is made of cardboard, but folds out on the sides and bottom for added support when you want to move it to the floor or a table for small group instruction.

The tabs that hold them on the chart are easy to release without any tools.  You can clip them up anywhere in the room, or leave them on the cardboard stand.

Another cool feature of Wipebook is their app. Within the app, you can take a picture of your wipeboard, and choose where to have the image sent. You can have it sent to Dropbox, Evernote, Box, Google Drive, or Microsoft One Drive. The people at Wipeboard also make Wipebooks - that's how they got started. Here's a like to their home page Wipebook. I chose to just try out the Wipeboard, since my whiteboard is such a disaster.
I stated earlier that I shared Wipeboard Flip Chart pages with my colleagues. I don't have pictures from their classrooms, but they are using theirs in similar ways. Some use magnets to hold theirs on their scratched whiteboard stands, others have magnets holding theirs to their chalkboard. The feedback from my peers was the same as mine - two thumbs up! We love Wipeboard Flip Charts!!!
Give Wipeboards or Wipebooks a try!