So, of course, I left both my final day schedule up, as well as my end-of-year "learning targets". In addition, you can always tell the old smudging on the whiteboards. Does anyone have some tips for how to clean the boards in the fastest, yet safest (i.e. so it still writes like normal) way, including for spots that are probably harder than others?
haha. Duh, self. I guess that's what happens when I haven't had any in my classroom in a while Target, here I come! However, any suggestions for the more dried parts? At least on my white-boardy calendars, it didn't come off well. I used hand sanitizer, since I only write on them once a year anyways, but would that be harmful to the whiteboards?
Get yourself some windshield de-icer spray, preferably the hand pump type rather than the aerosol. Spray it onto a rag and wipe the board, finishing with a clean rag.
After a while, just cleaning won't work. You'll most likely benefit from a bottle of white board refinisher. It's about the consistency of mustard, and you put it on the white board after you have cleaned the surface. Then, you buff it, and it will shine and restore the ability of the surface to be erased. It's about $14 a bottle (you don't use it often...a bottle will last a couple of years in my experience); available on Amazon (not the spray)-->https://www.amazon.com/Quartet-Boar...34&sr=8-2&keywords=quartet+whiteboard+cleaner Also, I have found that custodians who don't know better (or who were never told) sometimes clean white boards with Windex or the like! The Quartet BoardGear will help restore the finish that those cleaners strip away.
If you're working with a small amount, just coloring over old markings with an expo will usually make them erasable again.
I was in the same classroom for 17 years, and I never cleaned my boards with anything besides baby wipes. The boards were brand new when I got the classroom, and they still looked brand new when I left it three years ago. The room I'm in now didn't look nearly as good, but I got the old stains off with Goo Gone Graffiti Remover. After that, I went right back to using the wipes on it.
Thank you, and everyone else, for all the ideas! I had used the hand sanitizer on my calendars as mentioned earlier, but since I could lie those horizontally, it was much easier to do that. However, I tried the baby wipes, and it worked magnificently and with ease! Maybe it's a good thing I didn't know that before -- I'd be using them all the time to keep the board looking so nice
