Recently, I’ve been exploring the idea of creating “fillable” PDF math worksheets to assist those who are teaching online or simply want to save on paper and toner/ink. In this context, fillable means a math worksheet that can be filled out on one’s computer with the fillable boxes already built-in.
Picture this:
- You send a math worksheet to a student.
- They fill it out on their screen and save it (See Notes below).
- They send it back to you.
No printing, no awkward third-party programs for editing PDFs, just a simple back and forth exchange.
Sound interesting? I actually made a fillable math worksheet and made it available on the website. Download the student version from the worksheet page and see how it works for you:
81 Single-Digit Addition Questions with Some Regrouping
I would really like to have some feedback before I start making more of these. If you are in a position to send these to students to test them out, I would be quite grateful. You can add a comment to this post or send an email to feedback@math-drills.com.
Notes
If you print one of these unfilled worksheets on paper, it will look exactly like any regular worksheet, so they could potentially replace all the worksheets on Math-Drills. Those little fillable fields that you see on your screen won’t be visible when they are printed.
*IMPORTANT* Not every PDF reader will allow you to save changes! It is highly recommended to use Adobe Reader for this purpose. Microsoft Edge (current version) will also work, but other browsers such as Chrome and Firefox will result in tears and hair pulling. Please make sure to test other options before sending instructions to your students, including filling out the worksheet, saving it, closing it, then re-opening it to ensure it works. UPDATE: The newest version of Chrome now allows you to print and save your changes to fillable math worksheets.
The answer font will likely look different than the question font. Setting a font for the fillable boxes is complicated at best and would require several paragraphs of explanation, so I’ll save you the effort of having to read it.
I’ve added the keywords: fillable, savable and saveable (alternate spelling) to the worksheet, so your searches could potentially find only fillable worksheets, but only one (with multiple versions) exists as of this newsletter.
Peter Waycik (Owner/Worksheet Maker)
Sounds amazing!! : )