2 starter questions: using beakers and adjusting top off volume

Going to try my first starter next weekend, for a 1.071 OG Weizenbock.

My plan is basically to put 1/2 cup of the light DME and 1 pint of water in a beaker, boil it for 10 min, let it cool, pitch the yeast, and cover it with one of those stoppers that let air in (if i can find one today to buy), otherwise with loose aluminum foil. I'm going to smack a wyeast pack right before and dump the whole thing into the beaker, nutrients and all.

So my 2 questions are:
1) If I use the beaker, can I put it directly on the stove and then directly in an ice bath, or does that risk breaking the beaker?

2) I'm only planning on doing a 1 pint starter, so maybe this doesn't matter, but if i was using a larger starter, would that mean I should not top off my partial boil all the way to 5 gallons? Do i leave room for the starter, or just put the starter on top of the 5 gallons? Does the starter affect my OG at all, or is it a trivial amount?

Oh, I guess a third point is that I'm planning on just pitching the whole starter, and not trying to separate the yeast from the starter wort. Any reason I should reconsider that?

Thanks!

1. Some glassware is designed to be heated directly on the stove or take sudden temperature shocks well while others are not. Might want to check before trying it if possible.

2. It's fine to pitch the whole starter and like you said, with such a small one it isn't going to affect much of anything. The difference in gravity is trivial, as is the little extra volume added to the whole batch.

Some people do decant the starter liquid and just pitch the slurry. But not really an issue with a 1 pint starter. Also, if you were to do this you'd want to plan ahead a little in advance since you need the starter go long enough for the yeast to settle to the bottom.