Chromebook Storage

First Thing I had to do was come up with a place to store my Chromebooks.  The school was supplying file racks but because of my “OCD” that was not going to work.  Cords everywhere.  AHH!!  

So a colleague of mine created these. 

I labeled each shelf with a number and also labeled the Chromebook with the same number.  The only thing I regret is not putting the number on the side where it is plugged in. I put them in the front in the middle of the Chromebook.   I will change that when the tags start coming off. 

I have attached the cords with zip ties making sure each shelf had a cord for charging. 

I do not have my students plug in their Chromebooks.  Little ones tend to push plugs in crooked and try to push the cords in to make them fit and sometimes hard.   Also I want to make sure they are not plugged in every day to help the battery last.  

I used these until the end of the year.  At the beginning of this year, the entire school went 1 to 1 so our old laptop carts went up for grabs.  This is what it looks like.  

Other teachers have used student mailboxes and storage carts to store their Chromebooks.  

I love my laptop cart.  It takes up a lot of space but I have storage on the top that has been super helpful.  Maybe this will be helpful if you have to come up with your own storage.  

Welcome to Tech Crazy

     Hello, I am Dina Vander Wilt.  I am a Kindergarten teacher, a mom, and technology nut.  I have been teaching 20 years.  I have amazing 4 children and a wonderful husband who puts up with my crazy.  For the past 5 years I have been teaching Technology for Teachers at Dakota Wesleyan University and surprise my 4^th child came along at 40 which made my life wonderfully busy.  Unfortunately, I am not Wonder Woman so I had to give up my wonderful college students and stick with my wonderful Kindergarten students and my beautiful babies.  Because I can no longer teach about something that I am completely passionate about. I am going to teach through this blog.  I hope I can spread my knowledge, experiences, and ideas to make my teacher friends lives a little easier. 

      Technology is important to our student’s future.  We need to expose them to as much technology as possible.  Even though technology changes so quickly, learning from old technology helps prepare them for the new technology.  Plus, we need to teach our students how to use technology in more creative ways and not just playing games and watching videos.   I am also a firm believer that we need to balance hands-on learning and technology.  We should not be spending the majority of our school day on electronic devices.  

     I have had iPads in my classroom for 4 years but just the last two have been 1 to 1.  In March 2017 the administration pulled my iPads and gave me a classroom set of Chromebooks.  This has been a struggle and I am up for the challenge, but for those of you who have iPads, you can understand my frustration.  Kindergarten and Chromebooks is much more challenging.  This blog will document my journey and maybe help someone else.  My philosophy is make it as easy and purposeful as possible.  Hope you enjoy!