Organizing my Classroom Computers

Santa came to my classroom and delivered my Christmas presents early in the form of new Chrome books for my kids!

 

They were delivered the week before Thanksgiving and I was so excited!!

 

We'd been using some very old MacBooks for awhile.  These things were so old that I couldn't even open up a PDF file on them for my kids to use these fun Computer Center Sheets I got from TpT.  Bummer.  And when I had our technology person download the latest software, they all crashed and I couldn't even open up a web browser on any of them.

 

So the MacBooks went back on the cart and my kids have been using our Promethean board, plugged into my computer, during center time instead.

 

This was not a good thing.  What if I needed to type up a quick note or answer a parent email during centers?  Well, I couldn't.  Then I'd have 3-4 kids with no center to go to.  Bad idea!

 

My administration listened to us and used some Title money to buy each kindergarten teacher 3-4 new Chromebooks.  No they aren't Macbooks, but they were cheaper.  So it came down to the difference between one MacBook per classroom or 4 Chromebooks.  Well you know which one we picked.

 

I opened up my new goodies, plugged them in to charge, and realized they looked a mess.

 

Pretty bad, huh?

 

This image is wrong on so many levels. 

• I'm sure all those cords bunched together is against some fire code
• Stacking laptops is usually a bad idea because they can get overheated
• And it just looks like an unorganized mess

I just couldn't look at it any longer.

So while I was at Staples Tuesday night, I picked up this hot pink file sorter!

 

$20 of pink, organizational awesomeness.

 

(I love Staples, but my wallet cries every time I walk in the door.)

 

I thought it would be perfect to help me organize my new mini laptops.

This is how it looked right out of the box.

Super easy to put together.

Wait for it...

TADA!!!

 

So pretty!

 

And so nicely organized.

 

I don't have to look at the cords anymore, because they are plugged into the surge protector, which is now on the floor behind the cabinet.

View looking down behind the cabinet.

 

I'm not sure if it would be strong enough for our old super heavy and thick MacBooks, but for these mini sized laptops, it works perfectly.

 

If you do have the bigger, thicker, heavier laptops, I would suggest a black mesh metal file sorter like the one I used to use for my MacBooks.  (I got mine from Walmart or Office Max)

 

How do you organize your classroom laptops?