Blog Hoppin' Teacher Week: Why Wednesday? -- Effectively Organize your Computer Center

It's Day 3 of Blog Hoppin' Teacher Week 14'.  Today we are focusing on our favorite organization tips and why they work.  There are already so many awesome strategies other bloggers discussed today (labeling, dollar store deals, planners, binders, checklists...yep, I love it all!)  Sooo, I chose to focus on one specific area in my classroom...in hopes that I am not repeating what other bloggers have already done a fabulous job covering.  So here goes:

My computer area. Last year I had to utilize the school's community library/computer lab because I only had one computer in the room, which is my teacher computer.  So, I needed to go through the whole school schedule business...which translated to just two days a week in the lab.  Not a sufficient amount of time I felt...especially in a world where kids need to be involved with technology.  But this year, I am getting two brand new computers being delivered to my room, along with a wireless connection.  Which meansssssss,..three computers in total! Weeeee!

So, I got to work ASAP organizing my ideas so this center could run smoothly.  The last thing I wanted was for the students this year to get to the center and say,  "What should I do?"  or have them visiting nonsense websites with no educational/developmental value.  Below is how I plan to keep my computer center organized for the year.

The new computers are scheduled to be installed this week (I hope...).  I have three hooks all ready to be screwed into the front of my shelves so I can hang headphones at each computer.  Headphones will each be labeled with the computer number they belong with so students always hang them with the right computer. 

This poster of teacher approved websites is hanging in the computer center so students can quickly refer to the list. Having a "cheat sheet" of my most popular websites keeps the classroom running smoothly by providing the students with expectations as soon as they arrive to the center.  A more comprehensive binder full of passwords and additional URLs of  useful websites  is being compiled and will be ready for our first week back.  The binder will be sorted by subject, just as this poster "cheat sheet" is organized.

 The computer shortcuts will make essay writing and general computer navigation easier for my students.

 Computer center rules will be crucial to ensuring a productive, safe computer center rotation among all students.

Not featured above:
-- Individual student passwords are also laminated and stored on book rings and will be hanging in the computer area for easy access.

--  Lastly, if you haven't tried it in your classroom, it is a must for the 2014-2015 school year!  Symbaloo EDU is an online website that gathers all your online teaching resources, organizes them into convenient tiles, and allows you to share with your students.  When I get my computers installed, Symbaloo EDU will serve as the homepage for each of the computers so the kids can easily navigate the web while at the computer center.  I love that I have the ability to control which websites are featured...and I can arrange and categorize them any which way I choose! *Teacher thumbs up!*

Well, that's a wrap for me.  I hope these organization tips are ones that you can implement in your own classroom!   I can't wait to read some of the other great organization tips you other bloggers have to offer.
Interested in linking up?  Here is what's on deck for the next two days...