The following was originally published October 13, 2009 at http://blogs.wcboe.org/techcoachpatti/2009/10/13/using-our-mini-laptops/
Classrooms in our schools now have 5 mini laptops (netbooks) for our students to use. How are you using them with your students? Please share any ideas that work for you as you and your students use the new laptops.

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Ways to use our 5 mini laptops in the classroom

In these pictures the laptops are still plugged in and can be used all day long with power. Notice the position of the safe. It is close to the table where the students are working.












We can make a directory for each teacher on the I drive in the SHARED folder where students can save files. A shortcut to that folder can be placed on the desktop of the laptop.

Activity	Description	Resources
Collaborative Writing - building a story in Word	The teacher types a story starter on each computer in a Word file. The stories are on the screen. Students go to a computer and add a paragraph to the story. Watch the story unfold!	Writing Topics - for grades 1-12
wiki	The teacher has built a classroom wiki. Students have their own wikipages within the wiki and can write stories or write on any topic assigned by the teacher.
VoiceThread - book reports	Teacher builds a VoiceThread for "book reports" and makes student identities. The VT can be open on each computer in the "mini lab" in the classroom. Students change to their own identity and record their thoughts about a favorite book. Images for the VT could include pictures of the students holding their book, drawing that students make of a scene in the book or a poster with a new cover for the book...	Flickr Toys
blog	The teacher has created a classroom blog. She/he writes posts for the students to comment on. These posts can be on any topic students are studying.
Pixie	Students use images and create text to tell a story with Pixie. Their stories can be saved as a movie.
Interactive websites	Teachers create a wiki and add links on their wiki pages to interactive websites. Students simply click on the links and go...!	Interactive web sites
Education City	Teachers build "My City" and students login to Education City and do their assigned work.
Internet Scavenger Hunt	Teachers create questions around a topic in science, social studies or any content area. The students use the Internet to hunt for the answers.
Kidspiration/Inspiration	The teacher can create templates for students to complete.	Kidspiration Make 'n Take Sample templates Math Templates Tutorials and Templates
Web Research	Teacher creates a hotlist of sites for students to explore and complete activities.
Google Docs	Students can work collaboratively on a document with this application. Presentations, spreadsheets or documents
Graph Club	Students work together in groups to gather data from their classmates and then create a graph in Graph Club.
Science	As students are doing a science experiment or exploration they can use the mini laptops for recording their observations and resulting data.
Listening Center	Create a hyperlink to TumbleBooks through Wicomico County's library and students can watch and listen to books online.	TumbleBooks
Reading/LA using MS Word	Students write a report on a topic, insert clipart from Word,and use basic editing tools to make titles, subtopics and bulleted lists (text features).	MS Word
Museum Box	Create a Museum Box - describe an event, person, place, animal, or concept by placing objects and writing text in a virtual box.	http://museumbox.e2bn.org/
Wordle	Create a Wordle showing the main idea of a story in your anthology	http://wordle.net/create
PhotoStory	Create a digital story using Photo Story
blog	Respond to a discussion question on a classroom blog.
wiki	Visit interactive websites linked from a classroom wiki.
Image Blender	Create images in Image Blender to describe a science concept. Insert the images into PowerPoint and add text for a presentation to your classmates.
Pixie	Write and original story in Pixie and illustrate it.
TimeLiner	Make a time line of major events in your life using TimeLiner.
PowerPoint	Take pictures around your school and put them in a PowerPoint slideshow. Add descriptive text and make a tour of Delmar Elementary School. Include some of the exciting activities students do at Delmar.
VoiceThread	Create a VoiceThread on a topic in reading, science, social studies or math.
Graph Club	Survey your classmates about their favorite foods, sports, and TV shows. Make graphs using Graph Club.
Kerpoof	Create your own movie with Kerpoof	http://www.kerpoof.com/
Tikatok	Write your own story on Tikatok	http://www.tikatok.com/
Art	Experiment and create art.	http://www.nga.gov/kids/kids.htm
Kidspiration	Visit National Geographic Kids and explore a topic of your choice. Use Kidspiration to make a graphic organizer that shows what you have learned.	http://kids.nationalgeographic.com//
Google Earth	Use Google Earth and find the location of a place you are reading about in your anthology or a place you are studying about in Social Studies.
PBS Kids	Be a history detective on PBS Kids	http://pbskids.org/historydetectives/index.html
Music	Create music online - http://www.creatingmusic.com/ or http://www.sfskids.org/templates/home.asp?pageid=1