I posted before that I received 6 Chromebooks from Donors Choose. They were awesome and I was so excited, but there was one slight problem: I didn't have anywhere to put them!
So I built a shelf for my new laptops out of a 2x12 board. It was about a half an inch too big to fit into my car, so one of my awesome coworkers came by this morning with his truck and hauled it to school for me! He even brought it into my classroom, though I told him that was completely unnecessary. (I hauled it out to my garage alone- I can bring it into my classroom!)
I spent some time this afternoon laying on the floor, leaning over so my head was underneath the shelf, and basically trying to get it prepared for the students to use. My neck was killing me when I finished, but it was so worth it! I had to drill holes into the wood, then screw the bike hooks into the wood for the headphones to hang on. I also put some cord wrangler-things on the back for the cords to stay on so they aren't hanging all over the place and making me crazy. I only hammered my thumb about 10 times or so. Ha!
Now there are 6 brand new laptops available for the students to use! I need to paint the bottom of it and give the rest of it another coat of paint, but it got a little knocked up during the drive to school, so I'm glad I didn't finish painting it at home. I'll probably do that one weekend when I know the kids won't be around to breathe in the paint fumes!
The best part is, it takes up just a little bit of space! I have some carpet squares the kids can use to sit on, and we all know kids don't like to sit in chairs anyway, so this way, they can sit on their bottoms or on their knees, whichever way is more comfortable!
The kids are going to be so excited when they come in tomorrow and see this all set up! They watched my co-worker carry it in, and when they found out I built it all by myself, they were quite impressed. I can't wait to see their reactions tomorrow when they come in! I personally am quite excited! :-)
That is quite a DIY project! I love the way you have the hooks for the headphones! I am sure it will be a hit!
ReplyDeleteSarah
Clearly Kindergarten
It really wasn't very hard at all, actually! I just had the guy at Home Depot cut the wood for me in the lengths I need, and bought a bunch of L brackets. The legs of my bench have 2 l brackets on each side holding them onto the top. It's not fancy, but it's functional! I love the hooks too! It makes it so easy for the kids to just hang their headphones and I don't have to worry about them getting tangled up!
DeleteI actually made another one that holds book boxes and math bins that you can see in this post http://blooming-in-first.blogspot.com/2012/09/classroom-reveal.html. The hardest part of making this one was getting it to school! (The first one fit in my car; the one for the computers didn't!)