Donated and Older Computers

What do we do with our mix and match of older computers that are donated or just hand me downs fro the labs. Even though they may be older and slower they can be beneficial in the classroom. It does not take much of a computer for word processing, and many of the educational games were designed for these older systems.

If we are using donated computers, it is important to ensure that you hold all of the proper licenses for the operating system and software you are running on the system. If you are using a PC Microsoft offers the fresh start program, they will provide you with a full copy of Windows 98 and Windows 2000. It is important to note that Windows 98 has a security hole, and Microsoft is ending support on it. If you will not have the computer on the internet there should be no problem but if it will be it is highly recommended that load windows 2000. To get this software check with your schools tech person to see if you are already enrolled, if not go to Microsoft Fresh Start to get enrolled.

If you want to avoid the licensing hassles, or if you have a mix of Macs and PC's and you want them all to look and run the same, you can load a Linux operating system on all of them. In my next post I will tell you about my pick for the best distribution of Linux.

http://www.childrenslibrary.org

It would be fun to let children look at books and stories from the many worldwide cultures that we study over the course of the year. Yet developing that sort of library could get very expensive. Well this is where http://www.childrenslibrary.org becomes very helpful. It is a very broad collection of children's books from a wide range of cultures and languages. The site is well designed and allows to browse based on a variety of methods for example age based or topic based. It also has powerful search capabilities.


Admittedly it is not a substitute for a quality collection of real books, but at the price of free it is a way to introduce books language and culture to our classroom without paying hundreds of dollars. Although it is free if you use it a lot, I recommend making a donation.

If you are looking to add international real books to your collection here are a few suggestions.





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