When going to the computer lab, I always do whatever prep work I can before taking the students.

If they are going to be writing, I have them write their sentences the day before in class. 

If they are going to be using pictures (for family or house for example) I let them know in case they want to take pictures of their own family or house.

Another timesaver is to have students sign in as you whenever possible.  Create a log in that you can share with students for these sites.  I use this with Photo Peach, Google Drive (different than my school account), Voice Thread, Glogster, etc.  This way I can log on to one account and see all of their work.  Usually the next day in class we will look at the work and have students share their own work out loud to the class.

These pages are from my classroom web site.  When my students go to the lab, they know their directions are on this page.  Feel free to copy and paste my directions for your classroom use:  2012   2011

Students create:

Photo Peach    Online slideshows

Voice Thread   Online self created video

Glogster   Online posters

Make Beliefs Comix   Online comic strip.  There are also many printables!

Collect Student Work:

Dropbox

Google Drive

Students work collaboratively: 

Croc Doc:  collaborate on documents

Collaborize Classroom:students reply to discussions,

polls.  Great personal helpers.

Schoology:  Looks like Facebook to the kids, work similar to Moodle.

Diigo for Education: students share their research

Edmodo Similar to Moodle

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