Logitech Crayon Charging Station for Elementary and Middle Schools

One of the new additions to our One to World program for 2019-20 is the availability of Logitech Crayon devices for all Barrington 220 students and teachers. The Logitech Crayon is designed specifically for iPad and the manufacturer describes it as a “digital pencil for iPad...as natural to use as pen and paper.” The Logitech Crayon can be used with any app that supports the Apple Pencil.

Teachers and Barrington High School students have Logitech Crayons assigned to them. Our current plan is for elementary and middle school students to use Logitech Crayons at school during the school day and not take them home at night. We plan to make Logitech Crayons available by making them available as class sets at the elementary and middle schools.

Because Logitech Crayons need to be charged, we have designed a safe and cost-efficient charging station for use in our classrooms.

Setup

Each classroom charging station is comprised of the following items:

• 1 SIIG 10-Port USB Charging Station with Ambient Light Deck
• 10 6-inch Lightning Cables (MFi-Certified, white or black, various manufacturers)
• 1 Clear ULINE Plastic Stackable Bin (7.5 x 4 x 3 inches)
• Logitech Crayons (quantity determined by class/set size)

The Logitech Crayon charging station can charge up to 10 Logitech Crayons at the same time; thus, not all Logitech Crayons will be charging simultaneously.

Organization

To simplify records and track the location of our Logitech Crayons, we are using a color coding and numbering system. Each Logitech Crayon has a round colored dot with a number. Colors designate grade level and numbers correspond to the number of students in each grade (as of 2019–20).

Grade - Color 
Kindergarten - Purple
Grade 1 - Yellow
Grade 2 - Blue
Grade 3 - Orange
Grade 4 - Fluorescent Green
Grade 5 - Fluorescent Red
Grade 6 - Fluorescent Yellow
Grade 7 - Sky Blue
Grade 8 - Light Green

Labeling

In addition to color coding, we have sequentially numbered Logitech Crayon devices for each grade level. For example, Logitech Crayons in an elementary school with 100 Grade 3 students each have a round, orange, numbered label (with a label protector over the dot). The devices are labeled 1–100. Teacher A gets 1–25, Teacher B gets 2–50, etc.

Special Thanks!

As with any good solution, we have people to thank. Phil Hintz at Gurnee District 56 gave us the initial idea for this solution. Phil has a very similar setup in his district. Thanks, too, to Barrington 220's Tech & Innovation Department Coordinator, Hector Ontiveros, for tracking down 2,400 6-inch Lightning cables and facilitating school deliveries. And, of course, thanks to Barrington 220's LTAs for labeling and completing final setups for this project!

Using the Logitech Crayon

Users need to know that Logitech Crayons:

• need to be charged and turned on to function.
• are turned on by pressing the on/off button for 1 second.
• can be used for up to 7.5 hours of writing time on a single charge.
• automatically power off after 30 minutes of idle time to preserve battery.
• can be charged for 90 seconds and used for 30 minutes of writing time.
• DO NOT need to be paired with an iPad.

Battery Life Indicator

While the Logitech Crayon is turned on, short press the on/off button:

• Green light if battery >10%
• Red light if battery <10%
• Blinks red if battery life <5%

More Information

Please check with your school’s LTA(s) for a specific availability date for your building.