Northwestern Middle School Computer Labs - Research

Welcome back to day 5 of our computer lab decorations.  The lab we are discussing today was a little different from the other labs.  First, this lab is significantly bigger.  The themed labs were in rooms designed as conference rooms.  Also, the lab we are discussing today has windows.  None of the other labs have windows.  Finally, this is the only lab with bulletin boards.  These differences gave me some new opportunities but also created new challenges.

Windows -- I put vinyl above the windows.  It is tough to see given the lighting but I wanted you to see the windows.

This lab and the lab with the technology time line are the only ones where I used laminated cardstock and paper in addition to the vinyl.  I put the computer terms on the walls in vinyl and I used research websites.  The bulletin boards required the laminated cardstock as opposed to vinyl.

These bulletin boards are next to each other. 

I want to digress for just a moment.  When we started the lab decoration project we thought we would do a mixture of pre-packaged store bought posters and the vinyl.  In fact, we bought and put up store bought items in the math lab.  It just didn't work.  The items weren't tied together properly and we scrapped that plan after we started the second lab.  We learned that it was OK to have laminated cardstock with vinyl but it needed to have the same look and feel as all of the other items.  Given this change, we added a good bit of work to the project.

I used the the mouse from the other labs

and here is the laminated version of Grace.  I orginally did this as a test cut but it looked good so she ended up on the bulletin board also.

I made four files for each mouse.  The first is the base (black).  The second is the places I used the cutting blade.  On the mouse it was the eyes and the outline.  The third layer is for the inked places, the lines in her ears, the whiskers, her mouth, and the details on the feet and legs.

Here is what my mat looks like in Design Studio for the base and nose:

Here is the cut version of the mouse.  If you notice, everything on the inside is light blue because I have used hide contour.

And finally, this is what I "cut" with my mini sharpie in my Cricut E. 

I hope this makes things a little clearer for folks that don't use Design Studio or markers in their Cricut machines. 

This is done in vinyl.  I loved the way the layout of this room came together. 

This is the same dictionary image I used in the Language Arts lab.  If you want more information on this image and others from Cursive 101 go to this post. 

Here are some closer pictures of the images used on the bulletin board.    Each of these images with the text plays off of the headline: "Did you know?"

I absolutely love this factoid and the images.  The "moth" (it's actually a butterfly) comes from Mickey and Friends but I flipped it.  I made the magnifying glass in SCAL although it wouldn't be tough to make it using George and Basic Shapes.  The computer monitor is the one I used in the timeline posts.  It can be found here.

This is a closer view of two of the laptops.  This is to give you some ideas of ways the laptop screens can be used to deliver a message.


I hope this has been useful.  Please leave me a comment if you have questions or need more explanation.  If you would like any of these files, please leave a message. I'm happy to share any of them.