Northwestern Middle School Computer Labs - Social Studies theme

Welcome back to my week of computer labs.  This week will deal with lots of vinyl and printing on large images. If you haven't had a chance to look at the overview, it can be seen here.

The social studies themed lab had the normal computer terms (see this post for a list of them) and websites used by the students to study government and social issues.  Some of the websites included WhiteHouse.gov,  NationalGeographic.com, SmithsonianEducation.org, FactCheck.com, and because we are in Georgia, Georgia.gov.  All of these sites were cut out in a blue similar to the color of a hyper link in an email or word document.  I purchased the vinyl from Nick at Craft Vinyl.  I had trouble getting the correct blue from anyone else.  He can be found here.  I am not affiliated with him, I think he does a good job and I like working with small businesses.

The graphics in this room included these images from the 50 States cart.  I can't tell you how much I love that cart.  It comes in handy at very interesting times.  Not only does it have the outline of each state, word art for the states and capitals but it has the state flags (not especially helpful for Georgia but great for other states) and the state flower.  I have been wanting Walk in My Garden for a while but I always know I have very realistic flowers on this cart. A few months ago, someone on the Cricut MB sent around a listing of the colors for each state if you don't want any contiguous states to have the same color.  It was very helpful if you wanted to make a full map.

The students study Georgia history and world history.

The globe comes from the Going Places cart.  I cut it in 4 pieces (two for the green and two for the blue).  I had to "hang" half of the image off of the mat so I could cut it large enough.  In the end it was 24 inches across.  The continents were made using SCAL and an SVG from the internet of a world map.  I then broke them apart so I could cut them each separately.  Australia fit on a 12 x 12 mat but the rest of them required a 12 x 24 mat.

and

In retrospect, I could have made this room a little more colorful.  I think I would have done the continents in different colors.

This is a fairly good picture of the theme with the computer mouse, Grace the animal mouse and the word "mouse" connected together with the computer mouse's tail.

For everyone looking for something to do with the piles and piles of CD's and DVD's that you no longer use, I love the way this chalkboard was decorated. 

I wish I could take credit but this was done by the Technology Specialist (the person that runs the labs), she is also my Moma.