Computer Lab Themes

After seeing Vicky S’s cool computer lab wiki on the Elementary Tech Teachers Ning, I noticed her lab will have a theme this year: It’s a Small World.  I really love the idea of having a yearly theme, and it would be an excuse to spruce up the room a bit.  I think it would grab the students’ interest as well and get them excited about what they will learn in the lab.

I googled “computer lab themes” and ran across a fabulous computer lab website by Mrs. Steen.  She has a jungle theme in her lab, complete with decorations and “Top Banana” awards! She has so many resources for other computer lab teachers as well, including a wealth of thematic links that will definitely come in handy during the year. This is definitely a site to check out if you are a computer lab teacher.

I guess you can adapt any classroom theme to the computer lab, so that is my mission. I will report back my findings and decision!

Update: I just found a treasure trove of computer lab pictures decorated in the “Study Island” theme from the contest they had back in 2007. Click on the school entries by state at the bottom to see all of the entries. It will take forever to look through them all!

Smilebox Teacher’s Toolbox Program

Before I had children (and for a short time when they were immobile), I was an avid digital scrapbooker. I would spend hours at a time picking out the pictures I wanted to use, searching the digital scrapbooking sites for the perfect kit to match the pictures, and then another few hours actually creating my page(s). I still love it and often make scrapbook-style invitations for my own family and upon request from others. I also use my skills for my websites (including my blog header!).

My program of choice is Adobe Photoshop. I remember about 5 years ago I was using an ancient program called Microsoft Image Composer. I knew all the tips and tricks, so I was reluctant to change, although I knew I wasn’t doing myself any favors by not knowing Photoshop. I remember opening up the program thinking “this is the day I will learn it”, only to get frustrated and close it. Then the day finally came: I looked up a simple tutorial, learned all about layers, and I haven’t looked back.

These days, I don’t have the time like I used to, which lead me to the program Smilebox.  I came across this program as I was looking for different slideshow programs similar to Photoshow.