Need Ideas for Decorating my Classroom this year-technology related.

[serek207]

Hi all! I hope you can help me!

First of all, I must say: I LOVE TEACHING. What better way to spend your day! I've been teaching 5th grade for five years now. In June, I was notified that I will be the new technology teacher for my school for grades first through sixth.

Every year, I have a theme for my classroom. Last year, it was the ocean. It was decked out with everything you could imagine. Fishing nets creatively placed, inflatable sea creatures hanging from the ceiling, bulletin boards that displayed titles like "Sea & Solve Math," "Dive into a Good Book," "Waves of Words," "Fishing for Compliments" and on the door it said "You are Now Entering the Sea of Knowledge." And of course there was much, much more that helped carry out my theme. Even welcome gifts for my new class. If I must say so myself, they classroom looked great and was very inviting.

What I am hoping is that you can help me with coming up with my new theme for the upcoming year. I've been throwing out ideas but I'm not 100% satisfied.
Here is what I have so far:

Wild about Technology-decorate with wild animal type stuff

Monkeying around with Technology-of course, it would be a Monkey theme.

Get Geared Up for Technology -the teacher stores sells decorations with gears on them..maybe use tinkertoys throughout the classroom as well.

Step into Tech-use footprints and shoes

Blast Off with Technology-something with technology in the future, aliens, space shuttles and other stuff.

The teacher last year had turned the room into an Internet cafe. I must say, it was cute. For example, on the board she had a menu. The menu combined the computer programs we teach our kids with menu-type item words. For example, Microsoft Egg-cell Sandwich. Although I liked her theme, I would like something new.

All ideas and suggestions are much appreciated!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[Krafty]

You seem to have some good ideas already. The only thing I can think of right now would be a train theme (All aboard the Technology Train or Tech Express or something to that extent). You can make train tracks to put up as a border around anything. Centers can be "stations" - e.g. Mathburg, Readingville, but since you are strictly technology, I'm not sure what stations you might have. You could even give the kids "passports" where you could put stickers or stamps from completion of activities.

If you do the space theme, you could use old CDs and styrofoam balls to make miniature versions of Saturn (my daughter's daycare did this, I think they cut the ball in half and glued a half on each side of the CD). Once dry, decorate as you like.

I know you'll be doing all the decorating, but I like recycling things when I can. Mobiles are also easy to make with CDs and could probably be adapted to most themes. My older daughter turned a CD into a clock for a project - pretty easy, and we only had to buy the clock works (might be a neat thing for your desk at some point when/if you have spare time). My DH is an IT professional - we have a lot of old CDs if you can't tell ;)

Good luck!

[It'aly'smom]

All these ideas are great! You guys seem to have lots of ideas. I particularly like the internet cafe theme. Can you give more ways the teacher incorporated the theme. This would be an awesome theme for school this year.

Good Luck!

[Boxcar]

I always adore smilies (obviously) and rainbows. So, those are my first suggestions.

A mouse theme might be cute. Computers have mice.

Or Cave of Computers.

Or Cookies and Computers instead of Cookies and Milk.

Or Creepy Crawly Computers and do something with bugs.

Or Tasty Technology and do things with food.

Or the Taste of Computers since you're in Chicago.

[Brit]

whynot just go all-out computers and tech?

theme 1: logon to learning!
you could re-use some of your nets and do it all as the "internet" -- everything being about connections. Bad pun, I know. but everything could be tied together, showing "links" between your different b-boards. I'm just seeing the funny boards I might do...for websites, "Click This!", and you could do a few posters like WWW.GETBACKTOWORK.ORG ...

theme 2: buy into technology
I have this image, too, of the Futurama where they go into the internet...I'm sure that one of the teen movie spoofs did that too. you could set it up as an internet mall. think Ebay, iTunes, etc, etc. Just use the logo shapes and colours to make them into whatever you want.

theme 3: Window into Technology:
LAstly, I have to pitch having an entire room of Windows (i.e. the operating system)-- all your b-boards backed with that blue and the little windows logo in the corner, use a toolbar to list bulletinboard headings, have a few of those screensaver windows toasters floating from the ceiling, use the same font as Windows classic....I would find it extremely killer. ESPECIALLY if you could find a way to work a fatal error screen in somewhere in the room. Maybe on the front of your desk as a "I'm busy" signal"?

[teacher5]

WOW! Your ideas are there. Just choose one and get going. If not pick one of Brit's. I love the 3-D hanging ideas. Use fishing line. Its strong and can hold more weight than regular cord. It is almost invisible, too!