Happy Monday Made It Blogging Friends! Although summer is coming to an end I am happy to be taking part in my second Monday Made It.

Doesn't my room look jazzy (word stolen from one of my favorite colleagues)? I am so excited with the way my iPad looks hanging in the middle of the lab (off center on purpose)! I posted about it on Friday but just got it up today. It looks AWESOME! 

I found a pack of yellow, orange and hot pink poms from Target which were the three colors I needed. These add the finishing touch my room needed. 

I was inspired by a pin months and months and months ago and now I cannot find a live link but I tweaked it to make it my own! I thought this was a great way to start every lab session and what a positive message to both students AND teachers! 

I love PicMonkey and will be making this my "Technology in Action" board! I love taking pictures and think this is a great way to showcase all the amazing things my little techies will be doing! I have two hilarious comics about technology too!

My buddy Alex, over at The School Potato showed me something in her room (hmmm, cannot remember now?) that she had added fancy duct tape to. I thought it was brilliant and as I was perusing through Walmart I found this white board that I added black and white polka dot ribbon to! 

How much cuter does this white board look with the ribbon around it? Also, pink magnetic eraser, how cool is that?

My room

Happy Friday friends! I spent most of the week in professional development but snuck into school Thursday and Friday to finish up my room! I have a few more touches to put on the lab and then I can begin the "real" work of planning and getting everything synced and updated! 

My allergies were going crazy in the elementary lab so I asked if I could switch the two labs, meaning I would spend much less time in the smaller lab which is the old book room! I moved my center signs over and continued making myself at home! I love how the poms look hanging from the ceiling and I found pink, orange and yellow ones to add which I am excited about! The polka dots look so cute and really help tie everything together! The hot colors look awesome with the black and white! The picture frame was a gift from a former parent who is an amazing photographer and reminds me of my first graders!

I love buckets and baskets! Dollar Store always has adorable ones and I was so excited when I found these pink ones this summer! I wasn't sure what I would do with them but I knew I wanted them and could find a use! As I began organizing my desk drawer I thought they would be perfect! They fit nicely in my drawers! Don't you love all the pink? Yup, that's a pink stapler and a pink calculator!

 This is our school mascot that I painted and laminated for the bulletin board!  I was going to make iPads for them but my PIC shared these adorable neon colored iPods that look awesome. I thought it would be great to have an "App of the Week" bulletin board in the hallway to showcase the best apps. I plan to have my 7th and 8th graders keep up this bulletin board! I'm not sure where I got the letters but they are so colorful and fun!

The lab looks VERY different than it has for the past 6 years. It is bright, colorful and inviting. Our former art teacher who is amazing was in the building yesterday and stopped to check out my new pad! She loved all the colors and what I've done but decided that I needed a "focal point." I'm not sure her technical art talk but I think that's what she said! So I brainstormed with her and the AP and came up with the idea to make a LARGE iPad to hang in the middle of the room! 

I wasn't sure how to undertake this project so of course I hit up Pinterest. For the first time Pinterest had nothing to offer! Today I found a box of chart paper and dumped it out.  I stopped at Walmart and got some black and silver spray paint. I hot glued the box closed, spray painted the front black and the sides and back silver and then used a small roller to paint the white. The apps were found on Google and I played around with the best size. I copied, pasted, cut and hot glued each app on the iPad. A piece of black ribbon is glued across the top and I painted the word iPad, the wifi icon, time (dismissal) and battery power.

For the back I printed the Apple and painted the word iPad with black tempera paint. I cannot wait to get this hung in my room! I am not quite sure how that is going to work but I have ONE idea! 

If you are interested in making a GIANT iPad I would be happy to share the Word Document with the apps and Apple! Happy weekend!!!

Monday Made It

Happy Monday Friends! My head is spinning in so many different directions that I don't even know where to begin! I went to an ITRT professional development on Thursday, a mentor training today so I haven't been in my room and I feel like my to-do list is never ending! In between checking off boxes on my to-do list I wanted to be sure to post for my first Monday Made It Linky Party with Tara over at 4th Grade Frolics!

So if you have been blog stalking you know that I am moving positions this year from 1st grade classroom teacher to ITRT (instructional technology resource teacher)! While being an "internet zombie" which is what my husband now calls me I found an awesome pin that linked to a keyboard inspire monogram! With my last name changing I thought this was a perfect opportunity to put it on display AND how cute is it? My new last name is Jones and it is going to be a big change for the teachers and students.

I found a broken keyboard to take apart and bought a shadow box from Michael's!  Did you know that Michael's has an app you can download and get coupons right on your phone? They also offer an educator discount when you present your school badge! Just a side note!

First, I pried the keys off with a small pair of scissors. I thought it would be cute to spell out my name and some how incorporate my wedding date in the "J" so I quickly started to find letters. I also added RM. 129 and the ctrl key above it! At first glance you may not notice these small touches but I know they are there! It took me awhile playing around with the size and shape of the J but I finally got it perfect.

I incorporated my black and white theme by adding a strip of ribbon across the bottom! I am using yellow as my main accent color but pink is really my favorite so I used a hot pink piece of card stock as the background (left over from wedding crafts). One of the hardest parts was deciding on a font for "Mrs. Jones." I recently became obsessed with downloading fonts! I would say that I have become a font hoarder and can add it to the list of my additions!

Once I got all the pieces in place which took a lot of patience (they were like Dominoes) I started the hot glue process! I have a love hate relationship with the hot glue gun because it has the potential to be so amazing BUT once you put your piece in place you better hope it's where you want it! It looks awesome hanging outside of my new room!

One of the many *hats* I wear at school is being a lead mentor! This is something that I love doing. I am very passionate about supporting new educators! I found tons of "Survival Kits" for new teachers that I tweaked from Pinterest so make this one my own! (Alex, pretend to be surprised because I know you will be reading this)! I picked 15 different things that I found at the Dollar Store, Walmart or Target and added a little positive note or representation for each! I put all the items in a red, white and blue party bag and can't wait to give them to our newbies on our first day together! I have the Word document if you are interested in it, just leave a comment and I am happy to share.

Happy Monday Made It Friends! Thanks for checking out my blog and I hope you will become my newest follower if you are looking for technology tips throughout the year! If there is something specific you have a question about or are looking for just let me know!

Computer LabS

Today I had a training so I didn't make it in to my rooms but I wanted to post some BEFORE pictures!

Goodbye room 102! I had a few last minute things to grab out of my first grade classroom (tearfully) before the new teacher arrives and begins making this her new home!

Hello Elementary Computer Lab! This is the lab that used to be a reading specialists room. This is the room that is driving me nuts with all of the "clutter"! I have picked out fabric to begin making curtains to hide the books. The wall that you are seeing is white but the opposite wall is yellow. I didn't really have a theme in mind but it all fell into place and I am using black and white polka dots with yellow! I think black and white polka dots are so classic and would have picked pink as an accent color but the wall is already yellow, my 2nd favorite color so it works! It fell into place one night when I was blog hopping and saw School Girl's Style Polka Dots and Daisies Theme. 

This is the Middle School Lab. The desks, shelves and cabinets are red. It has one light blue wall and three white walls. I am sticking with the black and white polka dot and bright colors (mainly yellow)  in this room and it is looking great!

More pictures to come :)!