Coffee Bar Themed Computer Lab

When I found out I’d be teaching in the portable building, I had mixed feelings… until I went into it the first time. It’s beautiful, and the newest, nicest room I’ve ever taught in. I absolutely love it. And I was able to transform the two white boards into bulletin boards to give even more space for displaying relevant information that I pieced together from various things I found online.

For example, I took a blank computer keyboard I had printed out, and ran it through the poster maker machine in our library, then colored it. I also took blank hands, ran thru the poster maker, and used coordinating colors to show which fingers should be used for proper keyboarding use.

I also created a “THINK” bulletin board to encourage kids to make positive choices online, and have made the printables available for purchase here.

But my favorite part of my decorating is all of my coffee bar themed materials. I had purchased some sets online in the past, and added a couple of pieces to the theme for this year. I also created several of my own posters using the Canva for teachers software. You can purchase your own copy of my Calming Corner posters here and here on my Teachers Pay Teachers page. My goal was to make the computer lab seem like a fun Coffee Bar-type environment, and the kids LOVE the theme. I can’t begin to tell you how many times each day a student will ask me if I can make them some coffee, or will call their own water bottle their “coffee.” I love to make learning fun, and this environment definitely puts them at ease and makes them smile. One sweet boy can never remember my name, but calls me “hey, teacher who likes coffee.”

One poster I made that is totally custom, and NOT available for sale on my page is this one:

I originally started the year with numbers on pieces of paper taped to coffee cups I had purchased and run through the laminator to label each computer. But, the cups were printed off the side/not all centered (because that happens when you buy pre-printed products), and adding a number to the top of them made them too thick for the lamination to stick very well… and then there was the OTHER idea I had tried… I had wanted to put velcro on the front as well as by the screen, so the kids could move the coffee cup to stick up on the screen when they needed help, instead of raising their hands. Little did I know how much the sound of the velcro would DRIVE. ME. CRAZY. and how the kids (esp the third graders) would PLAY with the coffee cups and make them fall apart. So, by the time the first month was done, I was looking for another option.

Enter my partners at Clear Path Paper, and my mom with her Cricut machine! Using their 65lb 12×12 Royal Blue and 65lb 12×12 Silk White to fit with our school colors, she made coffee cups with numbers printed on them for me. (Note the bear paw numbers that fit perfectly with our school mascot!!) I laminated them, and attached them to the Chromebooks with glue dots for a permanent attachment. No more velcro for me! HA! The kids immediately saw them and said “Hey! LaVernia coffee cups!” Go bears! 😉 Using the nice thick paper from Clear Path and mom’s Cricut, these numbers will LAST. Very grateful to Clear Path and also to mom for making these possible! They certainly MAKE the theme complete!

Now my coffee bar themed room is complete! I definitely love how it has turned out, and so do my students!