My project task is to create a thermometer. The thermometer will obtain a temperature from a server via wireless and display it on an LCD display. I have an Arduino Duemilanove with an ATmega328 microcontroller and a Copperhead WiFi Shield (http://www.cutedigi.com/wireless/wifi/linksprite-cuhead-wifi-shield-for-arduino.html). No specific LCD display has been chosen yet. I'm looking for some guidance on where to start with the software side of things. I've played around with the open-source Arduino Environment a bit; I suspect I'll have to use SPI (which I haven't used yet). Any tips and advice would be greatly appreciated.
My project task is to create a thermometer.
Who assigned this task? Sounds like school work to me.
The usual response to "do my homework for me" is no.
what type of temperature sensor will you be using?
the wifi looks like spi so you had better look at some tutorials 
Yes, this is a school related project but I'm not asking anyone to do it for me. I'm looking for guidance, a general plan of what needs to be done, things to keep in mind, etc.
It's not actually a thermometer so to speak, so there will be no thermometer sensor. A user will enter a temperature into a program, which is then sent to a server where my thermometer will obtain the temperature and display it.
a general plan of what needs to be done
Sounds like you have that already.
You need to get the library that goes with your shield, and try out the examples.
The physical hardware side of things will be the least of your problems. Getting the device to connect to the network will be far more challenging.
I think I have a pretty good grasp on using the Arduino and WiFi Shield together. I'm approaching the point where I need to communicate with the server. I'm not really sure what the best way of doing this is. I have been unable to get the shield to connect through my school's secure wireless network, I've only been able to use my home network successfully with a couple of the examples. Providing I can succeed with connecting to my school's network, how would I go about contacting the server to obtain specific information? If I can't connect to my school's network I plan to just use the wireless router. However, there are two ways I see using it:
- Set up the router as a typical wireless access point and use the internet to contact the server
- Connect the router directly to the server without providing internet access and just communicate via the router directly to the server
Suggestions?