"SPACE" FILLER {Classroom 360}

As we continue to travel 360 degrees counterclockwise around my 2012-2013 classroom, we arrive just north of my Math Workshop Board at my "SPACE" Filler.


Do you get it?  "Space" Filler?  Like Outer Space? Forget it.

I got about 3/4 of the way through this blog post and realized I'm not happy with the "after" picture.

I liked it enough in real life, but while editing the photo for today's Classroom 2012-2013 Reveal, I started to feel like it was missing something. Then after I uploaded it next to the before picture I really felt like it needed something more.

So on Monday morning, I'll trek back into school, make a few alterations and then return to my regularly scheduled summer vacation. Because you all know I will lie awake at night thinking about the "what's missing" until it is no longer missing. :)

Let me explain.

This was my hallway display "Welcome Back" Board last fall.

{view the original blog post about this Welcome Board here}

I love, love, loved it.

It was inspired by a board I had coveted online {in the pre-Pinterest days if you can believe that}.

I try to tie everything in with a writing project so I created a writing packet to go with the board and it was the first piece my students completed.

{click here to purchase / instantly download this packet}

When the Welcome Board overstayed its welcome, I took it down and replaced it with something else ...spiders I think...so that tells you how much I loved it because we didn't do spider research until we started our Charlotte's Web study in October.

I am lucky enough to have REALLY high ceilings in my classroom. They make the room feel so much bigger than it actually is. But, they create a whole bunch of extra vertical space that sometimes make the room feel a bit empty.  Since I had space and I had a rocket and motivational phrase hanging out in a closet unused, I decided to fill the space. It's appropriate because:

• One of my goals in my current classroom design was to include phrases and reminders to make sure learning is engaging and inspiring.
• Our school mascot is a Rocket - how perfect is that?
• The bright colored word cards matched the Bright and Cheerful classroom decor theme I had settled on using.
• It was already done and at that point in the year I certainly didn't need to add more to my plate.

Here's what the rocket and words look like in their new home above my math workshop board:

Like I said, the picture made me feel like a little something was missing.  I realized that I loved the black background on my original board. Since I am balancing all of the bright colors in my room with Blackline Design accents throughout, I decided that mounting the cards onto black cardstock will be just the little extra sumpin-sumpin' it needs.

{ETA: After looking at it again, I think I'll add a moon and stars with my new friends names or pictures on them.}

I'll keep you posted when I add them on Monday!