Have you ever heard of International Dot Day? I hadn't heard of it until it was introduced to us at school last week. International Dot Day is inspired by Peter Reynold's book "The Dot" and is a celebration of creativity and courage. We were told about the book and asked to do a craft project in our classrooms using coffee filters.
Since we didn't have the book, I found a YouTube video of the book so I started off by playing the video to my class. It is a story of Vaski who was inspired by her art teacher to "make her mark and see where it takes her".
We had a great class discussion of what the story meant and I was pleasantly surprised that my students realized the theme of the story. We talked about encouragement, having courage, and making our "marks" in the world. We used these free task cards to further our discussion.
Afterwards each student made a craft for Dot Day. We handed coffee filters out to each student, let them draw/make their dot, and then sprayed it with water. We let them dry before turning them in to become a school wide art project. They are now hanging in the cafeteria in front of the windows and look SO nice!
Love your dots. We are a bit late this year and getting our dot on this upcoming week. Thanks for the YouTube link. I know that will come in handy. :)
ReplyDeleteHi Mrs. Gerin! My name is MeLeah Miller, and I am a sophomore at the University of South Alabama. I am majoring in Elementary Education, and I am currently enrolled in a course called EDM310. In this class, we have a personal blog and leave comments on student and teacher blogs all around the world. This week, my professor has chosen your blog for me to read and make comments! I had never heard of International Dot Day before reading this post, so I was excited to learn more. It sounds like a very fun and inspiring book for children. I love the coffee filter craft project idea. If you would like, feel free to visit my blog and our class blog!
ReplyDeleteHello! I am a college student in Iowa majoring in Elementary Education and I have just started blogging my experience with my education and I am planning on taking it into my career! I came across your blog and I have really enjoyed looking through it! In one of my classes we did dot day as well and did a technology project with it! I think it is such a great thing!
ReplyDeleteHello Mrs. Gerin! I have heard of International Dot Day before and think it is such a great way to encourage students to be creative and for them to make their mark on the world. I have heard of many different projects for students that go along with the book, but I love your idea to use coffee filters. I think it is great to allow students to create their own dot. I cannot wait to incorporate this art activity in my classroom one day!
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