My
reading classes celebrated Dot Day on Friday. We began by reading Peter
Reynolds beautiful book, The Dot, on Thursday and discussing Vashti. The
students looked at how they felt Vashti grew throughout the story, the
importance of the role of the art teacher and then the boy at the end of the
book. We also talked about Peter’s other books and the type of message he was
putting out into the world.
On Friday we created our Dots. In some classes we also checked out the Celebri-dots and marveled over the ideas people had had. One of my favorites was Laurel Snyders, which I pointed out to them. This year I wanted to use the ColAR Mix app to make our dots interactive. I showed the students what happened when you colored on the specific paper and then held the iPads over the dots. Magic!
As the
students began coloring and quietly talking, I smiled. I teach three reading
classes. In each class as they were coloring I heard at least one student
remind another, “Don’t forget to sign it!” Vashti’s message was being passed
on.
We ended
our day in my homeroom with our first Skype visit of the year. We Skyped with a
first grade library class Mr. Schu teaches near Chicago. The students were so
sweet and my class kept marveling at what terrific readers they were. It was
the perfect way to end the day.
If you
haven’t read The Dot, I highly recommend it – and all of Peter’s books.
They are exactly the type of books the world needs more of right now.
Watch the
video below to see some photos from my homeroom class as we celebrated the day. (If reading this blog on another site, you might need to click through for the video.)
Make your mark!
Make your mark!
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