Celebrating Dot Day 2013

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!

Links:

The Dot

Celebri-dots

Celebrating Dot Day

International Dot Day celebrating Peter H. Reynolds’ wonderful picture book, The Dot, is on September 15, 2012. This was the first year celebrating in my classroom, but I’m so glad we did.

I read the book to my reading students yesterday. After reading we discussed Vashti and why she might be hesitant to begin her picture at the start of the story. The students made some great connections between The Dot and our current read aloud, Wonder. In each of my three reading classes we had an excellent discussion about how sometimes it is scary to try something new, or to put yourself out there where you could fail. But everyone had stories to share about how rewarding taking that leap could be.

Today the kids spent reading class listening to our Wonder soundtrack and creating their dot. I got the chance to move around the room and talk to each of them about what inspired their dots (and about what they’re reading, can’t miss that!) Not every student out of the 71 finished today but the majority did. I loved walking out of the building past our growing “Dot Gallery.” 

For more information on Dot Day, or to sign up, click HERE. For the link to the "Celebri-dots" created by some celebrities, click HERE. 

Enjoy peaking at a few of our Dots!