Dot Day Fun

Dot Day

One of my favorite weeks of the year is when I get to collaborate with our art teacher for DOT DAY. She brings the students into the library during their art time, and we co-teach the lessons. We like to start off the class with a discussion about where we can find art in the library. Then, especially with kinder students, we talk about what an illustrator does. Since Peter Reynolds is both the author and the illustrator, we don't get into collaboration between the two a lot this week, but later in the year we like to do lessons where we discuss how the author and illustrator collaborate on the story. 

I read the book, THE DOT by Peter Reynolds, to the students. We talk about the lesson from the story, then go to dot stations. 

Start with a dot, then see what you can make. 

Her dot, turned into a strawberry seed. 

Collaborative Dot -- students each received 1/4 of a dot, decorated it,
then got in teams and put the puzzle together to create a dot. 

At this station, students used Buncee.com to create a dot masterpiece. 

At another station, students were given a hand lense and sent on a mission.
They were dot-tectives. 

ISH

Since I saw students during their art time, for some of the students I saw them twice this week. The second time I saw the students, I read the book ISH by Peter Reynolds. We weren't for sure, but the students and I decided that this was the boy at the end of THE DOT that Vashti helps out. 

After reading the story, students made their own -ISH drawings. 

Favorite Picture of the Week

This sweet girl was so excited to find all the PUPPY PLACE books. 

Speedy September in the Library

The month of September has come and gone, and what a whirlwind it was! We started the school year with construction throughout our entire building. Construction is still going on, and I can't wait to see what our school will look like once all the construction is finished. I know it will be amazing!

CyberSafety

I spent quite a bit of time in September collaborating with the 5th grade teachers on the best ways to teach cybersafety and digital citizenship. With the increase in technology use, especially the ability to add comments to Google Classroom, we thought it would be a good idea to start off the school year with discussion. 

The first week we talked about bullying and cyberbullying with the students. I use a PearDeck presentation and placed several discussion points for the 5th graders. They were able to add their thoughts on several different situations, and see others statements as well. 

The following week, we decided to look at the positive aspect of the internet and how we can control our digital footprint. Students traced their foot, then wrote/drew what they want to have in their digital footprint.

Book cover reveal

One of my favorite parts of my job is getting our students connected to people around the world. We had an amazing opportunity to connect with the author of one of my students' favorite series, FENWAY & HATTIE. The author, Victoria J. Coe, hosted a Google Hangout, and we were one of the schools chosen to participate. Victoria J. Coe talked about her series, then revealed the cover of her new book coming out in 2019. We cannot wait to read the 4th book in the series!! After she talked about the upcoming book, our students were able to ask her questions. It was an amazing morning for our second graders.

Dot Day

One of my favorite days of the year is Dot Day, which falls around September 15th each year. It all started with the book THE DOT by Peter H. Reynolds. If you have not read this book to your students, do it today! It has an amazing message of how we can make our mark on the world, no matter how insignificant we think our talent is.

The art teacher and I collaborate on this day every year, and we come up with grade level activities. She brings her art classes to the library where I read the book, discuss the theme, and then students participate in activities having the do with dots. 

Start with a dot and see where it takes you.

Our first graders received a framed page where they started with a dot anywhere on their page. Then, they changed their simple dot into their own creation. We had dinosaurs, snowmen, cars, flowers, and ducks just to name a few! 

Every student in the school was given a dot to decorate any way they wanted. Thanks to some amazing parent volunteers, the dots were all put together into a school wide collaborative art creation that is now hanging in the library for all to see! Isn't it BEAUTIFUL!

I can't say no to a fun Breakout EDU activity! I found a Breakout that was based on THE DOT, so I set it up in the library for our 4th grade classes. We did 4 Breakout sessions in just 4 hours! MAN was I TIRED!!

In the hallway, we hung up another school wide collaborative art project. Each student in the school received a dot sticker to place anywhere on the poster. This project was based on Yayoi Kusama's Obliteration Room. The kids had so much fun with this! 

Whew! September was busy busy busy!! Now we are into October, and I just recieved 7 boxes of brand new books. I cannot wait to get these books ready, and I know I have some students that are patiently waiting to get their hands on these new books. 

Many more activities are coming in October, so stay tuned!! 

Dot Day Delight

September 15th is International Dot Day, which all started with the book THE DOT by Peter Reynolds. Dot Day is a day that we celebrate our unique talents and how each individual makes his mark in the world. Our art teacher, Ms. Eggers, and I collaborated again this year and came up with Dot stations for Kinder - 2nd grades.  This year went much smoother than last year. The stations were definitely the way to go! 

Reynolds, Peter H. The Dot. Candlewick Press, 2003.

In our first station, students made a dot anywhere on the paper. Then, they had to think about what they could create from that single dot. We had insects, snowmen, flowers, dinosaurs, and pokeballs just to name a few creations. It was amazing to see all the different ideas the students came up with.

The second station was Dazzling Dots! Students made between 3 and 5 dots on their paper, then making zigzagging around each dot with their crayons until the entire paper was covered. The students said it looked like firework on their paper. 

The third station "Not a Dot", similar to what Vashti creates in the book. Students traced a circle template in the center of their paper, then made a design around the circle to create "not a dot".  

The fourth station was the Morse code station. In this station students were able to look at Morse code and write their name and messages using Morse code. This was challenging for the students to decipher what their friends had written. 

The fifth station, and probably the most popular, was the Quiver station. If you have never used the Quiver app in your classroom or library, you must check it out! In this station, students decorated the inside of the dot on the special Dot Day Quiver paper. Then, we made their drawing come to life! The kids LOVED it!!

 

During art time, the older students drew dots in Kandinsky style. This is now hanging in our hallway as a mural. It looks fabulous!

I am so thankful that I am at a school where the teachers realize that the librarian is a teacher, not just the person that checks out books. I love collaborating with all the teachers. Next up is Cyber Safety week. 

Dot Day Celebrations

This past week we celebrated International Dot Day, which was on September 15th. Dot Day is a day to celebrate creativity and our unique talents. The special day is inspired by the book by Peter H. Reynolds, one of my favorite picture books about perseverance and always doing our best. 

Reynolds, Peter. H. 2003. THE DOT. Candlewick Press.

I collaborated with our art teacher to celebrate the entire week. Our art teacher brought Kinder, 1st, and 2nd grades into the library for art class. The kids were amazed that we were having art in the library! It brought up discussion about illustrations in books and the different medium that the illustrators use. I read the book to the students, and we discussed how we each have different talents. Then the art teacher reviewed types of lines that the students had learned the previous week. Each student then got 1/4 of a dot to fill up with the different lines. Groups worked together to put their pieces together to make dots, and we learned about collaboration. 

This group has 1/2 of a dot completed, so they are drawing things with circles on the "dot" tables.

A group has their dot completed! 

Our art teacher is going over the directions and reviewing the types of lines. 

I love how the dots all turned out different and unique, just like our students.

Our fourth grade teachers wanted in on the Dot Day celebration as well, so they were able to come in for a lesson and short celebration as well. Thank goodness for my flexible schedule!  We discussed our lesson mostly through email, and we decided to focus on text-to-self connections. With the fourth graders, we viewed the digital book through TumbleBooks. We had a great discussion on what it means to 'make your mark'.  

After the discussion, students began to make their connections. Some of them needing a little prompting writing their sentences, so I gave them a sentence frame. Just like Vashti_____________, I _______________. This helped the ones that were having trouble connecting their memory to the story. 

Now, the fun part! On the back of the page with the connection students were instructed to get just one color and make a mark on their paper. Then I said, "Now, see where that mark takes you." So the students had to make their mark into a picture.  We had Pokemon, ponies, pizzas, patterns, and landscapes. It was amazing how many different ideas they had. 

So, that was week 2 of flexible schedule, and I am loving it! The lessons have been so meaningful to the students. Next week there will be lessons on CyberSafety in the library. Also, don't forget to check out the campus website for information on the CyberSafety poster! 

On another note: my new circulation desk arrived this week, and I am in love! It has so much storage room that I am still filling it up and making room in other places. One student came in the following morning and said "WOW! It looks just like a real library!" It is certainly an update from my previous circulation desk from 1970.