MIddleton 2019 Dot Day Celebration

One of my favorite days of the year is International Dot Day.

Dot Day was first celebrated in 2009 by teacher Terry Shay.  Shay encouraged her students to harness the creativity and courage displayed by Vashti in Peter Reynold's The Dot. 



Today Dot Day has become a global event, celebrated by more than 16 million people in
183 different countries! WOW!

I love Dot Day because it is the one day that both of my school communities
come together to celebrate creativity and courage.
 We start getting ready for Dot Day during the first weeks of school. 
Take a look at the different projects we worked on this year. 

Kindergarten: Dot Prints

1st Grade: Collaborative Dot Community Garden

2nd Grade: Dots Have Feelings Too!

2nd Grade: Coding Dots with BeeBot

 

5th/6th Grade: Augmented Reality Dots with Quiver

All of our creative exploration culminates with Dot Day.
This year celebrated on Monday September 16.

The first signs of Dot Day creativity show up first thing in the morning when a slew of dotastic outfits walk through the doors.  All of the homemade dots brought me so much joy!

I loved seeing whole school spirit!

Some students even brought dot snacks and lunch - How's that for making your mark!

Every year classrooms amaze me with the activities they plan with their students. 
Each one highlights the importance of creativity and courage.  

What's your favorite Dot Day activity?

Ringing in the New School Year with International Dot Day!

I wanted to officially welcome everyone back to the new school year!  

Since Dot Day always falls in the beginning of the school year it is a great way to start things off. Dot Day is a global celebration of Peter Reynolds, The Dot. Learn more about Dot Day here!
Celebrating Dot Day as a community sets the stage for the importance of
creativity and courage early on in the school year.  

Both Fuller Meadow and Howe Manning artists jumped right in on day one with Dot Day projects.  More posts to come about what they've been working on, but here are a few highlights
of some of their finished and in progress work.

Kindergarten

1st Grade

2nd Grade

5th Grade

6th Grade

Of course no Dot Day celebration is complete with out dots, and tons of them! 

I am a huge fan of all those kids that go out of their way to make home made dot outfits!  

This year I joined them, but theirs are definitely better!

These two kinders totally got into the spirit!

It was so wonderful to see our whole Middleton community coming together 

to create and celebrate International Dot Day.  

Classes incorporated art, math, ELA, and STEAM. 

 Brave kindergarten teachers broke out watercolors with their students in their second week of school.  There is not better day to try something scary and new then on Dot Day!

Dot Day 2018 is a strong indication that is going to be an Art-rageous school year.

WELCOME BACK!!

Total Eclipse of the "Art"

Getting Ready for Dot Day: 3rd Grade Edition

It seems like ages ago now but I wanted to share our first 3rd grade project of the year! 

So many 3rd grade artists were excited to talk about their eclipse viewing experiences.  

I was so impressed with how many made their own viewers too.  

A few students even shared their travels to see a total eclipse with us!

We used this years solar eclipse and Dot Day as inspiration to create Eclipse Dots.

I love how each student had a different take on their eclipse dot art.

Did you have eclipse fever? 

Check out this video for DIY cereal box viewers just in case you want to get ready for 2024 early!

Introducing "Artovation" at Howe Manning

ARTOVATION!

This year at Howe Manning, 4th and 6th grade students are helping to pilot a new innovative arts curriculum called Artovation.  It is an arts based class with so much more! 

Artovation will integrate STEAM, Makerspace, and project based learning into to the art room. 

We're off to a great start.  Check out our first challenge.  

This project was inspired by art teacher, Jenny Knappenberger. 

Click here to learn more about her approach.

We put a "DOT" spin on our brown bag art challenge.  Each group had a different material to use; clay, popsicle sticks, cardboard, pipe cleaners, or curling ribbon.

It was wonderful to see how each group tackled this problem in a different way.  

Check out a few of our finished products and the students at work.

See if you can find how a dot influences each work!

Next time you're at Howe Manning come and see our Dot Gallery in person.

Getting Ready for Dot Day: Fuller Meadow Edition

Fuller Meadow Artists spent their first few weeks of school preparing for Dot Day.  

Want to learn more about what Dot Day is all about? Click here. 

We read a few favorite titles.

 

Kindergarten artists hit the ground running by showing off their fine motor skills.  They created 3D collages using multi sized dots and strips of paper that were twister, bent, folded, looped and more!

1st graders combined printmaking with a review of primary and secondary colors. 

I love how some of the colors bled together to make happy accidents!

Finally, the 2nd grade created dots with concentric circle designs and one of 

my favorite techniques, watercolor resist.

    

What do these dot works of art inspire you to do?

A "Dot"astic Day in Middleton!

We had another successful Dot Day celebration in Middleton this year!

On September 15th students at both Fuller Meadow and Howe Manning found ways to "MAKE THEIR MARKS".  In the weeks leading up and throughout the day students participated in creative and courageous projects and activities.

So many students came out in their best dotted gear. 

I was so impressed with all the home made dots this year!

We had at least 2 sets of Howe Manning twins decked out in dots.

I mean we even had hair dots people!

Even our youngest members of the Middleton community made their marks!

The day wasn't just about dot attire.  

Click on the grade levels for posts on all the amazing projects we worked on in
K-3rd grade art and 4th and 6th Grade Artovation Class.

On my way home that day I came across these beautiful temporary dots in the parking lot at Fuller Meadow. It was so exciting to see how everyone came together to celebrate the day!

Click on these Middleton blogs to see many other dot day projects!

Klipfel & Kids

Ms. Teixeira's T-Rexs

Over in the Meadow
Creating Art with Mrs. Smullin

Thank you for a DOTASTIC day!