International Dot Day is September 15th! Over the past few years, Iโve used the The Dot by Peter H. Reynolds as our weekly mentor text and really dig into comprehension with it. We also take part in a fun and creative way to make a dot that week as well.
Here are some of our comprehension activities! These work great for a kindergarten or first grade classroom. You can grab these literacy activities in my Dot Interactive Read Aloud activity kit.
& Here are some of the different ways weโve made dots in the past few years in honor of International Dot Day.
Tearing Paper!
Gather up your scrap paper/paper from recycle can and let your kiddos sharpen those fine-motor skills by tearing little dots and layering them onto a “background” display page! (This Craft and Page is part of my Dot Read Aloud resource).
Pumpkin & Q-Tip Dots:
This way has by far been my favorite to do with my kinders. The first week or so of Sept, Trader Joes starts putting out their mini pumpkins for .60 cents. I scooped up a class set and we used washable paint and q-tips to design a dot! These also made a great keepsake for the kiddos.
We did do this project a little later on (October) and referenced our read aloud week! For the paint set up, I just lined our tables with butcher paper, put the pumpkins on paper towels, students shared paper plates with the paint (I did 2 kiddos per plate so not much stretching to reach was needed), found $1 bagged paint from Walmart and gave each table piles of q-tips! *they always have table trashcans – so dirty q-tips went into those STAT! I would suggest lining them that day with old grocery bags. Or you could just put an extra paper plate on the table for used ones!
BUILDING using Bricks!
All you need is some creativity, base plates and building bricks! (this could work with play dough – no bricks or baseplates needed)
Pixel Dots!
I did this activity when I was in the library, go Digital or print out the template for Coloring! I had my older 2nd grade + kiddos do digital but many preferred coloring. The coloring is also fun for littles to brainstorm and make a dot. Grab this free template here. You’ll need Google Drive to access the “copy”. From there, you can download it & print it.
Draw & Tell Dot Art!
Draw & Tell (by Duck Duck Moose) is my FAVORITE app for creating all the things in kindergarten! My kiddos really like the varied tools and stencils this app gives. We’ve literally used this app for all the things, so my kiddos are familiar with the app when creating. But honestly, it’s very user friendly and would work well for a quick model on the app and then sending your kiddos off to explore and create some dot art.
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