Three Dedham Schools Celebrate Dot Day

Three Dedham elementary schools celebrated Dot Day, based on the children’s story written by Blue Bunny Owner Peter Reynolds.

All of the students at the Avery, Oakdale, and Riverdale Schools celebrated Dot Day last month with art projects created by MS Paint, iPads, according to Riverdale School Library Medial Specialist Ingrid Mayyasi.

The Dot is the story of a caring teacher who dares a student to trust in her own abilities by being brave enough to “mark her mark.”  She begins with a small dot on a piece of paper, igniting a journey of self-discovery and sharing. 

After reading The Dot, the students at Avery School created dots as a class and on their own, shared dots, turned their dots three dimensional with an iPad app, and wrote about how they will "make their mark," Mayyasi said in an email.

At the Oakdale School,  every grade celebrated in a different way. First and second graders interacted with the book, “Press Here,” by Herve Tullet and then decorated very large dots. Students in 3C and 3D created dots using MS Paint. 3A had a very special Skype visit with a second grade class in Canton, Georgia, that also read the Dot. After the meeting, they decorated dots. Their dots will be cut in half. One half will be sent to their new friends and the students in Georgia will send halves of their dots to the students at Oakdale.  Fourth graders created animated dots using ABCya! Animate and the fifth graders made Make Your Mark posters using Recite This!

At the Riverdale School all students read The Dot and created many beautiful dots with Ms Paint and some even used coffee filters. The second graders made “buddy dots” by trading half of their dots with a classmate. A bulletin board of these creations was displayed at back to school night.

Dot Day was celebrated in over 82 countries by over 1 million students. It is a global celebration of creativity and courage.  

Here are videos of the celebration: