Dot Day

 Project

    Students will read The Dot by Peter Reynolds. After they are finished, they will create a piece of artwork using only dots.

    The Dot by Peter Reynolds is about a little girl named Vashti who believes that she cannot draw. With the encouragement of her teacher, Vashti draws a small dot on her paper and signs her name. When she comes to class the next day, she sees that her teacher has framed her drawing. Motivated to do better than her small dot, Vashti starts creating more dot pieces, drawing attention from the community. At an exhibition of her work, she encounters a boy who claims that he cannot draw a line. She instructs him to try his best, and when he draws his best line, she tells him to sign his name. 

    This book is a great introduction to art for students who feel like they cannot draw. Reynolds shows students that just one small act of creation can create a ripple effect into creating larger and more elaborate works. 

    The techniques we tried for this project were different types of water-resists. I used crayons and oil pastels and went over with watercolor for my heart. The wax and oil in the crayons and pastels resisted the water and let the design show through.

Extension

    Students will write about a time that they felt inspired by someone. They must have the name of the person, and why they felt inspired by them in at least four sentences.