International Dot Day

I love the book "The Dot" by Peter H. Reynolds, it is such a heartwarming story about how powerful art can be. As I am sure most of you know, International Dot Day takes place on September 15th. It is meant to be a celebration of creativity and individuality. What a perfect thing to acknowledge and celebrate in visual arts class!

During the week of International Dot Day, I read "The Dot" with my P1 and P2 classes and they loved it! After a short discussion of the book and brainstorming all the different types of possible dots that we could make, the students sat at their tables where I had provided paper and a variety of materials for them to choose from. I encouraged them with a line from the story, "Just make a mark, and see where it takes you."

The students had so much fun printing, coloring, and painting a variety of dots on their papers. 

The students were very engaged and took the project very seriously. Everyone wanted to come up with something new and different, not one dot looked the same as the other! 

              

They really had fun with this, it is definitely a lesson I will teach again!

A few weeks after their beautiful dots were born, I framed them all in 4x6 clear frames. I hung the colorful dots on the wall to make one giant dot, celebrating the students' unique mark making process. The P1-2 classes were thrilled to see their art displayed this way, and I am so proud of their hard work!

Big Heads and Famous Faces

Recently I was looking through my previous posts and realized that I had never mentioned one of the most fun and amazing projects ever! I am so excited and pleased to share this with you!

I truly believe that one of the best ways to develop professionally in the 21st century is to take part in the online world through blogging, Pinterest, etc. So many wonderful ideas, lessons, and units are shared online and they are inspiring teachers and students all over the world! It's a great thing to be a part of.

This project was one of those amazing ideas that I came across on a teacher's wordpress website. You can find the original project here: WVartist's Weblog.

I taught this lesson when I was at IPS in Saudi to my hard working group of junior and senior high school girls. To begin the "Big Head Project" we discussed familiar/famous faces that are recognized globally. Most of our discussions led to famous cartoons or TV shows, and the girls chose a favorite character to start their wearable sculptures.

These "Big Heads" took quite a while to make, but the students were so excited and engaged with this project they willingly spent almost every lunch time or free period in the art room working on their piece.

At the end of the year, their sculptures made an appearance at the final art show in a local art gallery. Some of their creations were even sold to people in the surrounding community! The "Big Heads" were definitely a huge hit with students and staff alike. Here are a few examples of the students' final creations below. I was so proud of their effort and creativity!