Tag Archives: Irene Allaire

Dot-to-Dot Connections

My students and I just completed a fantastic week of dot-to-dot connections as we celebrated International Dot Day with educators and students in Florida, Maine, New Jersey, North Carolina, Tennessee, Texas, Vermont, Washington, and nearby neighbors in Clarksburg!

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This was my third year participating in International Dot Day, inspired by the book The Dot by Peter H. Reynolds.     This was a celebration of creativity, courage, and collaboration, and we made our mark (and the world a better place) by connecting with new friends around the United States via Google Hangout.

After reading and discussing The Dot, my PreK–grade 2 students created dot pictures using the template in the official educator’s handbook, which we shared with our video chat partners.  A few examples are here …

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My students in grades 3-5 created dot day trading cards using index cards, and these cards were sent to our video chat partners in Florida (a few examples follow).  We’re looking forward to receiving some back from them, too!

Dot trading cards

During our video chat connections, we shared state symbols, read additional “dot-and-creativity- related” books, such as The Dot and Ish, also by Peter H. Reynolds,  Dot by Patricia Intriago, Press Here by Hervé Tullet, Beautiful Oops! by Barney Saltzberg, and Marisol McDonald Doesn’t Match by Monica Brown.

Thank you Irene Allaire (Wilson Wims Elementary School), Lori Dearmore (Naselle Elementary School), Sue Halbert  (J.F. Tatem Elementary School), Cristol Kapp (Clifton Hills Elementary School),  Meghan Nels (Turtle River Montessori), Cathy Potter (Falmouth Elementary School),  Carol Scrimgeour (Essex Elementary School), and  Esther Uribe (Rutledge Elementary School) for your creative and fun dot-to-dot connections!

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Another blog I encourage you to follow (if you don’t already) is Jennifer Reed’s Reederama.  She posted every day last week about her school’s experiences, and then posted a wonderful reflection – “The Value of Virtual Visits” –  on Monday.  Please take the time to read it (you’ll want to go back and read the others, too)!

If you didn’t connect the dots this year, I highly encourage you to do so next year!   Participating in International Dot Day is a wonderful experience for our students to celebrate creativity, courage, and collaboration, while also developing there digital citizenship skills!