"The Dot"

 

“The Dot”

There are a variety of ways I could use this book in my future classroom and have students make “dots” of their own. The first thought that came to mind was reading this book and providing students with paper and watercolors to paint their own dots. If I wanted, I could also ask them to write a short description of how their painted their dot to incorporate writing into the lesson. If the students are a little older, we could also incorporate math my measuring the circumference of every students dot and plotting them on a bar graph. Another fun way to incorporate art and math with “The Dot” would be to give the students a variety of supplies after reading the book and ask them to make a 3-D dot. I could incorporate math by talking about 2-D vs. 3-D shapes. The final idea I had was making jewelry “dots” with clay, beads, and other jewelry supplies. I could then incorporate social studies and talk about jewelry making in different cultures around the world. Because we live here in South Dakota, it would also be pretty easy to find a Native American bead worker to come in and talk to the kids. They could explain how they make the beads and the meaning behind all of the different kinds and colors of beads. Such a lesson would allow me to bring in a community member and might even open the door to other learning opportunities for my students. Overall, there are a variety of fun and different ways that I could incorporate “The Dot” into my future classroom and mix art with other subjects. These ideas were just a few that came to mind for me. I know there are so many different ways I could do it. In my future classroom, I might even ask for students input on ways they might like to make their own dots.