Dot Day 2023

Before I even became a librarian- Dot Day was one of my most FAVORITE days to celebrate.

What is Dot Day? Dot Day is based on The Dot by Peter Reynolds.  Thanks to Terry Shay- Dot Day was born 20 years ago when the book came out!  Every year International Dot Day is celebrated on September 15th ish.  

You can search the tag #dotday but also check out the website with lots of different ideas and ways to connect.  International Dot Day

I love a good picture book- and The Dot has the best message about how you can make your mark!

Although we are not celebrating Dot Day until September- I wanted to share what we are planning on doing.

Even though I am in High School- I still like a good theme (and the kids do too.. they just might not tell you.. and even a side eye means they are paying attention)

Background on my school:

-9-12 High School

-Title 1 (not that it should matter)

-I am a smaller school though- about 300 students

I have decided this year I am going to do an activity every morning for students to participate in. Students are able to come into the library before school starts- I do allow eating in the library for breakfast and lunch- with the expectation that they pick up and clean up.

Once an activity is complete for that day-students will still be able to do it throughout the week.  The station directions/signs will be at the bottom of this post for you to use.

Monday-

I am going to have coloring sheets out for students to make a mural.

I found this Collaborative Activity Coloring Pages on Teachers Pay Teachers

I have big glass windows so will be hanging them up as they get created.

Tuesday-

One year The Dot sent out some wooden coins to people.  I am going to invite students to create their own design that has a power word- or a design that reminds them how to make their mark.  Once a design is created we will put it into the Glowforge and print out wooden coins.

I am looking at purchasing this wood for the project- Amazon Link

Wednesday-

Students will be able to continue to do the Glowforge and color- but this morning I am adding in Kandinsky Art- I love this idea from this blog- but I plan to do it with construction paper and glue.  We will also post them on one of my clear bulletin boards (that I am going to put a gold border around) I found this Gold Border on Amazon that is going to be perfect

For the station information on this day- I plan to also have a QR code that goes back to one of our databases that talks about the artist Kandinsky.

Where I plan to store the artwork- will be giving it a gold frame

Thursday-

We are going to use Ozobots.  I am going to invite students to make their own path and choose ways they are going to make their mark in school, home, life, and work. This is my current idea for the Ozobots- but real talk- it is still in the works (I have several students helping me on this one)

Friday-

This will be the official Dot Day!  Last year we did hot chocolate and story time.  This will be our first one of the year.  I plan to read The Dot and possibly another book about the importance of making your mark. I of course provide marshmallows as well.

Station Signs- TEMPLATE LINK

Share- Dot Day 2023 Week by akbusybee 

I am also collaborating with my art teacher to do a project for that day as well.

My next blog will be my plan for September.

Are you planning anything for Dot Day?

Dot Day- Virtual Programming

One of my favorite days of the year is coming up (wait I lied.. I have LOTS of favorite days.. okay wait.. almost every day is my favorite day..I digress)

International Dot Day is coming up! Dot Day is based off the book The Dot by Peter Reynolds and it is all about making your mark and seeing where it takes you.  We are in a time period where it is even more important for us to think about the mark and stories that we are making.

I of course have lots of favorite days, but my favorite thing about being a librarian is the programming that I am able to do (of course I love reading too) but giving students, staff and community a chance to participate in activities is my FAVORITE thing!  

Being virtual just has made me think differently how I am going to reach the people that would usually be inside the library.

Mrs. Fitz posted a great idea on her Instagram page, and I took that idea and ran with it!  For the month of September I have created Try It Tuesdays.  Now, when we go back to face to face, this might change.. honestly I usually have activities going on in the library in the mornings and the afternoon.. so just doing one day a week is making me a little sad (I am human.. I might be positive almost all the time, but that doesn't mean that I have done my own bit of grieving.. and I grieve a little bit every day)

Our First Try It Tuesday is going to be create Circle Paper Planes. Of course I am going to read the Dot (and be wearing dots) and then we are going to make Circle Paper Planes over a Zoom meeting at 3:45pm.  I have promoted this Try It Tuesday through our Canvas Course and school social media outlets. Although I hope that hundreds of my students show up to this virtual event, I will be happy with 2. That means there were at least 2 students that needed this type of activity (or knew that I needed someone to show up)

I also posted this in the Canvas course so they can have materials ready.  I did not ask for RSVP's because I thought that might turn some of my middle schoolers off.  The zoom link is listed in our Canvas course and a waiting room has been enabled.  I will also have my amazing clerk checking names of students before we let them in. You can find the Circle Plane directions here

For all the Try It Tuesdays I tried to keep materials SUPER easy and what students probably have at home.  For the origami one at the end of the month, I will probably have a supply pick up.  I am also taking advantage of our public library YouTube videos for both the Kawaii Coloring and Origami.  I have done the Kawaii coloring with my Girl Scout troop- and they LOVED it! Thanks Irving Public Library for great videos

One of my pet projects have been my Cub Club. Many of our students have younger siblings that are not kinder age.  Cub Club is a story time for 2-5 year olds.  During Cub Club we sing songs, read books, and do activities.  SO, on Friday we are having our first virtual Cub Club!  This event parents had to RSVP so I could have activity packs ready.

This Cub Club will be focused on Being Yourself (also- I had 10 families RSVP.. and of course I realize that not all families will show up) After they RSVPed, I sent an email thanking them for participating, a list of materials they would be getting, and a reminder- that this is a great time to work with your child and there might be some bumps along the way (so thank you for your patience!)

Cub Club (it might not go completely in this order.. and there are links for each one

-Hello Song- Rose Oyamot Rodriguez is AMAZING!

-Friend Sign Language

- Dot Headband (sentence strip with dot stickers

-The Dot- by Peter Reynolds

-The Dot Song by Emily Arrow

-The Dot Bookmark (we used some sequins, cut a square in a notecard, and contact paper)

-Be You- by Peter Reynolds

-Be You coloring page

-Shake Sillies Out Song or with Ukulele 

-I Will Be Fierce by Bea Birdsong

-I will change the world- coloring page and hand cut outs

-Good Bye Song

I know that we are all trying to figure out the best way to reach our library users and that it is tough.  I also know that programming makes my heart SUPER happy.  How are you reaching your readers? I have also tried to start posting on Book Talk Tuesday and What are you Reading not only on social media (TikTok/Instagram/Twitter) but also the Flip Grid that I created.

These could totally be a flop, but I also know that if I don't offer these types of programming- I won't ever know!

Stay safe.. and BE YOU!

Dot Day and The First Cub Club!

  

We are officially in the 5th week of school and the library has been BUSY! not only that, but the students and staff never cease to not only amaze me, but also inspire me.  As always this blog is full of lots of ideas and LOTS of pictures!
This year I wanted to really work on building relationships with students and staff to help find them those books that they were just going to enjoy so much.. and if they didn't enjoy it to at least know that I am there for them to try again! You can find what I did at the beginning of the year here. Guys, I had over 700 book talks.. and I have also had conversations with lots of kiddos how I either did a great job at recommending a book, or how I failed. I am ok with both of these as I am learning more about what students like and they know I am listening.

At the end of last year I wrote a blog about my ALL the ideas I had for this year.  You can find my "brain dump" here. One of my big things I wanted to increase this year was parent involvement, and I have already done several things to hopefully increase parent involvement.   I had a booth at open house and also our Popsicle's with the Principal.. and on Dot Day we had our first Cub Club!

One of my FAVORITE days is International Dot Day.  You can find last years blog about all that I did (and it has links to all the other blogs that I have written about for Dot Day) Dot Day is based on the book by Peter Reynolds that reminds us of the importance for making a mark and seeing where it takes you.  In elementary land we did SO many activities, but in middle school land it is a little different.  I LOVE middle schoolers, but sometimes they give me the side eye when I do things.. but I go with it and still offer it. Today we celebrated Dot Day in a TON of different ways!

Dot Day
Last week I invited staff to come to the library with a pair of canvas shoes to paint dots on.  I have such a supportive staff that played along and the shoes looked amazing!

This was created in Canva and shared with Staff

Although Dot Day is celebrated on September 15th we chose to celebrate on Monday September 16th.

This was shared with students through announcements, Google Classroom, and in the library

 Our Digital Learning Coach created this Flipgrid challenge. We only had one student participate, but I did see several working on it throughout the week (remember.. middle schoolers are a little different!)  We did have lots more decorated dots this year for our bulletin board

Interactive Bulletin Board

Before school on Monday morning I had a super simple activity set up.  It was bookmarks with the stampers being the erasers of pencils. Students were invited to choose a word for the year. I found the Word of the Year printable here.

My LIFE class had a ton of fun with the Quiver app making their dots come to life!

I LOVED all the different activities and I loved that the staff and students are always willing to do different things. However, my favorite part of the day (and the one I was MOST nervous about!) was our first Cub Club!  As I said.. one of my goals is to have more parent involvement and more community.  Thanks to the creative naming by our very own Dean Richmond the Cub Club is a toddler storytime for kiddos that are from 2 year old to 5 year old.  The theme first this first Cub Club was of course Dot Day!

Flyer that was posted on Social Media and also shared with our parents

First station kids made their own Dot Day headband

There was singing involved! Max made his first appearance of the year

Dot collage station

Dogs Colorful Day

Here was my agenda:
-while arriving create dot headbands
-Hello Song
-Read the Dot Book
-Shake Our Sillies out song
-Polka Dot Pants
-Polka Dot Pants song (we didn't get to this)
-Dogs Colorful Day (and did a felt matching activity)
-Goodbye Song
-Attendees create their own Dot picture and color dog and add dots
-check out books

To ensure it worked I had several 8th grade students stationed at various spots in the school to help parents/kids get to the library (the library is upstairs at the back of the building)

I only had 4 kids the first time (okay.. 3 of them were staff kids.. but 1 was a community member!) I have also already heard from other community members that they hope to make the next one (which is already scheduled for October 30th!)

Things I will do different:
-work more on how to get books/look at books
-more active books
-when singing/songs I am going to have egg shakers or other instruments that kids can hold

Overall I was SUPER pleased with it! Do you celebrate Dot Day? What did you do? Do you have a toddler time in your library? Do you have any tips or tricks?

Dot Day 2018!

One of my favorite days is coming up! Okay.. so I have a few favorite days, but Dot Day is one of my FAVORITE library days!

I have written about Dot Day more than once. You can find ideas here/here/here/here/here/here/ and here.  I have had the chance to collaborate with some amazing art teachers and I love that the teachers usually play along!

This year is a little different.. as I have moved to middle school.  I have LOVED every minute of it, and I love the teachers, but I knew that I was going to need to changed up Dot Day just a little bit.  I am unsure how much participation will happen.. but I am going to try!  I usually share after Dot Day what we have done, but I wanted to share my ideas early this year for some middle school librarians that might be on the fence.

This blog is a little longer than most, but there are lots of pics and links of ideas that you can easily do as well! That is the great thing about any event.. take what you can do and adapt!

Dot Day is based on the book The Dot by Peter Reynolds and talks about the importance of making your mark and seeing where it takes you.  The book was published on September 15th.  In 2009 Terry Shay introduced The Dot to his class, and Dot Day was born.   Every year on September 15th ish people all over the world celebrate Dot Day.  You can find more information on the Dot Club website.

The past few years I have done activities during the day and in the evening. This year I am doing a couple of activities in the morning on Thursday and Friday.  

I sent my staff this email:

Hello Fabulous Friends!

I hope everyone had an AMAZING 3 day weekend!

Every year on September 15^th ish people celebrate The Dot.  The Dot is a picture book that focuses on everyone making their mark and seeing where it takes you. You can find more information here.

How can you participate?

-Monday September 10^th 3:45pm-5:00pm I will have materials in the library where you can make your own Dot Day headbands.. all you need to bring is a headband.. I will have a few available.. see attached picture)

-Friday September 14^th- wear dots.. and tweet about Dot Day (#dotday18)

-Take a group picture on Friday September 14^th at 3:45pm in front of the Lamar sign wearing your dots!!

Tweet about Dot Day.. get your name in the drawing

Wear dots on Friday the 14^th- get your name in the drawing

Join in the group photo- get your name in the drawing

That is a total of 3 chances!  What is up for grabs.. 5 (yes.. 5!) $5 Sonic Gift Cards!

For Students

-they will also be invited to wear dots with their Lamar uniform on Friday

-in the morning on the 13^th and 14^th there will be hands on activities in the library

-throughout the week students will be invited to share how they are going to make their mark by adding their story to a Flipgrid

This is the post on website, and will be on Twitter and is also on my bulletin board outside the library.

Throughout the Week

-I have a Flipgrid up for students to share how they are going to make their mark

-I had an awesome parent volunteer cut out dots for me so students could decorate them.

Monday

-I am working with the LIFE class and we are going to do Kandinsky style dots using construction paper.

-After school I have invited the staff to come make a Dot Day headband. I ordered this felt (now.. it is 4x4) and am asking teachers to provide their own headband.

headband I made last year.

My current Facebook profile picture, love that I could add Dot Day to it!

Thursday
-During the morning I am going to have the library open from 7:30am-8:05am with materials to make Dot Day bookmarks.  I got these bookmarks on Amazon and will have sharpies out.  In the morning I am going to have Mrs. Gomez pass out 50 dots to students.  That will be the ticket to get in the library.  Although I would LOVE to have more students participate.. I have to think space. I will have materials available so if a student stops by and would like to make one.

Friday
-I am encouraging students to wear dots with their school clothes.
-Friday morning I will have materials set out to make pom pom pencil toppers during the 7:30am-8:05am session.
-I am super excited because 2 sections of AP Art will be joining me in the library to hear the Dot and possibly do a Dot activity. I LOVE the idea of Zentangle Dot that is done here with 6th graders but I also love this idea of giving students a quarter of a circle.
-I am encouraging staff to wear dots (I mean.. there is a possibility of them winning a Sonic card!)
-I plan to take a picture after school of staff wearing their dots.

I am in love with my letterboards! I plan to use this one as a photo prop throughout the week.

Did you know that there is even a Breakout Edu game! I can't wait to check it out.
My awesome Digital Learning Coach Kara Noah is even putting a Twitter challenge out to the district about Dot Day!

There are SO many Dot Day resources and connections that can be made (check out Shannon Millers latest blog). Just like anything it can be as little or as big as you want to make it! I don't know how well Dot Day is going off this year in my new library, but I am excited to try.  Even if only a handful participate.. that is still people making their marks.

What kind of mark are you going to make and where are you going to let it take you?

September and October in the Library

Well, here it is November.. and I realize I hadn't taken the time to catch up what is going on in Libraryland! There are LOTS of pictures in this post.. but I wanted to share! I have had some awesome volunteers that come in once a week, Dot Day, bulletin boards, pumpkin contests, book fair, book fairies and MORE!
Good news... I PASSED my certification test! I find out tomorrow if  I passed my portfolio.. after that it is just to finish up my practicum and one more large assignment for my public library class!

I first wanted to share what my awesome 18+3C kiddos have been doing! I have a group of 3 young adults that come in once a week.  They are students in a work based type program that have high functioning abilities. I LOVE THEM! They have taken over this cubby.  During the month of September they made an I spy board by cutting out pieces of magazines for students to find the different items.  During October they made this awesome word search.. and right now it is a bubble map of Thanksgiving items (I will try to post pictures later)

 These kiddos made the decorations for the specials trunk or treat car! It was There is a Frog in my Throat.  They made the teeth and tongue.. and my awesome art teacher made the frog!

 I try to have very organized tasks to be done.  This is a GREAT one!  I printed off letters and lay them out.  I then have the students sort the books by alphabetical order.  This is my green dot (easy reader books) but I also got super overwhelmed with my fiction books.. so they sorted those too!  They are so good at shelving these easy readers too!

I LOVE having this group of students come in and help me out!  They also help me set up for Destination ImagiNation and help me pull books for seasons.  They just pulled almost all of my Thanksgiving books.

We celebrated Dot Day during meet the teacher this year.  I am so thankful for my art teacher... because she is always up for an adventure!  For our sign in, we had students and parents make their own dot on a paper.  We only had 2 stations this year, but we had over 150 people come through!
One station we used a compass and a paint brush and the other used a different type of compass and pencils.  We had cardstock set out.. and the pieces of artwork turned out awesome!

We had new books come in, but I wanted to make sure to have a teacher preview first! This year the theme was Reading Takes Us Places. Last year I did a New Bookstache party.  I had a check in station where teachers wrote their name down and I did a drawing for Scholastic Book Fair gift certificates.  I also had In Flight Snacks-it had drinks, cookies and pretzels. I then put all the new books out for staff to peruse.  I really try to get all the staff in because I want them to be invested as well.

Had to share my October bulletin boards. We also had book character pumpkin contest.  I divide it by k/1/2, 3/4/5 and a family group.  It was hard for the judges to choose the winners, so we had several ties.  In October we also had Camp Read A Lot and book fair. This is a HUGE event!  During Camp Read A Lot the school sets up tents in the gym that are different genres.  We also have the book fair.  This year we added Trunk or Treat.. so the Instructional Leadership Team became book fairies!

The Instructional Leadership Team Book Fairies.. minus one.

OMG! I also got a ukulele!! I LOVE using it in kindergarten library time.. and I am currently working on a grant to get some ukes in the library! More info to come after I finish the grant process.

One more picture for good measure! Last year my husband came and read to the 1st graders for Halloween.  This year, however, it just wasn't going to work out.  However.. he DID make it to my Girl Scout meeting! I do believe the girls loved it!