The Dot: Art Lesson
I love to start out the beginning of the school year by reading The Dot by: Peter H. Reynolds to lower elementary art classes. It’s a quick story about a little girl who didn’t know that she was an artist, until she received a little encouragement from her art teacher. After channeling some courage to try something new, she discovered that everyone is an artist in their own way.
Discussion Questions:
At the beginning of the story, why was Vashti’s paper empty?
What has Vashti learned from her experience? Vashti learned that the only way to be good at something is to give it a try. She saw that someone believing in you, such as her art teacher, can help someone gain the confidence they need to try something new.
Why did Vashti’s teacher ask her to sign her name?
How did Vashti feel when she saw her picture framed in a swirly gold frame?
What did Vashti discover while painting dots?
Why do you think Vashti asked the boy to draw for her?
What do you think happened after the boy signed his art?
Materials Needed:
Instruction:
I give each student a white coffee filter and a paper plate to place underneath it. The paper plate acts as an underlay to keep the mess off of the table, and also as a perfect space for the coffee filter “dot” to dry on after we spray them with water.
I ask the students to color their coffee filter (we call them “dots”) and to fill the space with as many colors as they want to (using Crayola Washable Markers). We also talk about “complete coloring” and filling up the entire “dot” with colors.
In our art room, if the students fill up the entire space of their artwork with color, they get to call their artwork a “masterpiece.” This encourages them to take their time and also to see the result of their hard work if they fill up their entire artwork with colors. They “wow!” themselves with their artworks, which helps build their confidence, and keeps them going above and beyond in the art room.
After students have completely colored their “dots,” or colored them as much as they see fit, they bring them over to me and I hand them the spray water bottle. They spray their dots on their paper plates, just enough to cover the entire coffee filter with water. Don’t over-spray! Over-spraying can wash away the beautiful color from the markers. I make sure the students have sprayed the entire surface, then I tell them to go place them on the drying rack.
What’s beautiful about this art lesson, besides that the materials needed are so simple, is that this project really produces two artworks in one! The plate underneath the coffee filters gets some color printed on it as well, after being sprayed with the water.
The following art class, I ask the students to fill the remaining white “empty space” on their plates with colors. I introduce Dotters and Tempera Paint Sticks to help them create “paper plate Dot masterpieces!”
