Weems Elementary School

JOINS OVER 19 MILLION EDUCATORS & STUDENTS AROUND THE WORLD

TO CELEBRATE CREATIVITY & COURAGE 

Global Creativity Fest Invites Children and Grown Up Children to Be Brave & Make Their Mark

By Celebrating Themes From THE DOT Book by Peter H. Reynolds,

Weems Elementary School has joined over 19 million children and adults around the globe in 195 countries to celebrate International Dot Day – a grass roots “creativity and courage” movement, started in 2009 by a teacher in Iowa. Inspired by New York Times best-selling author/illustrator Peter H. Reynolds’ classic storybook for all ages The Dot, International Dot Day inspires young and old to embrace the power of personal creativity to help make their mark on the world, and move it to a better place. 

International Dot Day began ten years ago when Iowa teacher Terry Shay introduced his classroom to Reynolds’ book, and his student’s noticed the original publishing date of The Dot was Sept. 15, 2003. The students decided to celebrate the book’s birthday – and, little did they know, launched what would become a worldwide celebration of creativity and courage to “make your mark.” 

“The Dot, is an invitation to students to be creative, and experience a breakthrough in confidence and courage, igniting a journey of self-discovery and sharing, said Shay, a public school teacher for over two decades “Every great teacher works for those transformational moments.”  

Exploring the themes of creativity, bravery and self-expression, The Dot is a story of a perceptive and caring teacher who reaches a reluctant student who thinks she can’t draw by encouraging her be brave enough to “just make a mark and see where it takes you.”  The Dot has been translated into many languages (including Portuguese, Chinese, Korean, Hebrew, Spanish and even Braille) and the animated film of The Dot (produced by Reynolds’ multi-media design and development firm FableVision Studios and co-producer Scholastic) earned the Carnegie Medal of Excellence. 

Weems Elementary School  is planning to celebrate  Dot Day on September 15th by reading The Dot book, and participating in classroom and library makerspace activities for Dot Day.

For more information about International Dot Day, visit www.thedotclub.org/dotday. For official Dot Day Twitter feed, follow @DotClubConnect. Find International Dot Day on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/InternationalDotDay.