International Dot Day is celebrated across the globe every year on the 15th of September. The day signifies the celebration of – the artist in us, creativity, and a teacher-student relationship.  Peter H. Raynolds’s picture book ‘The Dot’ has not only been adorned by children but has inspired lots of people.  In classrooms, many teachers use the story to encourage their students to make a difference in their lives. This year is a very special Dot Day, as we’re also celebrating the book’s 20th anniversary- THE DOT.

On 15, September 2009 a teacher named Terry Shay took the book ‘The Dot’ to his class and introduced it to the students. This simple introduction has turned into ‘International Dot Day’. Every year on or around 15th September a million people, students, and teachers across the globe celebrate creativity, courage, and collaboration.  After reading or listening to Vashti’s story all the students feel motivated and try to find their inner creative side.

This celebration is all about making your mark and seeing where it can take you…The students of ‘The Gaudium School’  celebrated  ‘International Dot Day’ by making the mark, showing their creativity, and connecting the dots not only with family and friends but with the entire world.

Students from early years collaborated with their classmates and used  20 dots to put them on a chart paper to show their creativity.  Students of Grade 1 were divided into groups and each group was given 20 dots, they created some amazing artworks using those given dots. Students of grades 2 and 3 used crayons, sketch pens, and poster colors to make their mark as each section from both grades. Students of grade 4 wrote about three people who made a difference in their lives whereas the students of grade 5 wrote their own story about/for the dot. All the students from PYP were engaged in different activities to show their creativity.

Celebrating International Dot Day is one way to collaborate with teachers/ students worldwide as teachers are encouraged to document and share the way they celebrate International Dot Day. Each and every year the number of people and the number of countries who want to join in the collaboration by sharing and posting their ideas about how best we can celebrate International Dot Day. This year it has been celebrated by more than 15 million people across 181 countries in different parts of the world.

As said by, Pablo Picasso “Every Child is an Artist” came to life as children celebrated ‘International Dot Day’.