In celebration of International Dot Day, 1st graders read the story The Dot by Peter Reynolds. They discussed and reflected on the themes of the story including the ideas of working, trying and not giving up when learning something new. They also reflected on what it means to make your mark with art, and what it means to make your mark in your classroom community and school community.

Students brainstormed in small groups and with the class to create a list of qualities that help someone be a good collaborator, team member or classmate. Students created a list of the qualities they thought were most important for people to work together.

Then, 1st graders put the qualities of a good collaborator to the test. Working in small groups, students created an Art Robot. As a group they decided how they wanted to build their bot, the art materials and colors to use and how they wanted the art to be created. Each group set the norms of the group based on the brainstorming ideas about qualities of a collaborator and used those norms as they created their art and made their mark both on paper and in their groups.

Students are continuing to explore and collaborate on a coding project. They are using ScratchJr app to create an image of their bots and programming it to move.