The Dot

The Dot by Peter H. Reynolds

Her teacher smiled. “Just make a mark and see where it takes you.”

Art class is over, but Vashti is sitting glued to her chair in front of a blank piece of paper. The words of her teacher are a gentle invitation to express herself. But Vashti can’t draw – she’s no artist. To prove her point, Vashti jabs at a blank sheet of paper to make an unremarkable and angry mark. “There!” she says.

That one little dot marks the beginning of Vashti’s journey of surprise and self-discovery. That special moment is the core of Peter H. Reynolds’s delicate fable about the creative spirit in all of us.

Main Focus: Comprehension

This is a comprehension linked to The Dot book.

We have differentiated this resource six ways so you can challenge your KS1 class in the way you feel is best but the style, amount and frame of questions asked.

Main Focus: Alphabetical Order

In this activity, your Year 1/ Year 2 class will place the chosen words into alphabetical order.

We have included seven different worksheets so you can choose which best suits your class. We also included blank resources so your class can choose which words they want to place into alphabetical order.

Main Focus: Adjectives

This resource linked to the popular book The Dot is aimed at Year 2 and focuses on adjectives.

Your KS1 class must insert the adjectives into the passage and then think of adjective to describe different characters and objects from the story.

Main Focus: Word Mat and Cloze Activity

This is a Word Mat and cloze activity aimed at Year 1/2.

Your class can use the word mat to complete the sentences by adding the words or pictures, or they can use the word mat to help with independent writing. E.g. a recount of the story.

Main Focus: Phonics

This is a phonics resource linked to The Dot book.

Your Year 1 / Year 2 class must identify the sounds from words within the passage. We have created resources linked to Phase 3, 4, 5 and 6.

We have also included blank resources so you class can choose sounds of their own should they be below Phase 3 or to give them a more open ended activity.

Main Focus: Punctuation

This is a punctuation activity that encourages your class to identify where capital letters and full stops go within a passage.

Your Year 1 / Year 2 class will add in the capital letters and full stop to break up the sentences to make the passage flow better.

We have seven different resources in this so you can choose which best suits your Ks1 class.

Main Focus: Vocabulary Extension

This activity focuses on the vocabulary used in The Dot story.

Your KS1 class will look at adding the new vocabulary into the context of the story and then look at what the words mean but identifying simpler synonyms/phrases.

There are five different resources to choose from to cater for both Year 1 and Year 2.

Main Focus: Asking Questions

In this activity, your class will read the answers linked to the book and they must write a suitable question.

This resource helps your class recognise that questions help frame answers and vice versa. Your KS1 class will use the information to write questions of their own linked to the story.

As well as differentiating the resource, we have also included a straight forward question and answer match up activity. Allow your class to cut out the questions and answers to enable them to edit their choice should they be wrong.

Main Focus: Story Sequencing

Now that your class have got a good idea of the events in the story, they will now read little extracts and place them into chronological order.

Your class will sequence the events in the story in the order in which they happened. You can allow your class to write on the page or even cut them out.