Jointly reported by:
Lew Yuen Teng 15070 Sr3ComA
Tan Qi Xuan 19451 Jr2A
As part of the special holiday classes held by Kuen Cheng High School, all Junior 2 students were invited to participate in the online Art lesson conducted on June 1st , 3rd, 5th 2020, held by Art teacher, Ms Ong Sook Wan. It fired off excitingly with an inspiring introduction to the globally celebrated International Dot Day and its founder. After that, she shared interesting picture books through videos as well as its making process.
 |
|
International Dot Day, observed annually on September 15 since 2009, is described as a holiday in which people of all ages are encouraged to harness their creativity and embrace their own confidence to ‘make your mark and see where it takes you’, as said by founder Peter H. Reynolds, who singlehandedly wrote and illustrated The Dot, the very book that inspired the birth of International Dot Day and claims that the said holiday was a day to think about ways in which we could use our special talents to make the world a better place. This particular holiday is celebrated by millions of teachers and students across the globe as they rediscover the power of creativity and explore limitless, diverse areas of confidence as they too, make their own mark. So what story was it that began as a simple picture book, but turned out into something so much more?
 |
 |
The Dot, by Peter H. Reynolds, an author and illustrator of children’s books, starts off with a little girl named Vashti, who believes that she can’t draw. Her teacher encourages her and asks her to sign the drawing when she makes a simple dot on the paper out of frustration. The next day when Vashti sees her dot framed and displayed in her teacher’s office, she is motivated to draw a better dot and soon, she grows up with confidence and realizes that she is, indeed, a creative artist. Reynolds had dedicated the book to his fifth grade math teacher, who encouraged him to ‘make a mark and see where it takes you’, which was later fused into the famous slogan of International Dot Day.
After the eye opening introduction on the International Dot Day, she introduced a Chinese picture book called “The Library’s Secret”, written by Jia Tong. Through a video with narration, it tells the story of a girl who stumbled upon the library’s secret when she noticed someone following her. This shows us what the future of books and libraries might become in this modern age of technology.
The second picture book she showed us was “The Gift of Nothing”, written by Patrick McDonnell. This is a story about Mooch the cat and Earl the dog who are best friends. Mooch wants to give Earl a present but his friend already has everything he needs. Instead Mooch decides to give him nothing when he realizes the true priceless value of friendship. Both picture books have simple illustrations and narratives that are easy to understand.
 |
 |
 |
 |
Then, she showed the students two more amazing videos on how they could make their own version of a pop-up book. The first video introduced two books written by Wang Shu Fen, a Taiwan author, called “Books with One Sheet of Paper” and “Pop-Up Books with One Sheet of Paper”. Through the second book, she teaches viewers to make a pop-up book of the forest with just one sheet of paper. She also showed a few other examples of completed pop-up books.
 |
 |
 |
 |
The next video showed the making process of a small Alice in Wonderland themed pop-up booklet by IMAGINE Mini Pop-Up Book. This video showed the detailed instructions on making a simple yet beautiful pop-up booklet. He combined four different handmade pop-up cards into a booklet with a uniquely decorated cover. This process also teaches students to be patient and careful while making a delicate booklet as the tiniest mistake might ruin the final product. Students were also amazed by how lovely the simple booklet looked in the end.
 |
 |