KS2 Transition Activity

Make Your Mark – Y5/6 Transition Lesson Inspired by “The Dot”

A colourful, ready-to-teach transition lesson for Year 5/6 (easily adapted LKS2), designed to help pupils reflect on their strengths, aspirations and the kind of “mark” they want to make in the year ahead.

Inspired by “The Dot” by Peter H. Reynolds, this resource uses the idea of making a simple creative mark as a springboard for discussion around confidence, individuality, resilience and belonging.
It works especially well for transition day, the first week back, class identity work, PSHE, art-linked reflection or creating an instant classroom/corridor display.

The lesson is particularly suitable for upper KS2 and is designed to be simple, meaningful and easy to deliver, even with a new or mixed-age class.

Included in the pack:

• A professionally themed PowerPoint lesson
• Clear lesson structure for an 80-minute session
• Learning objective and success criteria
• Think–Pair–Share discussion prompts
• Story pause points and reflection questions
• Teacher modelling slides
• Step-by-step pupil task instructions
• Gallery walk and reflection activity
• Display guidance
• Printable dot/reflection templates
• “Make Your Mark” display materials
• Extension task for early finishers
• End-of-year reflection/revisit idea

Learning Objective:
To reflect on my strengths and aspirations, creating a piece of artwork that represents the mark I want to make this year.

Pupils create their own individual “dot” artwork containing a personal symbol, a strength, a target, something they are looking forward to and one word to represent the year ahead. These individual pieces can then be combined into a striking collaborative class display titled Make Your Mark.

This resource is ideal for building a positive class culture, encouraging pupil voice and creating a display that can be revisited throughout the year. Achievement dots or reflection notes can be added over time, turning the display into a visual record of growth, confidence and contribution.

Please note:
This resource is inspired by The Dot by Peter H. Reynolds.
The book itself is not included and will need to be sourced separately if you wish to read it as part of the lesson.
(A video of the author reading the story is included in the slides)