When I asked a child what exciting activity he had planned for the weekend, he announced that he was going to go to The Clark to see paintings by Claude Monet.  The children have developed a personal relationship with him, they like to say that he looks like Santa Claus.  This week, the children have had fun learning facts about Monet and looking at his artwork as we cover the wonderful information that preschoolers need to learn.  We have looked at various versions of the Rouen Cathedral and talked about the times of day that Monet painted the cathedral.  We have counted ducks in the Duck Pond, used our detective eyes to identify the seasons in the paintings.  Of course we identified colors and shapes.

Last week was a big week for learning about plants.  Hopefully, you have picked up the plants that the children germinated from seeds and planted them in the ground.  The children kept journals to record the growth of their seeds.  It was fun seeing the children examine their plants carefully and try to draw what they saw.  Some children wrote using preschool spelling what they saw, and other's dictated their observations to an adult.   When the children dictate to adults, they are encouraged to use complete sentences.  Not only did we grow seeds in the classroom, but the children planted lettuce in the raised garden in the preschool playground.  Last year the weeds overtook the lettuce that we planted, we are hoping that this doesn't happen this year.