Is it really June?

     Wow! The end of the year is upon us.  This morning when the rising kindergarteners went to the K orientation, it suddenly hit us how many of the children are heading off to new classrooms next year.  The children came back so excited about their visit to K.  Even though they are so familiar with the school, they have ridden school buses and they will play on the same playground, the K orientation is the turning point for them.  Suddenly it occurs to the preschoolers that there is life after Side by Side.  This happens each year.
     Today, I gave Sue Killam the thank you notes that the children drew to thank her for inviting us to MASS MoCA for the performance we saw on Friday, Everything is a Soundmaker.  When I asked the children to draw the thank you notes, I emphasized to them that it is  important that they take time to do their best work to let her know that they liked the show. If their efforts were any indication of how much they loved the show, it is clear that Sue provided them with a very rich experience.
    Even though we have had our study of Renoir broken up with the professional development day and the field trip, the children are still excited about learning about him.  This week he have looked for patterns in his work.  The children are noticing patterns in some of the portraits he painted.  In class they are making patterns with the pattern blocks, dominoes, and paper.  Some children glued strips of paper into a pattern.  Other children challenged themselves and tried their hand at weaving paper since weaving consists of patterns.  Can you find the patterns?
 
The last day of Side by Side is Friday, 6/19.  We will end the year and this unit on Art and Artists with a field trip to The Clark.