I hope you had a nice weekend.  The weather was a little warmer.  I was outside working in my yard on Sunday.  My flowers are starting to grow and I think I'm going to need to mow my lawn this week.  I hope you got outside to play, too!

Movement/Gross Motor:  We're going to be learning about clouds today.  This video is about singing and dancing in the rain.  Give it a try!  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tbFGojJxqoo

Story/Literacy:  The last author/illustrator that I am going to highlight this month is Eric Carle.  I'm guessing that many of you might be familiar with Eric Carle, because he wrote the words and created the pictures for The Very Hungry Caterpillar.  He also created the pictures for the book Brown Bear, Brown Bear which was written by Bill Martin Jr.  Eric Carle made most of his pictures by painting paper and cutting the dried paper into shapes.  If you look carefully at his pictures, you can see brush strokes, finger strokes or lines that he created in the paint.  The book that I'd like you to read or listen to is Little Cloud.  Here is the link  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Tc9123PoVFE  When you are finished, look outside.  Are there clouds in the sky?  Go outside and look up at the clouds.  Do any of the clouds look like something familiar?  Sometimes it's fun to lay in the grass and watch the clouds float by.

Science/Math Activity:  Where do clouds come from?  In March, some of you created rain in a jar.  Your parent put warm water in a jar.  You put ice cubes on a plate on top of the jar.  Water drops appeared on the side of the jar.  Clouds are made in a similar way.  The water is on the earth in oceans, lakes, and rivers.  Clouds appear when the sun heats the water  and cooler air makes very small water droplets.  Together, those water droplets make a cloud.  Take a look outside today.  Are there clouds in the sky?  Let's keep track of the weather this week.  On a piece of paper, draw a picture of what the weather looks like each day.   Label your picture with words that you can sound out.  At the end of the week, count how many were sunny days, cloudy days, and rainy days.  What did you have the most of?  Do cloudy days always turn into rainy days?  

Art:  If you look closely at the pictures in the story today, you will see that Eric Carle used paint to create the clouds.  For this activity, you will need paper (blue looks like the sky, but any color will work), and white paint or shaving cream.  Fold the paper in half and then open it up again.  Now put some paint puddles or shaving cream on the paper.  Fold the paper again and rub the paper with your hand.   Now open it up.  What does it look like?  Can you use your fingers to add some details to the picture?  

Here are some pictures from last week.  I liked the bird counting pictures.  I like birds and have a feeder in my backyard.  I'm sharing a picture of my cats standing under the bird feeder.  I tell them that the birds won't come if they are waiting for them!

I'll be sharing some more ideas on Wednesday!  Have a great week!