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A painted verb

Everyone discusses my art and pretends to understand, as if it were necessary to understand, when it's simply necessary to love.-Claude Monet

Several years ago, I learned a good technique for discussing art work with kids.  A grade one teacher suggested that instead of saying : What a nice dinosaur! or What a lovely flower! , one should wait a beat and ask, Do you want to tell me about your picture?  This keeps the door wide open, allowing the child to tell you what they want you to see.  After all, what looks like a beautiful flower, may in fact be something else entirely.  It may not be a thing I am looking at, it might be a verb or an idea or a feeling  that my kids want me to see or feel.  I don't know what makes me think that kids are so determined to capture things.  They also are brimming with emerging concepts, ideas and a love of beauty.
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