Squirrels News - 14th November
In the Squirrels classroom this week we have been exploring how to play games together, helping Incy Wincy Spider climb up the water spout! This activity encouraged perseverance, turn-taking, and counting. The children rolled the dice, counted the spots, and moved Incy that number of spaces up the spout. Afterwards, they spun the weather wheel. If it landed on sunny, Incy could stay where they were, but if it landed on rain, poor Incy had to slide back down to the start! The children showed wonderful patience and positivity, even when Incy had to climb up the drainpipe again.
Elsewhere in the classroom, the children explored the game Kerplunk! This was a fantastic activity for developing the children’s fine motor skills, as they carefully threaded the rods through the holes. It also offered a fun challenge, trying not to let the balls drop! It was wonderful to see the children persevering with something new and showing resilience when it became tricky. We also played Rockin’ Robot! Playing games helps the children develop important skills such as waiting for their turn, interacting with their peers, and managing their emotions when they may ‘lose’.
Around the classroom, other activities included sequencing Duplo towers from 1 to 10, counting bricks in their own constructions, and practising pincer grip skills by placing pegs into pegboards. The dinosaurs were also out in force, roaring their way around the classroom, while the jewelled blocks inspired some brilliant mathematical thinking. The children stacked the blocks into piles, matching quantities to the numerals beside them. Over at the mark-making area, others were busy creating letters amongst the rocks, a wonderful early writing practice through imaginative play.
Out in the Outdoor Learning Environment, the Squirrels explored rhyming words, listening carefully to identify which words sounded the same, and they also continued to develop their bat and ball skills through active games.
During Focus Time, we worked on ordering objects by size. Some children sorted items into ‘big’ and ‘small’, while others confidently extended their learning by ordering three or even four objects by size, a fantastic progress in early mathematical understanding!
As this week incorporated Armistice Day, our small world play featured people, animals, and poppies. We talked about those who help to keep us safe, both in the past and today. During Art, the children created their own beautiful poppy fields. We observed a minute’s silence, thinking of people in our lives who look after us, such as our parents. We also listened to The Last Post and watched poppy wreaths being laid at different memorial sites.
This week was our first very wet Outdoor Learning Day, but did that curb our enthusiasm? NO! The Squirrels had a wonderful morning out and about. We started our morning heading into a shop on the high street where we looked for numbers and shapes to identify. The squirrels were really focused especially when it came to finding shapes around the store. One child even spotted the shape of a bear's ear - a semi circle!
After our pitstop in the shop we continued on our way to the common, next stopping at the church and outside a school where the children noticed poppies, "I wonder who they are remembering?" someone asked. When we arrived at the common, everyone developed their fine motor skills using pegs, which they attached to tree branches creating our own Outdoor Learning Christmas Tree. It was then time for Snack before a run around and a game of Duck Duck Goose before we headed back to nursery, singing Christmas songs.