Squirrels News - 30th January 2026
This week the children have worked collaboratively across many areas of the classroom, sorting objects by initial letter sounds and creating fantastic constructions using Stickle Bricks. One particularly imaginative creation was Santa’s house, which the children thoughtfully furnished inside.
In the Outdoor Learning Environment, the children worked collaboratively again to create an obstacle course, helping one another around the track before transforming into ferocious dinosaurs stomping around! We then moved to the messy outdoor area, where the children enjoyed fishing for numbers and ducks, discovering hidden shapes underneath.
During our phonics activities, the children focused on distinguishing between different letter sounds. They then located the sounds on their paper and stamped them using bingo pens. The children especially enjoyed the “splat” effect, while showing great control with their stamping. One child even shared that their sister has a bingo game at home!
Alongside our phonics learning, this week we have been learning about Pia Oustland, one of our focus artists, who is from Sweden and creates artwork by printing with natural objects. This sparked curiosity and conversation about different ways to create art. We have also been learning about the artist Jon Foreman, during Focus Time and will be delving deeper into his work over the coming weeks.
During our various extra curricula activities this week the children have been developing many skills. In Sports the children practised throwing and catching balls with one another in an almost volleyball style game. In Music, the children explored rhythm and syllables, developing their listening skills and awareness of sound patterns. In Spanish, the children continued to expand their understanding of numbers, body parts, and household items. They were highly engaged in a story about a princess, a knight, and a dragon, discovering that the princess didn’t need rescuing after all, as the dragon turned out to be her pet!
This week the Squirrels Classroom went on their Outdoor Learning Day to the Secret Garden. The walk is around 30-40 minutes and the children kept up a good pace, ensuring they kept warm. Once we arrived at the Garden we were greeted by the Fledglings from 345 Wandsworth, and we headed into the garden together. The rain had provided lots of water for making cupcakes, tipping and pouring and a lovely pond for the play ducks. Some of the cupcakes had surprise treats inside them such as chocolate or strawberries and others were made of ice cream! The Squirrels engaged in lots of chasing games, keeping them warm as they ran as well as finding all sorts of hiding places for a few rounds of Hide and Seek. The logs were a bit slippery to climb on this week which the Squirrels learnt after being supported by an adult, discussing the consequences of what would happen if they fell. We decided to leave climbing on the logs until next time. Elsewhere in the garden the children made music using sticks and dug around in the soil hoping to find worms and insects they could see up close with the magnifying glass.