Squirrels News - 7th November 2025
It has been lovely to welcome the children back to nursery this week after the half term break. This week during Free Play deconstruction was a big hit. This was the first time the children had explored deconstruction in the Squirrels classroom this academic year and they were absolutely fascinated by the activity. They examined a circuit board closely, asking lots of thoughtful questions about how it worked. Using screwdrivers and pliers, the children also enjoyed taking apart old, donated laptops.
In Focus Time, we have explored another new concept this week as we observed the numbers on the clock and learned about o’clock. This lesson came from some of the children’s growing interest in the time. The children enjoyed identifying the hands on the clock and talking about what time means. I wonder if they might start noticing the clock at home or when out and about!
In Dance with Miss Jade, the children went on a wonderful autumnal adventure, flying through the forest and delivering pumpkins to Grandma’s house! During Sport with Coach Athena, the children navigated the space by playing a fun game where they had to run across a “river” of cones. If a cone touched them, they completed five star jumps! There was lots of laughter and great teamwork throughout the session. In Music with Miss Leisa, we started getting into the festive spirit, singing along to a few Christmas classics before choosing some of our trusty favourites. During Spanish with Pepe, the children have been learning the ch sound and recapping numbers and colours.
We had quite a surprise when we arrived at the Common this week as we noticed that some of the trees had been cut down! Together, we talked about why this might have happened, suggesting that the trees could have been ill or weak and that perhaps new trees would be planted in their place.
The children were excited to see all the tree trunks that had been left behind, and they had great fun exploring them. Some children jumped straight into climbing over the logs with confidence, while others approached more cautiously at first. By the end of the morning, most of the children were happily balancing, climbing, and playing on the trunks and trees.
For our Focus Time session, we created natural art. The children chose objects of interest from the environment to stick onto their cards and explained why they had selected each one. Some went looking for small, delicate leaves whilst others preferred the large brown, crispy ones, and a few made sure all their leaves were different shapes and colours.
On our way to and from the Common, we noticed people wearing poppies and saw vans and buildings decorated with them. This sparked a thoughtful discussion about why people wear poppies. We explained that poppies are worn to help us remember and thank the people who help to keep us safe. We even spotted some poppies in a shop window and at the church’s reception area on our walk back to the nursery.