Squirrels News - 10th November 2023

This week we have been learning about Diwali, why it is celebrated and discussing whether everyone celebrates the same things.

Our Role Play Area has been set up as a household which is celebrating Diwali and the children have enjoyed making sure it is clean, the lights are out, and the food is made! To expand our learning of Diwali we chose the topic book, ‘Diwali’ by Hannah Elliot. The book explains the history of Diwali in simple detail and outlines the five days of Diwali.

In other activities we have been focusing on our fine motor skills and developing out pincer grips. Around the classroom we had to rescue objects of varying difficulty, using tweezers to save them from the spider’s web. We also enjoyed taking the cars on all sorts of adventures to the beach, shops, park and airport. It seems everyone was very busy but luckily no one was headed off to work!

We counted out the correct number of cubes to match the numeral as well as developed our writing and recall skills during Focus Time where we discussed our Weekend News. In Numeracy this week we focused on symmetry as we made rangoli patterns.

We also discussed other celebrations such as birthdays and Christmas alongside Diwali to see what differences and similarities there were between them and on Friday on the way to Wandsworth Common for our Outdoor Learning Day we looked for signs around us that Christmas is coming. We found some shops had held off on their decorations for now but some have a few up or are decorated in the full Christmas spirit! We continued to discuss Diwali when we arrived on the common as we created rangoli patterns using natural objects.

We have thoroughly enjoyed learning about Diwali and are excited to see if we can catch any of the celebrations whilst out this Sunday, keep your eyes open!