Squirrels News - 3rd February 2023

To support the children with friendships and turn taking as well as developing a healthy understanding of things we are able to be in charge of, we chose the topic book of the week I'm in Charge by Jeanne Willis and Jarvis.

This book explores the life of a young rhino who can be quite rude and hurtful to those around him when he tells them he is in charge. He does not listen to his Mummy when she asks him to go to bed and he does not share the fruit from the mango tree, instead telling the other animals that he is in charge of it all. Rhino however eventually learns that he is not in charge of everything when the wildebeest charge over the mango tree.

This book offered a great way of discussing sharing and the ways we can all take responsibility to help each other. To think about things we can be in charge of we thought about all the jobs we do around the classroom, deciding who could be in charge of what each day, such as tidying away the books or wiping the whiteboards.

In Art we collaged rhinos and added speech bubbles explaining things we could be in charge of. In Numeracy this week we have been ordering the days of the week. This activity helped develop our fine motor skills as we had to cut each day out before they could be ordered.

To support our learning and observations of the changing seasons we decided to make bird feeders, using fat and different types of seeds to take with us on our Outdoor Learning Day. The children carefully chose which ingredients they wanted to add before rolling them into balls and attaching string to the top. We were very excited to choose which branches to hang them on and we can’t wait to see if the birds have enjoyed them when we go back next week.

Around the classroom we have also explored the ‘Home’ Role Play Area, where the Squirrels have made delicious meals and enjoyed looking after the babies and asking the teenagers in the house to babysit.

In Free Play the Squirrels also enjoyed cutting out magazines to create beautiful pictures, played turn taking games with a focus on environmentally friendly activities such as recycling and developed their number recognition and pen grip. Outside the children enjoyed finding letters hidden amongst the sand and sitting in the reading nook created using hanging fabric, cushions, throws and a blanket.