This week the Squirrels ventured out on a very exciting Community Walk to ‘Jefferson’s’ in Balham for babyccinos! The owner Celine invited us along to learn all about ice cream and how it’s made. We had a tour of the kitchen and we were lucky enough to have chef Manuela give us a demonstration of how she makes the ice cream. The children were able to ask Manuela all of their questions and she also told us about the different ingredients and flavours she creates as well as what all of her equipment does. We found out that it takes 24 hours to make ice cream and the most expensive ingredient is vanilla. The children loved their visit and their warm babyccinos - thank you Jefferson’s for having us!
Our Jefferson’s experience led us to turn our Outdoor Learning Environment into the Squirrels Café on Tuesday where the children used all of their newfound knowledge to prepare a range of teas and coffees to serve; pouring, stirring and spooning the water, stones and shaving foam...they were delicious!
In Sports the children used tennis racquets to practise their tennis skills. They had to focus hard on throwing and catching the balls as well as balancing the balls on racquets before hitting them as hard as we could!
At the end of the week we held our Sports Day. The event was a huge success with the Yellow and Pink Squirrels enjoying various fun races including the potato and spoon race, balancing beanbags, a blindfold race and running races as well as competing in teams to complete the relay races which were themed on topics from the year. Everyone was in good spirits and we enjoyed some healthy competition with the Yellow Squirrels just pipping the Pink Squirrels to the post. The parents and siblings also joined in with the fun with a running race and a game of tug-of-war. It was a wonderful day enjoyed by all!
As the Squirrels prepare for their transition to Primary School we have been thinking about how independent we are with a focus on getting dressed. They have been practising putting on and doing up their shoes as well as getting coats on and zipping them up independently. Everyone has been trying really hard and it has been brilliant to see everyone persevere even when challenges arise which has helped to build their resilience and self-confidence.