It was lovely to welcome the Squirrels back to Nursery this week after the half term break and to hear what they had all been up to. The children have time to share ‘Weekend News’ every week to develop their language and communication skills. This provides an opportunity for the Squirrels to practice taking turns, listening and responding in conversation and to ask appropriate questions.
Our topic book this week was Speak Up by Miranda Paul. The story is all about finding ways to stand up and speak up for positive change. The children were keen to know more about the illustrations throughout the book which depicted different people in history who have made the world a better place. The book introduced them to individuals who have changed our world including: Nelson Mandela, Malala Yousafzai, Martin Luther King Jr and Ruth Ginsberg. In literacy we used the book as a starting point to identify ways to ‘Speak Up’ that we value. The Squirrels gave examples including: ‘saying please and thank you’, ‘being a friend’ and ‘telling an adult when something is wrong’. We placed these ideas into speech bubbles that we added to our artwork.
This week we reinstated our Outdoor Learning Days and visited Wandsworth Common for the morning. The children and staff were looking forward to being out again and gave an excellent recount of our Outdoor Learning Day rules that keep us safe.
Our first activity continued along the theme of speaking up. The children had the opportunity to use the mega-phone to tell the world something important. It was great fun hearing our voices carried over the common and maybe we influenced others in the vicinity. We also took part in a litter picking activity and discussed why it is important to look after the world around us. The children were very engaged in this activity and understood that speaking up isn’t just about people it is also about looking after our world too. The children took turns to use the litter pickers, searching the area for discarded items. The Squirrels were quite concerned about the litter we found and were disappointed that others would do this.
We were all hugely excited to be outside again and the children were eager to explore the area; climbing trees and discovering new plants and insects which provided a wonderful opportunity to stretch their physical and personal development. I love asking the children at the end of the session if they had fun? This week I received a resounding “yes!” from all.
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