We have been practising for our Nativity this week.  Every day we have 
acted out the story of Mary and Joseph, their long journey to Bethlehem and the
birth of baby Jesus.  We have been singing our Christmas songs and it’s
very important that we try to practise these every day at home as well. 

 
The craft tables have been covered in lots of glitter and silver and gold
paint as we try out many different Christmas crafts.  They are going into
our folders ready to take home for Christmas! 
 
We have used the briomec to construct models using hammers, nails, screws,
wheels etc and the duplo to build fences and enclosures for the animals. 
We used water to practise pouring and filling bottles and teacups. 
 
On Thursday morning Leo from Allstar Sports came to spend some time
with us.  We went into the big hall and Leo organised lots of fun and
energetic games which were great fun.  
 
There are still hundreds of leaves in Squirrels garden which have been
great for playing in, kicking them up in the air and throwing them up in the
sky!  We have played games with them too where we have had to match them
and find bigger and smaller ones.  You may like to try this when you
go for a walk together near any trees.  One person chooses a leaf and then
the others have to find one the same, or one that’s bigger or smaller.  You
can then make patterns or simple shapes on the ground with the leaves you
have found (circle, square triangle).  This can then be extended by finding
and using twigs, stones, cones, conkers etc.  Have fun!
 
At the end of the week some of the children pretended to be doctors
examining the dolls and making them better.  This will be continued on
Monday of next week...

This week we have carried on with the hairdressers role play and lots of
children have participated in brushing, combing, washing and drying hair using
different tools.  They have also used brushes to apply pretend make up
and hairclips, hairbands and rollers to style the hair.  Throughout 
the week the children have been out in groups of 4 for road safety walks. 
They have been learning how to cross the road safely using a zebra
crossing.  Some followed this up by using black and white paint to make
their own zebra crossings.  We talked about traffic lights and what the 3
different colours mean and some of the children painted their own.
 
Our story this week was Cinderella which we have acted out each day. 
The children are getting very confident in their acting and many are very keen
to take part now.  We have used square silky scarves during our
dancing to music, helping to improve our gross motor skills.  Mary and
Marvin our persona dolls visited a couple of times and joined in with our 5
currant buns song.  Mary and Marvin helped to show us how to sit nicely and
the children showed them how to count.
 
On Wednesday we all got dressed up (staff & parent helper
included) and the children helped to make up a story which we acted out
together. 
 
Children have used carpet squares to make a road and number mats as tickets
for the people on the bus.  We used our bus in our game about mums and
children.  We started off having breakfast, playing with toys, helping with
cleaning and tidying.  The child acting as mummy took us to the
play park as a treat, then we had dinner.  Soon it was time for bed and
after baths and hair washes we all had a story in the great big bed.  These
games are always brilliant for improving children’s speech, language and
communication.  Please try at home.
 
On Thursday evening Squirrels entered a team of six into the quiz
held at Puddleducks pre-school in Colchester and WE WON!!!   
 
Next week we begin practising our Nativity and our Christmas
crafts.  Please look out for the letter about the Nativity, Christmas
Fayre and  Christmas party  

This week we have been talking about Children in Need and on Monday and
Tuesday the children helped to make cakes.  Lots of them dressed in spotty
outfits throughout the week and some even had spotty faces!  We have made
dotty/spotty pictures and patterns with glue, paper and scissors, paints and
stickers. 
 
We continued to use our autumn collections to make pictures and some
children made autumn wreaths and arrangements.  We used the acorns, conkers
and chestnuts with the paint, making lots of interesting patterns on our
paper.  We added leaves and twigs to the sand tray so that we could hide
things and we used spades to fill up our buckets.
 
We have been acting out the story called ’We’re going on a bear
hunt’.  We started off indoors but then developed it further in the outdoor
area.  We used lots of props such as materials, logs, tyres, mud in the
tuff spot and we went in and out of the trees.  We took it in turns to hold
binoculars, magnifiers and torches when we were searching for the bear. 
The bear chased us back to the summer house where we pretended to hide in our
big bed!  We have made a big collage of the bear hunt using different
textures so please look out for it on the wall at Squirrels.
 
At the end of the week some of the children were talking together about
getting married so we planned a big wedding.  We dressed up in our special
clothes, and we all had seats to sit on.  We had our make up and hair done
in the salon and after the people were married and had put their rings on we all
clapped our hands.  We then had our wedding breakfast (which was really
snack time) and one of the children placed a special wedding cake on the
table.  After the food we had music and dancing.  The children have
asked to do something similar again so next week we may start off
by writing out invitations (practising their mark making/writing
skills).
 
We have raised just over £76 for Children in Need this week, from
the sale of Cakes and your donations.  Thank you very much for your
support. 

The children came back to Squirrels this week after the half term
break.  We were very pleased that so many of them had spent some
time with their family and friends collecting lots of items to do with
autumn.  We have a huge collection of beautiful coloured leaves, twigs,
conkers, chestnuts, acorns, fruits, feathers and pine cones.  So far we
have made a big autumn tree with these and some smaller autumn collages
too.  Next week we will continue this and also use some of the items
for matching and sorting games. 
A lot of money has been collected from sponsorship and it is still
coming in so we will let you know the grand total at the end of next week. 
Thank you very much for supporting us and helping to raise some much needed
money for our pre-school.
 
We have made lots of firework pictures using paint, teabags, straws, chalks
and lots of lovely glitter.  Children painted their hands red and made
a handprint wreath which we will hang up to help us remember all those
soldiers, sailors and air crew who have died in the wars.
 
We had a visit from our friend Marvin (a persona doll) who spent some time
with the children at circle and singing time.
 
Our story this week was The 3 Billy Goats Gruff.  We have read it each
day and the children have helped to act out the parts of the small, medium and
big goats and the troll and we have all had a turn at crossing the wooden
bridge, going ‘trip trap, trip trap’ ‘clip clop clip clop’ and stomp,
stomp,  stomp stomp’
 
Today was very busy at Squirrels as the photographer came in to take photos
of the children.  He will try to get the proofs back as soon as
possible.