Our timetable allows for a mix of adult led teaching and child led learning. Continuous provision is where children access the environment and resources independently. Adults join children in their play and use these opportunities to develop their interests and teach across all areas of the EY curriculum.
In Class 1 we do not set out specific topics for each term as we are led by the children's interests in order to maintain high levels of engagement. However, there are naturally occurring themes which happen due to the time of year which we take advantage of in order to provide relevant learning opportunities.
AUTUMN TERM
Phonics
Nursery
Throughout Nursery children there is a strong focus on developing the children's speaking and listening skills. Our rich and varied environment and regular planned sessions supports children to develop their ability to listen carefully and talk extensively about what they hear, see and do. Children will develop their auditory discrimination, their ability to listen and remember sounds and their bank of vocabulary and language comprehension.
Reception
Children in reception being the Little Wandle Letter and Sounds programme this term. This is a sessioncs session straight after registration. This term children will be introduced to single letter sounds, double consonant sounds (ss, ll, ff etc) and then the consonant digraphs (sh, th, ng, nk). They will also be introduced to a number of high frequency 'tricky' words that they need to recognise on sight. As we progress through the programme, the children will have letters and words added to their keyrings which will come home in their reading wallet. It is really important that children practise their sounds and words at home.
Alongside learning the letters and sounds, we also focus on developing children's ability to recognise alliteration and rhyme as well as their oral blending skills.
Literacy
Children listen to stories every day. Through our bank of core texts as well as many others, we will be focusing on building our vocabulary, developing our imaginations and developing out sentence structures so that we can sequence and retell stories. Our core fiction texts this term are:
Goldilocks and the Three Bears
The Three Little Pigs
Chicken Licken
The Enormous Turnip
We're going on a Bear Hunt
Owl Babies
The Tiger Who Came to Tea
Bedtime for Monsters
What's in the Witch's Kichen
Room on the Broom
Lost and Found
Squash and a Squeeze
Hoot Owl
Poems, rhymes and singing are also an important part of developing language and communication skills. We focus on a number of traditional nursery rhymes as well as other songs and rhymes. The core ones this term are:
Rhymes
Humpty Dumpty, Incy Wincey Spider, Twinkle Twinkle, Baa Baa Black Sheep, Chop Chop Choppity Chop, Leaves are Falling, Pointy Hat, Falling Apples, Five Little Pumpkins, Five Little Reindeer, Funny Face, Counting Christmas.
Action and Number Songs
BINGO, The Caterpillar Song, Chicka Boom, If you're Happy and you Know it, If you Clap your Hands and Stop, Roly Poly, Five Little Ducks, Once I Caught a Fish Alive.
As children's phonic skills develop, they will begin to bring home a reading book. Please practise this at home and sign/comment in their reading record when they have done so.
Maths
Nursery
Early maths skills are acquired through purposeful opportunities in play where we can tailor our teaching to the age and stage of the child. Counting skills and numeral recognition are consolidated through songs and games in adult led activities.
Reception children follow the 'Mastering Early Number Programme'
This term, children will build on previous experiences of number from their home and nursery environments, and further develop their subitising and counting skills. They will explore the composition of numbers within 5. They will begin to compare sets of objects and use the language of comparison. Pupils will:
• identify when a set can be subitised and when counting is needed
• subitise different arrangements, both unstructured and structured, including using the Hungarian number frame
• make different arrangements of numbers within 5 and talk about what they can see, to develop their conceptual subitising skills
• spot smaller numbers ‘hiding’ inside larger numbers
• connect quantities and numbers to finger patterns and explore different ways of representing numbers on their fingers
• hear and join in with the counting sequence, and connect this to the ‘staircase’ pattern of the counting numbers, seeing that each number is made of one more than the previous number
• develop counting skills and knowledge, including: that the last number in the count tells us ‘how many’ (cardinality); to be accurate in counting, each thing must be counted once and once only and in any order; the need for 1:1 correspondence; understanding that anything can be counted, including actions and sounds
• compare sets of objects by matching
• begin to develop the language of ‘whole’ when talking about objects which have parts
Alongside these adult led session, our environment is planned so that children consistently encounter purposeful mathematical opportunities where they can apply their knowledge, problem solve and develop their ability to reason and explain.
RE
This term the children will be talking about how we are all unique and special, what makes us the same and what makes us different, our families and who we love and care for. We will also read The Story of Creation and talk about how Christians believe in God. Children will explore the little things that we can do ourselves to look after the world and everything in it. As we get to towards the end of the year
