Nursery

This half term we will be exploring the story ‘Monkey Puzzle’ (Nursery) and ‘Dear Zoo’ (R3’s), stepping into the wild and meeting many exciting animals along the way. We will be focusing on making predictions and talking about emotions as well as continuing to identify key features of a book such as; the front cover, blurb, spine, page numbers, title and author.

We have been very busy blending learnt sounds in Nursery to make words during our phonics sessions, helping us in preparation for reading. This remains a focus to help develop our decoding and fluency skills. We are continuously revisiting previously learnt sounds to ensure that these are deeply embedded, as well as extending our knowledge learning more and more of the Set 1 RWI sounds. We are also busy embedding independent name writing and encourage the children to do this daily in a morning when ‘signing in’ and during provision when labelling their own work. Some of our rising 3 children will also be introduced to the Nursery Read Write Inc set 1 sounds this half term and will be continuing to embed listening skills to further develop phonological awareness (such as tuning into environmental and instrumental sounds, making a variety of voice sounds and body percussion, discovering rhyming words and clapping syllables in words).

In Maths, we are mastering our subitising skills to 5 – something that the children are now becoming really speedy at! We are continuing to use our ‘Ten Town’ rhymes to help aid number formation. We will be making comparisons related to size and length and re-visiting pattern to deepen and extend our knowledge.

In our topic work, we will be looking at patterns and textures that feature on different jungle animals, we will be getting creative and using our new knowledge to design and create our own jungle animals. We will be discovering forces and learning all about how things work. We will begin to understand that there are different countries in the world and talk about the differences children may have experienced or seen in photos.

This half term our new topic is ‘Emergency'. The children will be learning all about different occupations and in particular the people who help us in our community. To really get the children ‘hooked’ and excited we will welcome the local fire brigade to our school to explore the fire engine and ask questions to find out more information. We have a fun fire station role play to extend on our new knowledge! We will also be putting our ‘detective hats’ on to figure out what has happened to poor Humpty Dumpty! Who can help?? Luckily we will have doctors and nurses in training in our brand new role play area that has been transformed into a Hospital. Our hospital role play will link beautifully with our focus rhymes for this half term which are “Humpty Dumpty” and “Miss Polly had a Dolly”.

In Read, Write, Inc this half term, we will be learning more of the set 1 sounds. We will be practising our oral blending daily and beginning to introduce ‘Fred talk’ to help support the children in writing initial sounds of words and simple cvc words using taught sounds. We continuously revisit previously learnt sounds to ensure that these are deeply embedded and that children are able to recall and use rhymes to aid with their letter formation.

In Literacy, a strong focus in the Nursery will be on name writing. We will be practising this daily and encourage children to practise at home in a variety of engaging ways such as in bubbly water at bath time, using chalks on the floor or even using loose parts /natural objects such as pebbles whilst out on a walk! We will continue to work our way through the “Squiggle whilst you wiggle “ programme and begin the next set of gross and fine motor movements.

In Nursery, children will continue to develop their knowledge of number, number recognition and formation in their daily Maths sessions and through fun purposeful activities such as helping to use the correct number of blocks to re-build the wall for Humpty Dumpty! We will be continuing to develop skills in subitising numbers to 5 and begin to look at how numbers can be combined. We will be making comparisons in relation to capacity and develop our problem solving skills to help Fireman Sam work out which bucket will hold the most water!
We can’t wait to explore lifecycles through the first-hand experience of hatching our very own fluffy chicks. From this we will build relationships and support communication skills and learn how to care for living animals. We will develop our understanding of job roles and empathy and emotions through our ‘Emergency!’ focus and circle time activities. We will be focusing on games and competitive sport in our PE lessons to help prepare the children for their sports day races.

This half term we will be exploring Traditional Tales through our topic of ‘Story Land!’ Our key texts will be ‘Goldilocks and Three Bears’ and ‘The Three Little Pigs’. We will be learning all about the different characters and begin to explore the beginning, middle and end of stories using our story maps. Our rhyme time focus will be ‘Teddy Bears Picnic’.

Children will be receiving daily RWI sessions following the nursery scheme where a key focus will be to recognise sounds, recognise words containing the same initial sound and practise letter formation using the RWI rhymes.

In Maths, we will be learning new vocabulary related to size and positional language. Children will embed counting and number recognition through practical activities such as baking for baby bear and decorating gingerbread men! We will also look at pattern and spotting error in patterns.

In our topic sessions we will be enjoying exploring textures to make art work, we will discover how the artist Jackson Pollock uses different techniques to make marks on paper using paint and a variety of colours. We will be food tasting and linking this with our stories through making porridge, cakes and decorating gingerbread men.

We will learn all about the Easter story and discover why we celebrate Easter. We can’t wait to show off our Easter bonnets and learn all about the changing seasons and new life in Spring time!

Our class text is based on a series of Peppa Pig Adventures! We will be talking about our own experiences linking in with our stories that explore localities such as the park, the farm and the supermarket. Our Nursery Rhyme focus is ‘Old Macdonald had a Farm’. We will continue to build on our listening skills during phase 1 phonics sessions and will be continuing to learn the set 1 sounds in our Read Write Inc sessions. The children have been super stars in recognising their own names and are now beginning to write their names. In Maths, we will be introducing subitising (recognising small amounts up to 5 without the need for counting) and also comparing weights of objects in our farm shop role play! We will be using vocabulary such as more/ less and practising our counting skills. Through our topic we are excited to learn all about Chinese New Year and the year of the Rabbit! We will also be learning about our local environment and how we can help to look after each other and our surroundings.

Autumn 2 is definitely the most magical time of the year for Nursery! This half term we will be venturing out on our first educational visit to meet Santa and his helpers at The National Forest Adventure Farm. The children will be immersed into our new text ‘Stick Man!’ with a brand new ‘family tree’ role play area to help with re-telling the story, using our amazing imaginations and sharing stories together around the cosy log fire. We will be learning about ‘Winter’ and exploring the seasonal changes that occur. Throughout the half term we will be developing our Understanding of the World and learning about celebrations and festivals and exploring the traditions. We can’t wait to shine bright and perform our very first Christmas concert. We will be busy learning lots of new festive songs for all to enjoy!

Welcome to Nursery! We can’t wait to get started on our learning adventure and share our journey with you. We have a busy half term ahead, packed with lots of fun and engaging activities. We will begin by welcoming the children into school life at the The Crescent Academy and support them in developing a special sense of belonging. We will be discovering ‘friendships’ and what makes a good friend and exploring ‘emotions’. We will be sharing lots of stories and rhymes to support both listening skills and a love for reading from the very start. Throughout the term, we will be introducing informal Read Write Inc sessions, starting with our phase one phonics and provide lots of opportunities to develop fine motor and pre-writing skills. The children will be introduced to the ‘Ten Town’ characters. This will focus on developing early Maths skills and will support in embedding new knowledge through lots of fun and practical Maths games, both indoors and outdoors. We can’t wait to roll up our sleeves and get creative this half term as we explore ‘colour’ in a variety of forms. We will investigate patterns and new vocabulary through movement and music and our cosy sensory den will offer a safe and calm space to explore all our senses.