Nursery
Latest Learning 2024-2025
29.11.24 - PSED (Personal, Social and Emotional Development)!
Autumn 2 Intent:
- Have a ‘go’ at new activities.
- Show good sitting, good looking, good listening, keeping my hands and feet to myself at group time.
- Help to tidy up.
- Interact with other children.
- Take turns with an adult.
Wow, we are so proud of how far the children have come since starting in Nursery in September. So far this year our focus has been on building relationships, settling into our Nursery and establishing good learning behaviours. As we near Christmas, we are beginning to extend and challenge ourselves in order to become independent, collaborative and resilient learners.
This week our PSED focus has been on selecting and using the resources we need to achieve a set goal. At the end of group time, we have been talking about what we would like to make and thinking about the resources we might need. Throughout the week we have made endless creations such as Lamborghinis in the outdoor area, castles in the construction and handbag designing in our creative area. As you can see, we have selected the appropriate resources to achieve their goal, which we shared with our friends at the end of the session.
Also this week we worked on our collaboration cog by introducing games and jigsaws to our provision. We played for extended periods of time, figuring out the jigsaws together and supporting each other when necessary. We used lots of our modelled language ‘my turn then you next’ and ‘I will help’.
22.11.24 - Reading!
Autumn 1 Intent:
Word Reading:
- Identify sounds in the environment.
- Make different sounds with different instruments.
- Point to pictures and print in books.
Comprehension:
- Seek out familiar books to share with adults.
- Join in with repeated refrains.
- Show enjoyment when sharing books with adults.
Reading is encompassed into everything we do in Nursery. We learn stories by heart through our Talk for Writing scheme of learning and select weekly texts to support communication and language development.
Phonics in Nursery
After practising our Listening and Attention skills in Autumn 1, we have now started our Sounds Write (phonics) journey. This half term we are focusing on listening and naming sounds that we can hear in the environment as well as instrumental sounds and body sounds.
Here is Miss James and a group of children enjoying listening for and making sounds with the instruments.
Reading for Pleasure/ Story
Our focus text this half term has been: Owl Babies. We have learnt to join in with repeated refrains and we are especially good at 'I want my mummy!'. At the end of the session.
As children have become more familiar with the classroom and adults, it has been especially lovely to see them begin to request books to read. The cosy book corner is always a hit!
Nursery Rhymes
Nursery Rhymes are sung at multiple points in the day in our Nursery. A group of children here are singing the rhyme 'Wheels on the Bus'. This led to a whole afternoon of building buses, making tickets and discussing where we were heading on our bus.
During Nursery Rhyme week we also invited parents to our local library where they could sign up and see what was on offer.
15.11.24 - Understanding of the world!
Intent:
Autumn 1:
- Label body parts through story, songs, actions and rhymes.
- Explore materials with different properties.
Autumn 2:
- Join in with Diwali and Christmas celebrations.
- Show enjoyment when experiencing different seasons e.g. collecting leaves.
Celebrations
We started the term off with discussions about Diwali and fireworks. Lots of children had heard the fireworks at night time so we related it to their own experiences. We read the story 'The Best Diwaili ever' and in provision, explored making fireworks and Diya lamps.
08.11.24 - Maths in Nursery!
Intent for Autumn 1:
- Recognise, name and match some colours (red, blue, green, yellow, orange).
- Take part in finger rhymes with numbers 1-5.
- Give one item on request
- Ask for more (visuals, makaton or verbal).
Intent for Autumn 2:
- Recognise 1 and 2 objects.
- Use counting-like behaviours, such as making sounds, pointing or saying some numbers in sequence.
- Use simple prepositions in, on and under.
In Nursery it is our aim for children to develop the necessary building blocks and vocabulary needed to succeed mathematically in their school journey. We make sure to provide opportunities for purposeful play in provision and plenty of practice of mathematical concepts so that children develop positive attitudes and interests, look for patterns, spot connections and talk about what they have noticed. During our first half-term in school, our goal has been to settle children into routines and provide them with vocabulary and simple concepts that they will need during their nursery year.
This half-term we have been learning to recognise, match and sort colours. At the end of the half-term, children took part in Big Create where they got to apply all of their learning about colours. We had some fantastic vocabulary, such as 'red and blue is purple', as well as most children being able to recognise and label the colours.
25.10.24 - Literacy!
Intent for this half-term:
- Recognise my name card with my picture.
- Say some of the words in songs and rhymes
- Draw and scribble on different media, e.g. whiteboards, paper on the floor, post its.
- Show interest in making marks.
- Share a story with an adult
Talk for Writing
This half term, during our Literacy sessions, we introduced the Talk for Writing approach to our youngest learners in school. One focus story has been: Brown Bear, Brown Bear. We used coloured scarves to help us retell the story and played games such as: what’s in the bag, story dice and on a roll to help us remember the characters and repeated refrains.
The children had a go at creating their own story maps!
During provision, we retold the story with puppets as and even had a go at innovating and making our own characters, such as ‘blue sheep’. Here you can see children retelling the story with their new animal character.
Mark Making
Our intent this half term was to instill a love of writing and mark making in our children - it is safe to say they have all succeeded in this.
Here are just some examples of the creative mark making from this week:
18.10.24 - Physical Development In Nursery
Physical Development is at the heart of our curriculum in Nursery and we have been blown away this half-term with how the children have responded to our continuous physical provision and also our enhancements.
Gross Motor
This half term we have been:
- Clapping and stamping to music
- Learning how to sit on a chair for snack time
- Showing control of our body through continual large movements.
A focus when enhancing provision is on how we can encourage children to access our areas to support the children's journey through the foundation stage and onto later writing skills. We are fortunate to have a wonderful soft movement play, where we have practised jumping, spinning, climbing and crawling. Snack time has also become an integral part of the day when we learn to sit properly on a chair with our feet on the ground.
This week the children have been creating obstacles and sculptures using our new mini tyres and outdoor blocks - this encouraged lots of lovely language such as 'heavy' 'taller' 'more'.
10.10.24 - PSHE!
We have been learning about our feelings using the story Colour Monster. Here we are mixing all of those feelings together!
27.09.24 - Reading!
This week in Nursery we have been really settled and enjoying getting to know our classmates and make new friends! As we start to explore more areas of the provision in our classroom, we have been really keen to read our class books and even enjoy them with others!
20.09.24 - First Week in Nursery!
This week we were delighted to welcome back our Nursery children to school! We have been busy over the summer holidays giving their classroom a refresh to ensure it is engaging and welcoming for our new pupils. Children have been brave when saying goodbye to their adults and have made new friends! We look forward to an exciting year of learning!
Archive content -2023-2024
21.06.24 - Expressive Arts and Design!
This week children have been experimenting with colours and marks. Giving meaning to their drawing and painting. They have been looking particularly at wild animals linked to the book we are reading called, Animal Boogie.
14.06.24 - Family Friday!
This week our families came into the Nursery to see our lovely setting and play alongside their children. Family Friday is a great opportunity to learn and play with your child and to learn how to best support your child at home. It was a great session!
24.05.24 - The Natural World!
This week, children have been taking care of the plants that they have grown. They have been watering them and talking about what they look like now they have grown and what they think will happen next.
17.05.24 - Maths!
Some of this week's mathematical activities in Nursery have been exploring and talking about 2D shapes through play. Children have been making shape pictures, drawing shape pictures, looking at shape books and finding and naming shapes in the environment.
10.05.24 - Early Writing!
This week one of our provision activities has been around name writing. Children are learning to hold a pencil with a tripod grip. They are learning to form the letters in their name. They are also learning the letter sounds in their name. In phonics children are learning how to hear the sounds in small words and push them together to say the word.
03.05.24 - Nursery Reading!
In story time this week we have been retelling the story of The Very Hungry Caterpillar. We have been retelling the story using puppets and story blocks. Children have been posting the food the caterpillar likes to eat, using the specific story vocabulary.
26.04.24 - Observing Seasonal Change!
This week in Nursery we have been planting seeds and learning about what they need to grow. Children have enjoyed digging, watering and looking at other leaves and plants outside.
15.04.24 - Early Reading!
This week in phonics we are starting our “Sounds time” learning. This is the final part of phase 1 phonics. We are learning to hear the sounds in words and blend them together and say the sounds in words and blend them together. This prepares children for Sounds-write in Reception. Our teachers are so proud of how we can give focused attention to our group work on Sounds Write and participate enthusiastically in our new learning!
22.03.24 - Expressive Arts and Design!
This week as part of our bear hunt learning we have been drawing bears. Due to the lovely weather, we took our drawing outside. The children talked about the description of a bear from the book and used the pictures from the book and used pens to draw their own bears.
08.03.24 - People and Communities/The World!
This week we have been learning about the farm before our trip to Meanwood Valley Farm. We have been reading Noisy Farm and finding out about some of the things that we will see. We enjoyed playing with the small world farm and using farm vocabulary.
We have also been talking about our families and special times, making Mothers Day Cards.
01.03.2024 - Creating with Materials!
Children have been noticing the signs of spring outside, so we decided to paint flowers! They have been learning the skills of using scissors, tape and glue to make their own creations using different materials. We have also been exploring how to colour mix and use a paintbrush in provision time. Some children have also been exploring materials, pattern and play dough to make birthday cakes.
23.02.24 - People and Communities!
Children in Nursery have been using their knowledge and understanding of jobs in their families and communities to role play this week. They have enjoyed learning how to keep our outside area clean and tidy, helping to look after their school. What a great start to the term we have had!
09.02.24 - Physical Development!
In Nursery we have been running and riding bikes, finding space, practicing judging speed and obstacles. Outside we have been swinging, climbing, kicking and catching balls. We have also practiced balancing and making our own circuits. Inside in our movement area we have moving in different ways, balancing and learning to jump safely. We have been very active this week!
02.02.24 - Understanding the World!
This week, children have been looking at how materials change by making 3 bears porridge. They have been asking and answering questions about different foods and trying and tasting them. They have also been exploring their familiar world by looking at changes in the weather and their outside environment. Also, children have been using their enquiry skills, exploring how forces work.
26.01.24 - Marvellous Maths
This week, children have been using mathematical language to compare quantities. Children have explored shapes through drawing and making patterns. Some children have also enjoyed making play dough, counting and measuring ingredients. Some children have been counting and matching amounts to 5. Also, we are developing our skills to recognise and match amounts to numerals. We have had a very busy week!
15.01.24 - Focus on Literacy!
In Literacy this week, lots of children have enjoyed retelling the story of Goldilocks and the Three Bears using their cut-out characters and story blocks. Some children have enjoyed reading their favourite books and talking about them with their friends. Some children have been practising their tripod grip, mark making with pens. Others have been learning the letters in their name and writing them.
