Skip to content ↓

Owls (Nursery)

Tawny Owl (Strix aluco) - British Birds - Woodland Trust
Photo credit: Woodland Trust

 

Nursery

Summer Curriculum Overview 

This term our topic is ‘Is it Alive’ and ‘Changing Me.’ 

This term will provide opportunities for outdoor learning. The children will learn how to care for plants and animals. They will explore growing plants from seeds and learn about food and farming. They will learn first-hand about a butterfly life cycle and explore creatures that creep and crawl in the garden. We will continue to explore seasonal changes and learn about keeping safe in the sun. 

 

As part of PSHE we will be looking at how we have changed and how they feel about moving from Nursery to Reception. There will be opportunities for the children to visit Reception teachers and the classrooms. 

Area of learning 

Teaching and Learning 

Parental Involvement 

Communication and Language 

 

We will continue to develop listening and speaking skills. These are developed daily through high quality interactions, group time, stories, singing and book talk times. We will develop and build upon the children’s vocabulary as they play and learn. 

 

  • Hear and use new vocabulary from stories rhymes and poems and non-fiction books 

  • Develop sentence structure through stories and games.  

  • Talk about settings and events (sometimes in the correct order) 

  • Begin to predict what might happen next 

  • Begin to answer ‘why’ questions. 

 

 

At the end of each week the Nursery staff will send, via email, information about what the children have been learning that week. There may also be some suggestions of activities that you could do at home to create opportunities to talk and make links with the learning done at school. 

 

 

Website to help you support communication and language skills with your child. 

Tiny Happy People 

 

 

Personal and Social Development 

 

(PSHE) 

We follow the JIGSAW scheme of work. This term the children are learning about ‘Relationships’ and ‘Changing Me’. The PSHE ethos remains at the core of our curriculum. 

 

We will be developing positive healthy relationships through stories such as George and Martha stories by James Marshall.  

-Family life  

-Friendships  

-Breaking friendships  

-Falling out  

-Dealing with bullying  

-Being a good friend  

 

Changing me will support children to cope positively with the changes as they prepare to move up to Reception. We look at their achievements and celebrate their time within Nursery. 

  

 -Bodies  

-Respecting my body  

-Growing up  

-Fun and fears  

-Celebrations  

  

Healthier Families - Home - NHS (www.nhs.uk) 

 

 

 

We support the children to say, “Please can I have a turn?” The other child may respond by giving the toy to them or might say, “When I’m finished.” The child is then supported to wait their turn. This can be reinforced at home with siblings too. 

 

Physical Development 

Physical development plays a huge part of our ‘Early Years’ curriculum. The children will have daily opportunities for climbing, riding bikes/scooters/trikes and developing ball skills. 

  • We will continue to use the outside resources to build obstacle courses. 

  • We will have a weekly PE session in the hall (Monday). Children will take off their shoes and socks. We will focus on ball and games skills. We will also be developing sequences of movement when listening to music. 

  • The children will use the outside and inside climbing equipment to develop their balance, control and co-ordination.  

  • We will use the bikes/scooters/trikes, within the nursery garden and on the big playground, to develop spatial awareness and control. 

 

The children will also be developing their fine motor skills each day. 

  • We will continue to develop control when using a range of objects or resources when threading, using tweezers, pincer grip activities, spreading glue and sticking objects to the glue, pouring, scooping and digging. 

  • Develop control and co-ordination when using scissors to cut paper. 

  • We will be exploring mark making with a range of different resources. 

 

Continue to provide opportunities for children to be active. 

 

 

 

Support your child to put their shoes and socks on independently. 

 

Support your child to develop skills to put on their coat and do up their zip. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Literacy  

We will be fostering a love of reading. The children will have an opportunity to look at books in our book talk sessions and listen to stories read to them. We will talk about what is happening and about the characters.  

  • Develop an awareness of book features and structures for fiction and non-fiction (front and back cover, title) 

  • Developing their awareness that print carries meaning – reading other children’s names, labels and signs. 

  • Join in with stories, rhymes, poems, songs, non-fiction texts.  

  • Begin to predict what might happen next. 

  • Hear initial sounds in words and suggest words that have the same sound at the beginning.  

  • Spot and suggest rhyming words 

  • Play games to support oral blending and segmenting – pre reading skills. 

 

There will be daily opportunities for children to experiment with their own writing. Children will be shown, if they don’t know already, how to hold a mark making tool with a comfortable grip. 

  • Mark make using pens, pencils, paintbrushes.  

  • Copy pattern outlines such as wavy lines, straight lines, bumpy lines, etc. 

  • Develop opportunities to write and give meaning to the marks they make. 

  • Developing drawing skills - show children how to represent what they are drawing. 

  • Form some letter shapes to write their name, shopping list or invitations. 

Share and read the library book chosen each week by your child. Talk about what is happening and who the characters are. Start to ask why questions e.g. why did the beanstalk grow so tall? 

 

 

Attend book talk/stay and play sessions (see the newsletter for the dates). 

 

If the children have a favourite book at home please encourage them to bring it in so we can read it within Nursery. We love to know what the children enjoy reading at home! 

 

Children love to mark make – provide pens and pencils for children to strengthen their hand muscles.  

Support children to hold their pencil correctly. 

 

 

 

Mark making patterns 

 

Numeracy 

Numeracy is developed daily through high quality interactions, group time, early morning work and during independent learning. 

  • There will be opportunities for purposeful counting e.g. counting children, milks, chairs, and fruit. Teachers will model counting along the number line and stopping at the correct number. 

  • Match numerals to quantities up to 5 

  • Sing number songs (one more/one less) representing these using their fingers. 

  • Identifying small amounts without counting up 3  

  • Extend and create ABAB patterns. Progress to spotting errors in simple patterns. 

  • Make Comparisions between objects relating to size, length, weight and capacity 

  • Compare quantities by using the terms ‘more than’, ‘less than’, ‘fewer than’ and ‘same’ 

Use various opportunities to count e.g. doing up buttons, climbing stairs, collected items etc.  

 

Sing number songs 

Nursery Rhymes 

 

 

Look around you for patterns and shapes. Talk about what you can see. 

Understanding the World  

Past and Present  

  • Share similarities between characters, figures, places or objects. 

  • Comments on their own experiences. 

  • Developing vocabulary of the passing of time. We will be looking back through our seasons book and talking about the changes. We will be growing plants and seeing how they change over time. 

People, Cultures & Communities 

  • We will develop an awareness and foster positive attitudes about differences in what people believe and where they gather to celebrate/worship.  

  • Recap on celebrations we have experienced this year. 

  • Shows an interest in different occupations -farmer, shop worker, gardener, etc (aspirations week) 

 

The Natural World 

  • We will be developing curiosity for the world around them. We will talk about what they see and hear (using their senses) by going for walks in the school grounds and making collections of things to share (seasonal changes). 

  • Explore planting seeds and caring for the growing seeds. 

  • Explore differences between plants and animals (Are they alive? What do they need?) 

  • Explore the world around them and show respect and care (plants and animals, including minibeasts). 

  • Discover about where animals live and how to care for them. 

  • Know the life cycle of a butterfly 

  • Recognise how things have changed over time e.g. plants, seasons (use seasons floor book to reflect on the changes). Relate to how they have changed. What have they learnt? PSHE 

 

Let the nursery staff know about the celebrations that are important to your family so that we can learn more about different faiths and religions. If you can, come in and talk to the children about how you celebrate! 

 

 

 

 

When you are out and about point things out to your child. Talk about changes that are happening or that have happened. 

 

Science week activities 

 

 

 

 

Expressive Arts and Design 

  • Explore painting, cutting, joining, printing and sticking skills to create their own artwork, using a variety of tools and resources. 

  • Begin to experiment with mixing colours 

  • Model building walls and enclosed spaces to create small worlds for animals/people. Add other resources. 

  • Develop drawing skills – support observational skills e.g. plants and animals 

  • Sing a selection of nursery rhymes and songs (singing box)  

  • Develop awareness of a simple beat when playing a variety of instruments. 

  • Copies basic actions and begins to learn a short dance routine. 

Sing nursery rhymes together. 

Nursery Rhymes 

 

Collect natural materials to make pictures and collages.