Spring 2025

Topic

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All classes in Early Years follow the same half-termly topics. Topic in Little Doves covers a range of subjects such as: mark making, history, geography, music and science. We allow for lots of opportunities for investigative play and language development. As well as the focuses listed below, we take our learning in any direction that the children are passionate about. During the first half of the spring term, our unit of learning is called ‘I wonder where they go’ where we will be focusing on all different types of vehicles. Our key texts for this unit are called That’s Not My Tractor, That’s Not My Rocket, Things That Go, and Busy Trains.  During the second half of the spring term, our unit of learning is called, ‘I wonder if it ever happened’ which focuses on traditional tales. These include, The Little Mermaid, The Ugly Duckling, Cinderella and Little Red Riding Hood.

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Maths

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​During the spring term, we will be completing maths activities linked to our topic as well as those that interest us. We have opportunities to develop early maths skills across all areas of our environment. The first half term will include activities such as counting wheels, creating our own vehicles using loose parts, using shapes for parking spaces, role playing buses considering the numbers on the front, and talking about speed and time. During the second half of the term, we will be singing number rhymes such as five little ducks, directing friends using positional language, using shapes to build character homes, and subitising small amounts e.g. fish in water or fruit in a basket.

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Throughout the year in Little Doves, we explore Maths through play-based activities and within our everyday routines. During their time in Little Doves, children will be working towards developing an age-appropriate level of:

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• Combining objects e.g., stacking cups or blocks, putting objects inside others and taking them out again.

• Participating in finger rhymes with numbers.

• Showing an awareness of counting behaviour e.g. pointing and saying some numbers.

• Counting in everyday contexts with some skipping of numbers.

• Completing inset puzzles.

• Comparing sizes using gestures and language.

• Noticing patterns and arranging things in patterns.
   

Literacy

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​Literacy is another area of development that threads through many aspects of our learning environment. We have regular opportunities to mark make, develop pre-writing skills and to widen our vocabulary through our continuous provision, and during reading escape time when we share our love of high-quality stories. Some of the first half term’s literacy activities are linked to our topic. These include mark making, using vehicles tracks in a range of materials, acquiring new vocabulary liked to vehicle noises and features, exploring age-appropriate books during free play, and creating tickets to ride on our junk modelling vehicles. During the second half of the spring term, we will have opportunities such as using sensory stories and repetitive phrases during story time, exploring traditional tales, other than those that have been read during free play, creating our own mark making and pictures in books and taking about what we have made, and singing traditional nursery rhymes and songs.

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During their time in Little Doves, children will be working towards developing an age-appropriate level of:

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• Enjoying, and joining in with, songs, rhymes and tunes.

• Copying finger movement and gestures.

• When sharing a book with an adult: enjoying the experience, responding to the pictures, repeating familiar words or phrases, and asking questions about what is being read.

• Noticing some print in the environment e.g. the first letter of their name.

• Enjoying using tools to draw, adding some marks for meaning.

• Mark making to represent their name.

Physical Development

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​We have lots of opportunities for physical development. The first half term’s planned physical development activities will link to our topic. They include using different sized tools for cleaning in a role play car wash, using large scale movement when imitating different vehicles, creating tracks using a range of resources, and using bikes and scooters to balance and develop special awareness. After the half term break, our planned activities include using different resources to explore water animals and capacity in the water tray, creating routes for the characters in the story using outdoor resources, using playdoh to enhance our understanding of stories, and constructing buildings from stories such as a cottage or castle.

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We have daily access to our Early Years Garden with a range of physical development resources as well an intervention programme called 'Healthy Movers' which is accessible to all children who choose to participate. We also spend one afternoon a week outside on the playground enjoying bikes, scooters and the trim trail.

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During their time in Little Doves, children will be working towards developing an age-appropriate level of:

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• Clapping, stamping, and moving to music.

• Fitting into spaces e.g. dens, tunnels, and boxes.

• Beginning to kick, throw and catch.

• Enjoying different methods of movement when travelling.

• Using a scooter or tricycle.

• Managing their own needs such as pulling up my zip, pouring a drink and using a fork.

• When using paper, tearing, scrunching, mark making and printing.

Communication and Language

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​Whilst we do not complete specific lessons based on communication and language, this filters into all aspects of life in Little Doves. Activities link to our topic for the first half term and include playing a traffic light game to build listening skills, using talk to name vehicles and discuss where they might go, listening to different audio recordings of transport and matching them to their vehicle, and going on a walk outside to listen to, and describe the noises that can be heard. Activities then link to our topic for the second half term and include using puppets and language from the stories to retell what has happened, creating our own stories using props, locating different items or characters on a page by answering questions, and discussing our favourite parts of the stories.

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During their time in Little Doves, children will be working towards developing an age-appropriate level of:

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• Turning towards familiar sounds.

• Holding eye contact and copying a funny face.

• Taking turns in conversations.

• Joining in with music and singing activities.

• Listening and responding to a simple instruction.

• Using words, sounds and gestures to communicate and get attention.

• Developing an understanding of key vocabulary for everyday routines.

• Using sentences of a longer length, and words containing more than one syllable.

• Listening to simple stories and understanding what is happening.

• Linking a description to an object e.g. blue car.

• Understanding simple questions - who, what, where.

Personal, Social and Emotional​

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Personal, social and emotional development is another strand of learning which filters into all aspects of life in Little Doves. For the first half term in the spring term, they include exploring the local area, making and navigating mazes using vehicles, listening to a range of stories and playing collaboratively by sharing resources e.g. train tracks and road pieces. For the second half term in the spring term, they include considering the emotions of characters in the story, having themed snack times linked to foods from each story setting, exploring a range of traditional tales through music, video and stories, and developing collaborative play using team work.

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During their time in Little Doves, children will be working towards developing an age-appropriate level of:

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• Establishing their sense of self, expressing preferences, decisions, self-assurance and own emotions.

• Beginning to talk about feelings in a more elaborate way.

• Independently playing with increased confidence.

• Showing an awareness of independent toileting.

• Responding to something of interest.

• Developing friendships, playing with increasing confidence with other children.

• Managing transitions e.g. from parent to carer.

• Noticing and asking questions about how people are different.

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Understanding the World

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Understanding the World is another aspect of life in Little Doves which threads through everything we do. During the first spring half term, our planned activities are making hot air balloons after observing how one moves, investigating and building bridges for a vehicle to cross water, and exploring magnets and forces. During the first spring half term, our planned activities are exploring the way ice melts when objects from the story get trapped inside, exploring planting, listening to environmental sounds linked to each story, and considering where we might find the characters from the story and if we have ever been to a similar environment.

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During their time in Little Doves, children will be working towards developing an age-appropriate level of:

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• Exploring materials with different properties.

• Exploring natural materials, both inside and outside.

• Making connections between the features of their family and other families.

• Noticing different people.

• Repeating actions that have an effect.

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Expressive Art and Design

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Expressive Art and Design is the final strand of learning that filters into all aspects of life in Little Doves. Our activities for the first half of the spring term include exploring paint using vehicle tracks, painting on mirrors to explore reflections, using loose parts to create small worlds, and considering the sounds we hear when listening to vehicles and replicating them using our own ways of creating sounds. Our activities which link to topic for the second half of the spring term include exploring paint using a range of tools e.g. a fork for fur or a sponge for a hat, performing plays or songs on the stage, and creating our own animal character masks.

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During their time in Little Doves, children will be working towards developing an age-appropriate level of:

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• Showing attention to sounds and music.

• Participating in action songs.

• Exploring a range of sound makers and instruments, playing them in different ways.

• Beginning to make marks with intention.

• Exploring the effects of paint using body parts and tools.

• Beginning to develop role play.

• Using imagination when exploring and playing with different materials.

• Making simple models.

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