Nursery Curriculum Overview

Autumn 2023

Our theme for this half term is ‘Over the Rainbow’. Our learning is guided by the children’s interests and the questions they ask us, as well as by the key skills and knowledge that get passed on through our inputs and provision.

Topic

Topic in EYFS covers a range of subjects – writing, history, geography, music, science, art, and computing. Our topics are half termly and allow for lots of investigation. During ‘Over the Rainbow’, we will be exploring emotions, weather, the sky, primary colours, and creating digital art. We enjoy lots of books during our time at school, but our key texts are The Colour Monster by Anna Llenas, Elmer and the Rainbow by David McKee, and Pink is for Boys by Robb Pearlman.

Maths

In Maths, we will be exploring place value, geometry, position and direction, measurement, pattern, addition and subtraction. The key learning delivered through these are:

Participating in finger rhymes.
Using the vocabulary of more, bigger and smaller.
Saying numbers in a sequence.
Subitising to 2 and beyond.
Understanding the meaning of 1 e.g., one clap.
Matching manipulatives to amounts up to 5.
Using a range of shaped resources for building and play.
Completing puzzles consisting of at least two pieces.
Noticing patterns in everyday items, using informal language to describe what can be seen, and arranging objects in patterns or lines through play.
Investigating what happens when we add or take away manipulatives.
Exploring mark making to show mathematical thinking.

Literacy

In Nursery, we have opportunities for development in Literacy in all areas of our learning. We have regular opportunities to explore sounds linked to reading as well as opportunities for writing, mark making and reading through continuous provision and reading escape time to share our love of high quality stories. Our learning this term is focused on:

Showing an interest in books, focusing when listening to stories read by an adult.
Responding to familiar noises and phrases.
Beginning to recognise objects with identifiable initial sounds.
Using pens and pencils to make marks on paper.
Using a dominant grip when using writing tools.

Physical Development

In Nursery, we have access to lots of opportunities for physical development. We have our garden with a range of physical development resources, weekly physical education lessons, and an intervention programme called ‘Healthy Movers’ which is accessible to all children who choose to participate. This half term’s physical education unit is called ‘An Introduction to PE’ and encompasses key physical skills (running, jumping, hopping, skipping, balancing, crawling) with important aspects of sportsmanship (safety, communication, independence, confidence, creative thinking). Our key focuses for this term are:

When using apparatus, balancing to stand still and climbing using alternative feet.
Exploring movements linked to music and rhythm.
Beginning to use resources for a purpose, e.g., selecting a watering can for carrying water.
Developing independence when putting on coats and shoes.
Showing increasing confidence when using the toilet and washing hands,
Opening the lids to resources independently e.g. playdoh and glue sticks.
Experiments with small tools e.g., brushes, spreaders, and scissors.

Communication and Language

Whilst we do not complete specific lessons based on this, communication and language filters into all aspects of life in Nursery. During their time in Nursery, children will be working towards developing an age appropriate level of:

When sharing stories with adults, showing an enjoyment of listening and remembering much of what happens.
Being able to switch attention when required e.g. from playing with a jigsaw to an instruction to pause.
Showing an increasing use of vocabulary.
Understanding and following a two part instruction.
Understanding why questions.
Recalling and singing a range of songs and rhymes.
When speaking, using full sentences, starting conversations, taking turns when talking, and using speech to organise play.
Expressing thoughts and feelings using words and actions.

Personal, Social and Emotional Development

Personal, social and emotional development is another strand of learning which filters into all aspects of life in Nursery. During their time in Nursery, children will be working towards developing an age appropriate level of:

Having a sense of responsibility, understanding, remembering and following rules.
Having a level of independence when washing hands and using the toilet.
Talking about their own feelings.
Making healthy choices.
Showing increasing confidence when with safe, unfamiliar adults, playing with multiple children, and solving conflicts.
Beginning to understand how other people might feel.
Showing some ability to share and take turns.
Developing appropriate ways of being assertive.

Understanding the World

Understanding the world is the third strand of learning which filters into all aspects of life in Nursery. During their time in Nursery, children will be working towards developing an age appropriate level of:

Exploring natural materials, discussing what is found.
Beginning to understand their own life story.
Understanding different occupations.
Understanding the growth and care of plants.
Exploring and talking about the forces they can feel.
Talking about how materials are different including the changes that are observed.
Knowing that there are different countries in the world, discussing their differences.

Expressive Art and Design

Expressive art and design is the final strand of learning that filters into all aspects of life in Nursery. During their time in Nursery, children will be working towards developing an age appropriate level of:

Taking part in simple pretend play, developing more complex stories using small world objects.
Exploring different manipulatives and resources, developing ideas about how to use them.
Joining different materials.
When creating artwork: creating shapes using continuous lines, adding increasing details to images, using drawing to represent ideas, and show emotions in artwork.
Exploring what happens when mixing colours.
Remembering and singing whole songs, matching pitch and melody of a song, and creating their own songs.
Playing instruments with increasing control.

Spring 2024

Our theme for this half term is ‘Wonderful World'. Our learning is guided by the children’s interests and the questions they ask us, as well as by the key skills and knowledge that get passed on through our inputs and provision.

Topic

Topic in EYFS covers a range of subjects – writing, history, geography, music, science, art, and computing. Our topics are half termly and allow for lots of investigation. During ‘Wonderful World', we will be exploring sports, birthdays, hats, stories and homes from across the world. We will also be creating digital music. We enjoy lots of books during our time at school, but our key texts are 'What a Wonderful World', 'Children Like Us' and 'Homes Around the World'.

Maths

In Maths, we will be exploring place value, addition and subtraction and shapes. The key learning delivered through these are:

Independently reciting numbers to at least five.
Understanding that the last number we say is the total.
Matching amounts to their numerals within three.
Finding one more and one less that a number using manipulatives.
Investigating squares, triangles, and rectangles within our environment.

Literacy

In Nursery, we have opportunities for Literacy development in all areas of our learning. We have regular opportunities to explore sounds linked to reading as well as opportunities for writing, mark making and reading through continuous provision, and reading escape time, to share our love of high quality stories. Our learning this term is focused on:

Joining in with predictable noises when listening to a story.
Independently turning the pages of a book accurately, showing care.
Using blending to follow instructions when an adult uses Fred talk.
Using our mark making skills in different situations.
Expressing ideas using mark making.
Beginning to use a more advanced pencil grip.

Physical Development

In Nursery, we have access to lots of opportunities for physical development. We have our Early Years garden with a range of physical development resources, weekly physical education lessons, and an intervention programme called ‘Healthy Movers’ which is accessible to all children who choose to participate. This half term’s physical education unit is dance and this encompasses physical skills (actions, dynamics, space), social skills (working safely, respectfully, collaboration), emotional skills (independence, confidence), thinking skills (select and apply actions, creativity, and exploration). Our key focuses for this term are:

When using apparatus, showing balance to travel.
Hopping on one foot.
Following an adult’s guidance to perform simple dance moves.
Becoming increasingly confident at choosing the resources I need (e.g. an accurate sized ball for a tennis racket.
Becoming increasing independent when fastening my zip.
Becoming more independent when using the toilet.
Becoming more independent when washing hands.
Becoming more independent when opening my milk.
Becoming more accurate when using tools for a purpose e.g., brushes, spreaders, scissors.

Communication and Language

Whilst we do not complete specific lessons based on communication and language, this filters into all aspects of life in Nursery. During their time in Nursery, children will be working towards developing an age-appropriate level of:

When sharing stories with adults, showing an enjoyment of listening and remembering much of what happens.
Being able to switch attention when required e.g. from playing with a jigsaw to an instruction to pause.
Showing an increasing use of vocabulary.
Understanding and following a two-part instruction.
Understanding 'why' questions.
Recalling and singing a range of songs and rhymes.
When speaking, using full sentences, starting conversations, taking turns when talking, and using speech to organise play.
Expressing thoughts and feelings using words and actions.

Personal, Social and Emotional Development

Having a sense of responsibility, understanding, remembering and following rules.
Having a level of independence when washing hands and using the toilet.
Talking about own feelings.
Making healthy choices.
Showing increasing confidence when: with safe, unfamiliar adults, playing with multiple children, and solving conflicts.
Beginning to understand how other people might feel.
Showing some ability to share and take turns.
Developing appropriate ways of being assertive.

Understanding the World

Understanding the World is the third strand of learning which filters into all aspects of life in Nursery. During their time in Nursery, children will be working towards developing an age-appropriate level of:

Exploring natural materials, discussing what is found.
Beginning to understand their own life story.
Understanding different occupations.
Understanding the growth and care of plants.
Exploring and talking about the forces they can feel.
Talking about how materials are different, including the changes that are observed.
Knowing that there are different countries in the world, discussing their differences.

Expressive Art and Design

Expressive Art and Design is the final strand of learning that filters into all aspects of life in Nursery. During their time in Nursery, children will be working towards developing an age-appropriate level of:

Taking part in simple pretend play, developing more complex stories using small world objects.
Exploring different manipulatives and resources, developing ideas about how to use them.
Joining different materials.
When creating artwork: creating shapes using continuous lines, adding increasing details to images, using drawing to represent ideas, and show emotions in artwork.
Exploring what happens when mixing colours.
Remembering and singing whole songs, matching the pitch and melody of a song, and creating their own songs.
Playing instruments with increasing control.

Summer 2024

All classes in Early Years follow the same half-termly topics. This half term we are exploring habitats, which will be followed by an investigation into famous figures. Our learning is guided by the children’s interests and the questions they ask us, as well as by the key skills and knowledge that get passed on through our inputs and provision.

Topic

Topic in Early Years covers a range of subjects such as: mark making, history, geography, music, science, and computing. 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 our habitat unit, we will be exploring jungles, farms, water, deserts, forests and pets. Our key texts for this unit are Peep Inside Animal Homes by Anna Milbourne, What’s your habitat? by Sarah Leidhold and a range of the Look What Can be Found books.

When we move on to the famous figures unit, we will be learning about the people who help us, King Charles, Andy Warhol, Mozart, Amelia Earhart and Rosa Parks. Our key texts during this unit are My First Artists and My First Leaders which will provide a lovely introduction to non-fiction books.

Maths

In Maths, we will be exploring place value, addition and subtraction and shapes. The key learning delivered through these are:

Reciting number to 10.
Showing the cardinal principle to 10.
Matching numbers to 5.
Subitising to 3, considering pattern and shape.
Using the vocabulary of more than and fewer than.
Investigating addition and subtraction problems.
Investigating the properties of 2D shapes.
Using positional language.
Sequencing events using first and then.
Creating and fixing ABAB patterns.

Literacy

In Nursery, we have opportunities to develop Literacy in all areas of our learning. We have regular opportunities to explore sounds linked to reading as well as opportunities for writing, mark making and reading escape time, as well as continuous provision, to share our love of high quality stories. Our learning this term is focused on:

Using the pictures in a book to create our own stories.
Fred talking simple words.
Recognising the sounds m, a, s, d, t.
Our mark making looks more like writing e.g. symbols and shapes.
Using our knowledge of sounds when writing or mark making for pleasure.
Writing our first names.
Using a tripod grip when holding a pencil.

Physical Development

In Nursery, we have access to lots of opportunities for physical development. We have our Early Years garden with a range of physical development resources, weekly physical education lessons, and our new trim trail alongside some bikes and scooters on the larger playground. Our first physical education unit is games which encompasses physical skills (running, balancing, changing direction, throwing, catching), social skills (working safely, communicating, co-operating, supporting others), emotional skills (confidence, honesty, determination, managing emotions), and thinking skills (comprehension and decision making). Our next unit will be ball skills which encompasses physical skills (rolling, stopping, throwing, bouncing, catching, dribbling, kicking), social skills (working safely, collaboration, co-operation), emotional skills (perseverance, independence, honesty), and thinking skills (using tactics, comprehension). Our key focuses for this term are:

Exploring a range of ball skills.
Beginning to negotiate space safely.
Taking turns.
Making guided choices.
Exploring movement skills.
Following instructions with support.
Playing games honestly guided by the rules.
Persevering with new challenges.

Communication and Language

Showing an enjoyment of listening and remembering much of what happens when sharing stories with adults,
Being able to switch attention when required e.g. from playing with a jigsaw to an instruction to pause.
Showing an increasing use of vocabulary.
Understanding and following a two part instruction.
Understanding why questions.
Recalling and singing a range of songs and rhymes.
When speaking, using full sentences, starting conversations, taking turns when talking, and using speech to organise play.
Expressing thoughts and feelings using words and actions.

Personal, Social and Emotional Development

Having a sense of responsibility, understanding, remembering and following rules.
Having a level of independence when washing hands and using the toilet.
Talking about own feelings.
Making healthy choices.
Showing increasing confidence when with safe, unfamiliar adults, playing with multiple children, and solving conflicts.
Beginning to understand how other people might feel.
Showing some ability to share and take turns.
Developing appropriate ways of being assertive.

Understanding the World

Exploring natural materials, discussing what is found.
Beginning to understand their own life story.
Understanding different occupations.
Understanding the growth and care of plants.
Exploring and talking about the forces they can feel.
Talking about how materials are different and the changes that are observed.
Knowing that there are different countries in the world, discussing their differences.

Expressive Art and Design

Taking part in simple pretend play, developing more complex stories using small world objects.
Exploring different manipulatives and resources, developing ideas about how to use them.
Joining different materials.
When creating artwork: creating shapes using continuous lines, adding increasing details to images, using drawing to represent ideas, and showing emotions in artwork.
Exploring what happens when mixing colours.
Remembering and singing whole songs, matching the pitch and melody of a song, and creating their own songs.
Playing instruments with increasing control.

Dovecotes Primary School

"Spread your wings, learn new things, fly as high as you can"

Nursery Curriculum Overview

Autumn 2023