Nursery

Autumn 1 Curriculum Newsletter 

Nursery 

Welcome! 

We offer a big welcome to all our new families along with our returning families! We are all so excited for the start of term and hope your child is looking forward to the new term.  

Uniform and water bottles 

Please make sure your child is wearing the correct school uniform and that it is clearly labelled to avoid confusion. Uniform guidelines are outlined on the school website – please contact the school office if you have any questions. All children should bring a labelled water bottle to school every day. It is essential that bottles contain only water, not squash or juice as this supports the development of good oral hygiene. Also, if your child is joining us for lunch please include a healthy variety of food, some healthy lunch box ideas can be found on the NHS website:Lunchbox ideas and recipes – Healthier Families - NHS (www.nhs.uk) A reminder also that we are a nut free school and ask that the children do not bring in any foods that may contain nuts. Thank you. 

Oral hygiene  

The 2021 EYFS framework now recognises the importance of good oral health within young children, please help us to promote this by complying with the water only rule in bottles. Throughout the year we will be exploring different ways to care for our teeth, how the dentist can help us to care for our teeth and the different foods and drinks that can be harmful to our teeth, particularly milk teeth.  

The areas of learning and development 

There are seven areas of learning and development in the Early Years Foundation Stage. All areas of learning and development are important and inter-connected. 

The three prime areas of learning and development are particularly important for building a foundation for learning and include opportunities for igniting children’s curiosity and forming relationships. The prime areas are: 

Communication and language: The number and quality of the conversations children have with adults and peers throughout the day in a language-rich environment is crucial. By commenting on what children are interested in or doing and echoing back what they say with new vocabulary added, practitioners will build children's language effectively. Reading frequently to children, and engaging them actively in stories, non-fiction, rhymes and poems, and then providing them with extensive opportunities to use and embed new words in a range of contexts, will give children the opportunity to thrive. 

Physical development: Physical activity is vital in children’s all-round development, enabling them to pursue happy, healthy and active lives. Gross and fine motor experiences develop incrementally throughout early childhood, starting with sensory explorations and the development of a child’s strength, co-ordination and positional awareness. 

Personal, social and emotional development: This is crucial for children to lead healthy and happy lives and is fundamental to their cognitive development. Underpinning their personal development are the important attachments that shape their social world. Strong, warm and supportive relationships with adults enable children to learn how to understand their own feelings and those of others. 

We also support children in four specific areas, through which the three prime areas are strengthened and applied. The specific areas are: 

Literacy 

Mathematics 

Understanding the world 

Expressive arts and design 

This term we will be exploring the following principles within each of the specific areas: 

Mathematics: 

Children to recognise different quantities of amounts. 

Children to use the language more, a lot. 

Children to recite key number names link to the data they have produced. 

Children to count blocks linked to their data e.g., one block, two blocks, for how many children like bananas. 

Children to use number names in a meaningful context e.g., 3 children like apples. 

Children to begin to mark make their data e.g., pictures of the fruit, a mark per person 

Understanding the world:  

Plants/crops and trees give us food 

Some vegetables grow above ground and some grow below ground 

Fruit and vegetables need to be washed before eating 

Some fruits and vegetables have seeds, stone, core, peel, skin that we don’t eat, we must not eat mouldy foods 

People and Communities: 

What fruits/vegetables do I have in my house? 

What fruit/vegetables do I like to eat? 

What fruit/vegetables do my family eat? 

We all like/dislike different things and that’s ok, 

A farmer works on a farm, looks after animals & grows food 

Expressive arts and design: 

Learning traditional harvest songs 

Children to repeat key phrases/ chorus 

Children to do simple printing using blocks, objects, fruit and vegetables 

Children to create representations of what they are observing through creative media 

Children to recognise common primary colours and the secondary colours green, purple and orange. Children to use a paint brush effectively. 

During this term, we will also focus our learning on the following key texts:  Farmer Duck, Rosie’s Walk, Each Peach, Pear, Plum, The Enormous Turnip, Apple Pig, Olivers vegetables, Orange, pear, apple, bear. 

Curriculum  

This term our curriculum focus is maths and we will be answering the question ‘Can I create, carry out an experiment and present my data in a variety of different ways?’ We will be showcasing our favourite vegetables using block charts and pictograms, printing with fruit and vegetables and celebrating harvest through songs. 

To help with our curriculum project, we would like to ask for a voluntary contribution of £2 per child to help us fund our exciting curriculum project. Donations can be made via parent pay. 

Reading 

It is crucial for children to develop a life-long love of reading. Reading consists of two dimensions: language comprehension and word reading. Language comprehension (necessary for both reading and writing) starts from birth. It only develops when adults talk with children about the world around them and the books (stories and non-fiction) they read with them, and enjoy rhymes, poems and songs together. 

Our Read Write Inc phonic scheme starts in nursery with the children beginning to learn the rhymes that match the letters. 

This term we will be building the foundations to early phonics by teaching children to discriminate sounds, including environmental, musical, body percussion and voice sounds. At this stage in children’s development, rhythm, rhyme and alliteration are very important, so do please read lots of Nursery Rhymes at home to support our work in class. 

Please ensure that you find daily opportunities to read to your child and support them on their journey to becoming a reader. 

If you have any concerns, please come and speak to us - we tend to have more time at the end of the day as our priority in the morning is to settle the children and begin our learning. 

At Cherry Fields Primary school we are committed to working in partnership with our families and our community. We welcome parents/carers involvement in our curriculum and would be particularly interested this term in hearing from anyone who has their own allotment or grows their own fruit and vegetables.  

Thank you for your continued support – we are looking forward to an exciting year ahead and partnering with you in your child’s learning and development. 

Best wishes, 

Mr Morten 

Darwin Class Nursery Teacher