Nursery Summer Term
We hope the information below gives you a good understanding of what experiences your child will have over the coming term.
Summer Term
This term we will be looking at ‘Growing’, ‘People who Help Us’ and ‘Summer Holidays’. This will be fairly flexible in order to meet individual needs and preferences. We will integrate the seven areas of learning:
Personal, Social and Emotional Development
This term we will be settling the new children so that they continue to develop their confidence, independence and self-esteem.
There will be a big focus on getting the older children ready for going into their Reception year by expecting them to maintain attention, concentrate and sit quietly when appropriate. Assemblies, Circle time and Religious Education all contribute to the children’s development in this area.
By making and keeping friends we want the children to understand that friends/people have different views, cultures and beliefs that need to be treated with respect. We encourage all the children to become sensitive to the needs of others and to form polite and respectful relationships with adults and children alike.
We will also continue to explore the ways to stay healthy with a particular focus on Healthy Eating and Exercise.
Communication and Language
This area is divided into two areas; Listening, Attention & Understanding and Speaking.
The children will be listening to and responding to stories, songs and poems around our topics. We will be encouraging the children to speak clearly and audibly with confidence, we want them to show an awareness of the listener by using strategies such as polite greetings, looking at the person who is speaking to them and not interrupting. We want them to organise and clarify their own ideas and thoughts before they speak. We use our role play areas to encourage children to engage in imaginary play with opportunities to mark make and write.
Literacy
We follow the Essential Letters and Sound programme to teach the children phonics. The children have short, fast paced daily sessions which, this term will be planned according to their level of development. The children will be experiencing phase 1 and phase 2 activities. We play different games to encourage our children to listen carefully and to discriminate between the different sounds they hear.
Reading
We share stories every day and encourage the children to reflect about the main characters, settings and to discuss and compare similar stories. We are also sharing non-fiction books to support our topic work as well as poems and traditional nursery rhymes to support our work on phonics. We are hoping to begin to send reading books home for the children as we continue through the Summer term.
Writing
This term we will continue to work on holding pencils and other mark making equipment using the correct grip. Initially we will still have the ‘sign in sheet’ in the cloakroom for your children to practise writing their name as they come into Nursery. However we will be working towards letter formation activities for children who are ready.
Please encourage them to try and praise their efforts. Colouring, cutting and pinching play putty or similar at home will help to strengthen their muscles and pincer grip.
Maths
There are two areas: Numbers and Shape, Space and Measure. Running through all these strands, the children are encouraged to use and apply the skills they have learned when engaging in problem solving activities. This term the children in Nursery will enjoy singing number rhymes, playing number recognition and counting games, measuring, sequencing and number writing. They will continue to consolidate their knowledge of numbers within 15 and will also be exploring addition and subtraction (1 more and 1 less).
Understanding the World This term we are finding out about ‘plants and living things’ . We will be planting in Nursery and around school too.
The children will be using computers and the interactive whiteboards in the class to support their learning in all areas on a daily basis.
Expressive Arts and Design
We want the children to respond and offer their opinion to what they see, hear, smell, touch and feel through creative development. We link much of our Design and Technology and craft activities to our topics.
There will be a focus on observational drawing, creating textures and modelling all of which will support the children to develop their fine motor skills, concentration and vocabulary.
We develop imagination through role play, dance and small world activities. We encourage children to use the art skills we have taught them to develop their creativity in many forms.
Physical Development
Please will you ensure that your child’s kit is named and that they do not wear earrings on PE days.
There will be more emphasis on your child being able to dress and undress themselves as this is an important part of being independent and ready for Reception.
We are learning about the importance of keeping healthy (sleep, diet, hygiene and exercise) and to recognise some of the changes that happen to their bodies when they exercise.
During this term the children will be developing their physical skills, team work and coordination through climbing, balancing and moving safely. They will use small equipment such as bats, balls, hoops, cones and bean bags. Weather permitting we try and get out every day.
We will also continue to have movement sessions to develop core muscles and balance.
Assessment, progress and parental feedback
We evaluate your child's progress over the year alongside the Development Matters framework, which we use to inform our curriculum. Children do not know they are being assessed, as the teachers record their findings by observing the children as they play. Each half term we will send photo observations out to you showing your child’s progress and achievements.
