Welcome to Murray class!
Your teacher is called Mrs Howell and we currently have 27 children in our nursery.
For the Autumn Term 1, our topic is ‘All About Me’ and our big question is ‘What is a Family’? Our key texts are:
- ‘Owl Babies’ by Martin Waddell
- ‘Just One of Those Days’ by Jill Murphy
- ‘Ten Little Fingers and Ten Little Toes’ by Mem Fox and Helen Oxenbury
- ‘Harry and the Dinosaurs go to School’ by Ian Whybrow and Adrian Reynolds
For the Autumn Term 2, our topic is ‘Woodland Explorers’ and our big question is ‘What’s in the Woods’? Our key texts are:
- ‘We’re Going on a Bear Hunt’ by Michael Rosen
- ‘Pumpkin Soup’ by Helen Cooper
- ‘Stick Man’ by Julia Donaldson
- ‘Jesus’ Christmas Party’ by Nicholas Allan
For Autumn 1 & 2 we are focusing on:
Prime Areas
- Personal, Social and Emotional Development (PSED): Get to know our friends and teachers. Discuss the schools ‘Ready, Respectful, Safe’ rules and behavioural expectations in our setting. Become increasingly able to independently manage daily routines.
- Physical Development (PD): Develop our gross motor skills by balancing and moving in different ways. Develop our fine motor skills by using a variety of one-handed tools and equipment.
- Communication and Language (CL): Listen to lots of songs and stories with increasing attention and join in with group storytelling and singing. Show an understanding of and respond to simple instructions. Use talk to imagine and recreate roles and experiences. Use new vocabulary in different contexts.
Specific Areas
- Literacy (L): Play phonics games and develop an awareness of sounds in words. Repeat words and phrases from familiar stories. Add some marks to their drawings which they give meaning to. Form some letters in our name.
- Mathematics (M): Take part in finger rhymes with numbers. Count in everyday contexts touching or pointing for each number. Compare sizes and weights. Explore patterns and repeating patterns. Recite numbers past 5. Link the numeral with its number value. Understand position through words.
- Understanding the World (UW): Talk about ourselves, families, and communities in our ‘Amazing Me’ topic. Name our body parts and where they are. Think scientifically about our senses and how we use them. Learn about Autumn and seasonal changes in our ‘Woodland Explorers’ topic. Learn about special festivals (e.g., Harvest Festival, Bonfire Night). Talk about seasonal changes focusing on the weather. Learn about special celebrations (e.g., Diwali). Talk about the Christmas story and perform a nativity.
- Expressive Arts and Design (EAD): Use our imaginations, and different media and materials to engage in craft activities. Learn familiar songs and nursery rhymes. Explore and use a range of artistic effects to express themselves with a focus on colour mixing. Explore a range of instruments and link to weather sounds
PE
The children will continue to participate in short PE sessions each week. We take part in outdoor activities every day (weather permitting), please send your child in appropriate clothing and footwear. Earrings should not be worn to nursery.
Religious Education
All year groups study a range of religious beliefs in a knowledge capacity. In terms 1 and 2, we will explore different religious celebrations and the Christmas story.
Reading
Read to your child as much as possible and ask them questions about the pictures, story, setting and characters. Books with repetition and rhyme are good for encouraging children to join in. Children can take home books weekly to share with parents (book bag needed).