St. Mary’s Community Nursery School
Academic Year 2015– 2016
Topic News Issue 3
(January 2016)
This half term we begin a new topic on “Homes”. We will be encouraging the children to think
about the different homes and buildings that we live in. Of course, we will start from what they
know most about – their own homes and we will be making a trip to find out what types of
buildings and features we can see in our local area. You will have received a letter about this
already, so please make sure you send in the reply slip. The beginning of February sees the
celebration of Chinese New Year but more of that later as we look at what the children will be
doing in each learning area of the Early Years Foundation Stage curriculum.
We will also be welcoming some new children into the school and it is important to reiterate that
all learning at St Mary’s is achieved through play, fun and practical activities.
Personal, Social and Emotional Development
For our newest children our immediate priority is to help them settle happily into our school and
to encourage them to grow in confidence and independence. Our older children have settled
well and we will now be encouraging them to concentrate at a variety of activities and spend
longer at each one. A topic on “Homes” provides a wonderful opportunity for children to talk
about their own homes and share some of their routines with each other.
The children are also encouraged to begin to appreciate other cultures. Celebrating Chinese
New Year has become a St Mary’s tradition. Opportunities will be provided for children to take
part in Chinese artwork, play in the Chinese house, dress up in Chinese clothes, use chopsticks
and listen to Chinese stories. Highlights of the celebrations are the Chinese Banquet and
dragon dancing to Chinese music and a puppet show of the story of the Chinese willow pattern
plate. Listen out for them wishing you a “Happy New Year” in one of the many Chinese dialects.
Communication and Language
The children will continue to be encouraged to express their thoughts and ideas using a growing
vocabulary. Many of the children are already becoming skilled at predicting, recalling, using
social language, asking and answering questions and using spoken language to communicate
effectively. We will continue to work on recognising sounds from their name and practicing
writing their own name. The children are developing pencil control skills and these skills will
continue to be fostered. One way that this happens is by writing in our role-play area.
We are fortunate to have many books, both fiction and non-fiction which the children will be
encouraged to enjoy in groups, with helpers to read to them and to read independently. As part
of our Letters and Sounds curriculum there will be an emphasis on using rhyming stories at
story time to encourage children to appreciate rhyme, rhythm and alliteration and the children
will be playing rhyming games. Why not take a trip to your local library to find some rhyming
stories that you can share together? Our own Sharing Library has many great rhyming stories to
enjoy
Physical Development
We will continue encouraging children to grow in confidence physically, whether using large or
small equipment. As part of our Chinese New Year celebrations the children will be making a
large dragon. The experience of dancing with this is excellent for encouraging children to work
as a team. Areas of both inside and outside are set up for the children to access both small and
large equipment independently so that they can be truly creative as they plan their own play or
decide what they would like to make. We continue to spend a lot of time learning outside – that
is why we call it the Outdoor Learning Area not the playground – where learning in all the areas
of the Early Years Foundation Stage curriculum is fun, active, practical and, yes, sometimes
messy!
Mathematics
As always we will continue to develop the children’s number skills by counting, reciting numbers
in order and recognising number symbols. We also like to set the children practical challenges
using their number skills, especially at Snack time and you can do this at home e.g. We cut our
pizza into 8 pieces and you had one piece, Daddy had one, Amy had one and Mummy had one.
How many pieces are left? Will we be able to have another piece each?
We will also working on comparative language and identifying things that are tall or taller, short
or shorter, big or bigger, small or smaller and heavy or light. There is so much to do!
Understanding the World.
As already mentioned, finding out about our own and other’s homes and celebrating Chinese
New Year will be very important during this topic. The children will be talking about their homes
and what we have in them and their routines. As mentioned, we are going on a walk that is
planned so that we can look at what is in our local area and to provide a stimulus for the
children to talk about the different types of homes and buildings and features there are.
Afterwards, we will be drawing some of the things we have seen and making simple maps. The
children will get the opportunity to handle globes, atlases and maps to find out more about
where places are.
This learning area also includes technology and we have a variety of different toys which work
in different ways. Have a look in the ‘technology house’ in the Long Room which has a lot of the
gadgets and machines that we use in our homes and which the children can explore to find out
how they work.
Expressive Arts and Design
The role-play area this half term is, ‘The Just Right Builder’s Yard”, It was named by one of the
children because the builder’s had built his house, “Just right!” The children will have the
chance to dress up, make appointments in the Reception Area, draw their plans in the Planning
Office and, most important of all, have tea and biscuits in the Rest Room, which as we know, is
essential for all builder’s! We have a variety of blocks and bricks to build and create. As
Chinese New Year approaches we will also have a Chinese home for the children to play in.
In the Long Room they will also be continuing to experiment with different media and techniques
and will be encouraged to try new creative experiences. Some children have already started
making junk models so thank you if you have brought in some boxes. Also, look out for the
decorations made using red and gold to celebrate Chinese New Year. The children will have an
opportunity to listen to Chinese music and try making some of those distinctive sounds for
themselves. We will also be learning new songs and practicing old favourites.