Nursery
Nursery - Caterpillars
Welcome to Caterpillar’s class page!
Class teacher – Fiona Sharpe fsharpe1@inspiream.org.uk
Teaching Assistants – Amelia, Trish, Geraldine, Carla and Georgette
Forest School is on a Thursday and Friday morning. Children should come to Nursery wearing their forest school kit.
What are we learning this term?
Main Experiences
Rules
In this experience we are exploring what rules are and how they help us to stay safe. We are learning about our school rules for inside the classroom and for exploring the outside environment. We will be learning about our rights, who our duty bearers are and creating a Rights Respecting Class charter.
It's Great To Be Me
In this experience we focus on what makes us special, how we are different to and similar to eachother and we learn all about ourselves and our classmates.
Autumn Leaves Are Falling Down
In this topic we explore the changes that occur in autumn. We learn about the season of autumn and why certain animals hibernate. We eill be exploring the use of different materials so that we can create a hedgehog hotel for any hibernatin hedgehogs at our school.
EYFS
Prime Areas
Physical Development - We will be learning how to position our coats to put them on as well as learning about the importance of washing and drying our hands thoroughly.
Personal, Emotional and Social Development – We will be learning about why rules are important.
Communication and Language – We will be learning how to pay attention as well as learning how to follow instructions and start a conversation.
Specific Areas
Literacy - We will be learning about the parts of a book and how to recognise the first letter of our names.
Maths - We will be experimenting with our own symbols and marks to represent numbers to 5. We will also be using positional language and exploring quantity using language such as 'more than' and 'fewer than'.
Understanding the World - We will be talking about our family's past events.
Expressive art and Design - We will be exploring shape and learning that closed lines make a shape.
How can you support at home?
Please have a chat with your child each day about what they enjoyed and let us know if you have any concerns.
Please make sure all of your child’s belongings are labelled!
When we send the caterpillar class mascot teddy home for the weekend, please help your child to complete their diary.
Nursery Staff
Mrs Sharpe
Nursery Teacher
Miss Kemp
Nursery Assistant
Mrs Rock
Nursery Assistant
Mrs Wright
Nursery Assistant
Miss Gadd
Acting Nursery Manager & After School Club
Mrs Hacker
Nursery Assistant
Nursery Prospectus and Registration Form
What are we learning this term? Term 1
Main experience
Caterpillars 'rulez' - during this term we help the children settle in the nursery in a nurturing and caring way. We are learning about our class rules and why it is important to follow them to stay hurt. We also discussed how the grown-ups keep us save.
Discreet experiences
Phonics - we are working on Phonics Phase 1. We are learning sound differentiation - 'What can you hear' games. We are also working on sound qualities - pitch, pace and duration.
How can I support at home?
Encourage listening skills. Ask open-ended questions. Model language and behaviour. Promote independence - putting their shoes on, brushing their teeth, using cutlery.
What are we learning this term? Term 2
Main experience
What do you want to be when you grow up? - in this Understanding the World and Communication and Language experience, we are discovering and exploring different professions. We are also discovering the concept of 'growing' and the different stages in our lives.
Discreet experiences
Phonics - we are continuing on with Phonics phase 1. We are discovering rhyming, alliteration and syllables by counting them.
Maths - we are working with size differentiation - big, small, long, short, tall, short and medium size - and size comparison - bigger, smaller, longer, shorter, taller.
How can I support at home?
Encourage listening skills. Ask open-ended questions. Model language and behaviour. Promote independence - putting their shoes on, brushing their teeth, using cutlery.
Highlight rhyming words. Try to find words that rhyme within stories. Explain that there are some words that begin with the same sounds. Try to find words that begin with the same sounds when talking or telling stories.
Explore size comparison at home. Ask them which one is bigger or smaller. Use size vocabulary.
Pictures
We learnt that our teachers were also babies and children a little while ago. 
We compared our current pictures with the ones when we were babies. 
We learnt about our favourite professions and role-played. 
In our outcome, we recorded a video answering the question 'What do we want to be when we grow up?' using effective communication.
What are we learning this term? Term 3
Main experience
Here comes the Big Bad Wolf - in this Literacy and Expressive Arts and Design experience, children are learning about stories, their different parts, character and settings. They are also learning how to retell and act out a story.
Discreet experiences
Phonics - we are starting with RWI phonics adapted to nursery. We are introducing the sounds m, a, s, d, t. We are practising our sound recognition at the beginning of words and sound out and blend CVC words that contain those sounds.
Maths - we are learning numbers 1-5 - counting, number recognition and matching quantities. We are working on subitising - fast recognition - of number quantities 1-3.
How can I support at home?
Encourage listening skills. Ask open-ended questions. Model language and behaviour. Promote independence - putting their shoes on, brushing their teeth, using cutlery.
Explain the parts of the book. Ask them what happened in the stories you just told. Act out the different characters in a story. Ask them to make a prediction on how a story might end. Create silly stories together.
Review the sound of the week with them. Play 'I spy' to find items that begin with the same sound.
Encourage counting behaviour around them. Help them to count snacks - grapes, pieces of apple... - steps, jumps... Recognise numbers in the environment.
What are we learning this term? Term 4
Main experience
One apple a day keeps the doctor away - in this Physical Development and Communication and Language experience, children are learning about what 'healthy' means and what healthy habits they can implement within their lives. They are also learning how to communicate these things effectively, using longer sentences.
Discreet experiences
Phonics - we continue with RWI phonics adapted to nursery. We are introducing the sounds i, n, p, g, o. We are practising our sound recognition at the beginning of words and sound out and blend CVC words that contain those sounds and the ones worked during the previous term.
Maths - we continue learning about numbers, subitising 1-3 and counting, learning 'one more and one less', matching and composition of numbers 1-5. We are learning the number line 1-10.
How can I support at home?
Encourage listening skills. Ask open-ended questions. Model language and behaviour. Promote independence - putting their shoes on, brushing their teeth, using cutlery.
Identify healthy habits in their lives. Encourage hygiene and why it is important - washing hands, toothbrushing. Help them select healthy food options. Do some exercise.
Review the sound of the week with them. Play 'I spy' to find items that begin with the same sound. Sound out CVC words for them and blend them.
Encourage counting like behaviour: count how many pieces of fruit they have for snack, how many steps to get to the kitchen... Count numbers 1-5 forwards and backwards, try to guess 'one more and one less'.
It's Great To Be Me
It's Great To Be Me
What makes me special?
In this learning experience we will be exploring how we are different and how these differences make us special. We will be thinking about our families, our past events and our appearance as well as discussing likes and dislikes.
Hook
We listened to an audio version of the book 'It's Okay to be Different' by Todd Paar.
Outcome
We learnt all about what makes us special by exploring how we are all different. We have each painted a self portrait and these will be displayed in Seal Library.
Autumn Leaves are Falling Down
Autumn Leaves are Falling Down
Why do animals sleep during the winter?
In this learning experience we will be exploring what changes occur during autumn. We will be learning about hibernating animals and exploring the qualities of different materials so that we can build a hedgehog house.
Hook
The tortoises that live on Seal farm came to the classroom to visit Caterpillars class and Amy, who works on the farm, told us all about the tortoises. We learnt a little about how they are cared for and Amy explained that they will be going into hibernation shortly.
Outcome
We will be creating a hedgehog house. Any hedgehogs that are living in and around the farm could use this house when they go into hibernation.
