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Pandas - Nursery

Our class teachers

Welcome to Panda class! We have two groups of children in Panda class, one in the morning and one in the afternoon, and some children who stay all day.

In Panda class we learn through play, both indoors in our lovely Nursery, and outside in our amazing outdoor environment. As we play we make new friends, learn to take turns and share, listen to instructions, talk about our experiences, explore new things, have a go at new challenges, and most of all, we have fun!

In our Nursery we are exploring the Curiosity Approach to learning, which aims to bring curiosity, awe and wonder into the early years curriculum. In a world of technological equipment and plastic toys, we are introducing the children to 'real' and natural objects, which engages the children's interest and creativity.

This term our theme is:

Journeys

In Panda class we focus on 10 special books throughout the year. They are called our Key Texts. The children will listen to these stories being read to them at story time this term.

The special stories we will focus on this term are ‘The Train Ride’, ‘The Snail and the Whale’ and ‘The Everywhere Bear’.

We enjoy singing Nursery Rhymes, with lots of fun signs and actions. These form part of our phonics teaching and are brilliant at helping children to look and listen, developing their speech and language, and preparing them for reading.

The children will continue their Supersonic Phonics journey, as they work in small groups to explore Alliteration (Listening for the same sound at the beginning of words) and Oral Blending (Joining sounds together to make words). The children will also have a little introduction to Supersonic Phonics in F2 to prepare them for next year.

The children will also continue to Squiggle while you Wiggle, where children move to music, learning movements which will help them develop their writing skills. They will also practise writing their name using various different media including glitter trays, floor chalks, chalkboards, whiteboards, and lightboards.

There are always have lots of opportunities for children to look at books and to have a go at mark-making throughout the Nursery session.

Maths is part of our daily routine in Panda class. We use every opportunity to count and look for familiar numbers. We always count the number of children and look at the number on the calendar and we have lots of interactive counting songs to join in with. This term we will focus on a number each week so that the children gain a good understanding and knowledge of each number. We will be counting, recognising, forming and beginning to order these numbers. The children will also match numeral to quantity and learn how to recognise a number of objects without counting them.

There are lots of different maths resources for the children to explore in our maths area and begin to use their developing mathematical knowledge.

Understanding the World

As a part of the Curiosity Approach, the children will have the opportunity to explore 'real' objects and natural materials. These may be in the form of Treasure Baskets or Loose Parts. The children may choose to build or create pictures with the materials; they may make small worlds for dolls and play people. The opportunities are endless.

This term we will learn about how objects float and sink in water. We will also investigate how things move and how their speed changes e.g. toy cars going down a ramp and boats moving on water.

Expressive Arts & Design

In our creative area there are lots of resources available to the children to explore painting, drawing, collaging, fixing and joining materials.

In our malleable area, the children have the opportunity to handle and explore playdough, using their hands and different tools to mould and shape the dough.

There are also musical instruments in the investigation area, which the children play as they sing familiar songs.

In the home corner and small world and construction area the children use their imagination and make up stories as they play together.

This term we are focussing on fixing and joining. The children will build models of vehicles using different construction kits and boxes and will be introduced to split pins as a method of making movable joints when making their own teddy bear.

The 'Jigsaw' theme (our focus for Personal, Social and Emotional development) is ‘Changing me’, and we will talk about our body, growing up, changes and all the fun and fears we might have as we grow up.