Autumn 2024

 

Topic

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​All classes in Early Years follow the same half-termly topics. Topic in Little Doves covers a range of subjects such as: mark making, history, geography, music and science. We allow for lots of opportunities for investigative play and language development. As well as the focuses listed below, we take our learning in any direction that the children are passionate about. During the first half term we will be thinking about what we look like, who our family are, where we live, our senses as well as participating in lots of other activities too. Our key texts are called That’s not my baby, Find Out About Families, First Explorers My Body, Find Out About Feelings, and Children Like Me.

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Maths

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​This half term we will be completing maths activities linked to our topic. These include exploring how old we are, developing an understanding of putting things in and taking things out, joining in with counting rhymes and patterns, including on fingers and toes, ordering the size of things and talking about pictures we make of ourselves and others (e.g. how many eyes, mouths or noses?).

Throughout the year in Little Doves, we explore Maths through play based activities and within our everyday routines. During their time in Little Doves, children will be working towards developing an age-appropriate level of:

​

• Combining objects e.g., stacking cups or blocks, putting objects inside others and taking them out again.

• Participating in finger rhymes with numbers.

• Showing an awareness of counting behaviour e.g. pointing and saying some numbers.

• Counting in everyday contexts with some skipping of numbers.

• Completing inset puzzles.

• Comparing sizes using gestures and language.

• Noticing patterns and arranging things in patterns.
   

Literacy

​

​Some of this half term’s literacy activities are linked to our topic. These include exploring age appropriate books – both independently and with an adult, sensory stories, looking at and talking about photos of ourselves and our families, accessing stories and resources which represent a wide range of people, homes and places, and singing songs and rhymes with actions, encouraging children to mirror the actions of others.

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Throughout the year in Little Doves, we have access to lots of opportunities to develop our literacy skills. We have regular opportunities to mark make, develop pre-writing skills and to widen our vocabulary through our continuous provision, and during reading escape time when we share our love of high quality stories. This half term we will enjoy reading Peepo, We’re Going on a Bear Hunt and First Diwali as well as any other books the children are interested in. We have lots to choose from!

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During their time in Little Doves, children will be working towards developing an age-appropriate level of:

​

• Enjoying, and joining in with, songs, rhymes and tunes.

• Copying finger movement and gestures.

• When sharing a book with an adult: enjoying the experience, responding to the pictures, repeating familiar words or phrases, and asking questions about what is being read.

• Noticing some print in the environment e.g. the first letter of their name.

• Enjoying using tools to draw, adding some marks for meaning.

• Mark making to represent their name.

 

Physical Development

​

​We have lots of opportunities for physical development. This half term’s planned physical development activities will link to our topic. They include investigating sensory bags with our senses, singing action songs and exploring how our body moves. We have daily access to our Early Years Garden with a range of physical development resources as well an intervention programme called 'Healthy Movers' which is accessible to all children who choose to participate. We also spend one afternoon a week outside on the playground enjoying bikes, scooters and the trim trail.

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During their time in Little Doves, children will be working towards developing an age-appropriate level of:

​

• Clapping, stamping, and moving to music.

• Fitting myself into spaces e.g. dens, tunnels, and boxes.

• Beginning to kick, throw and catch.

• Enjoying different methods of movement when travelling.

• Using a scooter or tricycle.

• Managing my own needs such as pulling up my zip, pouring a drink and using a fork.

• When using paper, tearing, scrunching, mark making and printing.

 

Communication and Language

​

​Whilst we do not complete specific lessons based on communication and language, this filters into all aspects of life in Little Doves. Activities offered, that link to our topic for this half term, include identifying emotions, playing games like Simon says, going on sensory walks and exploring different items of clothing, considering where they belong and why.

 

During their time in Little Doves, children will be working towards developing an age appropriate level of:

​

• Turning towards familiar sounds.

• Holding eye contact and copying a funny face.

• Taking turns in conversations.

• Joining in with music and singing activities.

• Listening and responding to a simple instruction.

• Using words, sounds and gestures to communicate and get attention.

• Developing an understanding of key vocabulary for everyday routines.

• Using sentences of a longer length, and words containing more than one syllable.

• Listening to simple stories and understanding what is happening.

• Linking a description to an object e.g. blue car.

• Understanding simple questions - who, what, where.

 

Personal, Social and Emotional​

​

Personal, social and emotional development is another strand of learning which filters into all aspects of life in Little Doves. This half term’s planned activities include naming body parts through speech and pointing whilst looking at mirrors, making our own decisions at snack time, beginning to follow routines, and talking about ourselves during family group time.

​

During their time in Little Doves, children will be working towards developing an age-appropriate level of:

​

• Establishing their sense of self, expressing preferences, decisions, self-assurance and own emotions.

• Beginning to talk about feelings in a more elaborate way.

• Independently playing with increased confidence.

• Showing an awareness of independent toileting.

• Responding to something of interest.

• Developing friendships, playing with increasing confidence with other children.

• Managing transitions e.g. from parent to carer.

• Noticing and asking questions about how people are different.

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Understanding the World

​

Understanding the World is another aspect of life in Little Doves which threads through everything we do. Some of our topic activities for this half term are considering who is in our family when looking at photos, using resources to make homes for characters, investigating mirrors, and exploring the difference between light and dark.

​

During their time in Little Doves, children will be working towards developing an age- appropriate level of:

​

• Exploring materials with different properties.

• Exploring natural materials, both inside and outside.

• Making connections between the features of their family and other families.

• Noticing different people.

• Repeating actions that have an effect.

​

Expressive Art and Design

​

Expressive Art and Design is the final strand of learning that filters into all aspects of life in Little Doves. Our activities which link to topic this half term include exploring sensory bags with our senses and singing rhymes with action songs.

 

During their time in Little Doves, children will be working towards developing an age- appropriate level of:

​

• Showing attention to sounds and music.

• Participating in action songs.

• Exploring a range of sound makers and instruments, playing them in different ways.

• Beginning to make marks with intention.

• Exploring the effects of paint using body parts and tools.

• Beginning to develop role play.

• Using imagination when exploring and playing with different materials.

• Making simple models.

​

 

 

 

Spring 2024

​

Our theme for this half term is ‘Wonderful World'. Our learning is guided by the children’s interests and the questions they ask us, as well as by the key skills and knowledge that get passed on through our inputs and provision.

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Topic

 

Topic in EYFS covers a range of subjects – mark making, history, geography, music, science, and art.  Our topics are half termly and allow for lots of investigation. During ‘Wonderful World', we will be exploring the continents of the world through play. We enjoy lots of books during our time at school, but our key texts are Who? and Things That Go.

​

Maths

​

In Little Doves, we explore Maths through play based activities and within our everyday routines. During their time in Little Doves, children will be working towards developing an age appropriate level of:

​

• Combining objects e.g., stacking cups or blocks, putting objects inside others and taking them out again.

• Participating in finger rhymes with numbers.

• Showing an awareness of counting behaviour e.g., pointing and saying some numbers.

• Counting in everyday contexts with some skipping of numbers.

• Completing inset puzzles.

• Comparing sizes using gestures and language.

• Noticing patterns and arranging things in patterns.

​

Literacy

​

In Little Doves, we have access to lots of opportunities to develop our literacy skills. We have regular opportunities to mark make, develop pre-writing skills and to widen our vocabulary through our continuous provision and, during reading escape time, when we share our love of high-quality stories. During their time in Little Doves, children will be working towards developing an age appropriate level of:

​

• Enjoying, and joining in with, songs, rhymes and tunes.

• Copying finger movement and gestures.

• When sharing a book with an adult: showing enjoyment, responding to the pictures, repeating familiar words or phrases, and asking questions about what is being read.

• Noticing some print in the environment e.g. the first letter of their name.

• Enjoying using tools to draw, adding some marks for meaning.

• Mark making to represent their name.

 

Physical Development

​

We have access to lots of opportunities for physical development. We have daily access to our garden with a range of physical development resources as well an intervention programme called 'Healthy Movers' which is accessible to all children who choose to participate. During their time in Little Doves, children will be working towards developing an age appropriate level of:

​

• Clapping, stamping, and moving to the music.

• Fitting into spaces e.g., dens, tunnels, and boxes.

• Beginning to kick, throw and catch.

• Enjoying different methods of movement when travelling.

• Using a scooter or tricycle.

• Managing personal needs such as pulling up a zip, pouring a drink and using a fork.

• When using paper, to tear, scrunch, mark make and print.

 

Communication and Language

​

Whilst we do not complete specific lessons based on communication and language, this filters into all aspects of life in Little Doves. During their time in Little Doves, children will be working towards developing an age appropriate level of:

​

• Turning towards familiar sounds.

• Holding eye contact and copying a funny face.

• Taking turns in conversations.

• Joining in with music and singing activities.

• Listening and responding to a simple instruction.

• Using words, sounds and gestures to communicate and get attention.

• Developing an understanding of key vocabulary for everyday routines.

• Using sentences of a longer length, and words containing more than one syllable.

• Listening to simple stories and understanding what is happening.

• Linking a description to an object e.g. blue car.

• Understanding simple questions - who, what, where.

 

Personal, Social and Emotional

​

Personal, social and emotional development is another strand of learning which filters into all aspects of life in Little Doves. During their time in Little Doves, children will be working towards developing an age appropriate level of:

​

• Establishing their sense of self, expressing preferences, decisions, self-assurance and own emotions.

• Beginning to talk about feelings in a more elaborate way.

• Independently playing with increased confidence.

• Showing an awareness of independent toileting.

• Responding to something of interest.

• Developing friendships, playing with increasing confidence with other children.

• Managing transitions e.g. from parent to carer.

• Noticing and asking questions about how people are different.

​

Understanding the World

​

Understanding the World is another aspect of life in Little Doves which spreads across most of what we do. During their time in Little Doves, children will be working towards developing an age appropriate level of:

​

• Exploring materials with different properties.

• Exploring natural materials, both inside and outside.

• Making connections between the features of their own family and other families.

• Noticing different people.

• Repeating actions that have an effect.

​

Expressive Art and Design

​

Expressive art and design is the final strand of learning that filters into all aspects of life in Little Doves. During their time in Little Doves, children will be working towards developing an age appropriate level of:

​

• Showing attention to sounds and music.

• Participating in action songs.

• Exploring a range of sound makers and instruments, playing them in different ways.

• Beginning to make marks with intention.

• Exploring the effects of paint using body parts and tools.

• Beginning to develop role play.

• Using imagination when exploring and playing with different materials.

• Making simple models.

​