Marston Green Infant Academy Nursery ‘Meet the Teacher’ evening 15 th September 2014

The Nursery team Miss Davies - Dolphins (and starfish) Miss Taylor – Seahorses (and turtles) Miss King – Turtles Miss Smith – Starfish Mrs Mason – PPA cover Miss Newton – PPA cover

A few reminders… Uniform Book bags Absences Messages Home time Contact details Photographs – 23 rd September Parent helpers - 17 th December 2.30pm ‘Stay and Play’ sessions

Daily timetable 8.25am – 8.40am/12.25pm – 12.40pm Nursery doors open. Self registration. Free choice activities. 8.50pm-9.00am/12.50pm-1.00pmRegister 9.00am-9.15am/1.00pm-1.15pmFamily group time (PSED, speaking and listening focus) Outdoor open. Focus activity with teacher. Free choice activities am-10.30am/1.15pm-1.30pmPhonics/Mathematics group activity 10.30am-10.40am/2.30pm-2.40pmSnack in family groups (speaking and listening focus) Outdoor open. Focus activity with teacher. Free choice activities am-11.30am/3.15pm-3.30pm Story. Prepare for home-time.

Nursery routines ‘Twinkle’ fingers when hear tambourine (stop, stand still) Tidy up to music Star of the Day Time-Out (reminder, warning, consequence) Reward Rocket “Good sitting” “Good Listening” Walk, don’t run (safety)

How do the children learn? 7 areas of learning – Personal, Social, Emotional Development (PSED) Communication and Language (C&L) Physical Development (PD) Literacy Mathematical Development (MD), Understanding the World (UW), Expressive Art and Design (EAD) Emphasis on learning through play Children lead own exploration Independent and focus activities Indoor and outdoor classroom

Autumn 1 (to October half term) ‘All about me’ topic Settling the children into new environment Support development of friendships Establish routines and boundaries Encourage children to speak to others Observations and initial assessments for baseline Adults support through ‘play partner’ work

Autumn 2 (to Christmas break) ‘Celebrations’ topic Recall and talk about important personal events Introduction to other faiths and cultures Nativity (pm children - 15 th December, am children – 16 th December) Christmas party (18 th December) End of term assessments

Early stages of writing Focusing on pre-writing skills Random scribbles Controlled scribbles Lines and patterns Pictures with meaning Familiar letters and words Begin to represent initial (then final and medial) sounds as phonic knowledge develops

Encourage and praise ALL mark making! Ask children to ‘read’ their writing to you “Distinguishes between the marks they make” “Give meaning to marks as draw and paint” Shared writing activities - model writing from left to right, no capitals Writing needs a purpose Encourage role play with writing opportunities What can you do?

Development of pencil grip Dependent on how ’steady’ the shoulder and arm muscles are Gross and fine motor activities aid development of pencil grip balancing, threading, weaving, painting, write, dance, squeezy bottles, sand, cornflour gloop, playdough, pegs, jigsaws Fist grasp Palmer grasp 5 finger grip Tripod (3 finger) grip

Cursive script Each letter begins with a sweep-up and ends with an exit Encourages children to be ready to join letters Not expectation in Nursery but children will be exposed to font (signs, labels etc)

Development of early reading skills Enjoy sharing texts with your child Read a range of texts (including non-fiction) Be expressive! Point under each word as you read Ask questions (characters, predictions, opinions) Retell in own words Make up own stories

Phase 1 Phonics ‘Letters and Sounds’ program for teaching phonics Nursery – begin Phase 1 “tuning into different sounds” Supports development of children’s speaking and listening skills Foundation for reading and writing skills 7 aspects (only 1 st 6 aspects taught this term) Each of the first six aspects are ‘dipped into’ (not taught in order) Practical activities - play games, sing songs, sound hunts

AspectActivity Aspect 1 Environmental Sounds Main purpose: to raise children's awareness of the sounds around them and to develop their listening skills Aspect 2 Instrumental Sounds Main purpose: To develop children's awareness of sounds made by various instruments and noise makers Aspect 3 Body Percussion Main purpose: to develop children's awareness of sounds and rhythms Aspect 4 Rhythm and rhyme (including singing and nursery rhymes) Main purpose: to develop children's appreciation and experiences of rhythm and rhyme in speech Aspect 5Alliteration Main purpose: to focus is on initial sounds of words and to identify words that start with the same sound Aspect 6Voice sounds Main purpose: to distinguish between different vocal sounds and to begin oral blending and segmenting.

Early mathematical development Number Numeral recognition to 5, to 10 Counting to 10 (and beyond) by rote including ‘0’ Counting using 1:1 correspondence (how many?) Count objects that cannot be seen or moved Finding the total - understand that numbers identify how many objects there are in a set Introduce vocabulary of more/less

Early mathematical development Shape, Space and Measures Name and sort 2D shapes (flat) *oblong Creating repeating patterns Passage of time – days of the week (daily calendar) Following instructions using positional language Comparing size, length Estimation “sensible guess”

Homework?! School reading book – fill out book card Superstar cards (send home tomorrow) Puppets Bedtime stories Trips to the library Nursery rhymes - 8

Any questions?

Thank you for coming. Staff are available to talk with you before you leave. DATE FOR YOUR DIARY- Our next meeting is 12 th January 2015