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Autumn 1 2025

Welcome to Starfish!
All About Me
Personal, Social and Emotional Development
Welcome back to the Starfish!  We are looking forward to having a fun-filled year and we want all of our children to be happy and confident and to enjoy coming to nursery.  The adults will work alongside the children to get to know them and build relationships so the children are relaxed and comfortable.  The children will be encouraged to make friends and try new things.  They will have independent time as well as adult-directed time so their skills can be developed.  
Understanding the World
Curiosity is something we want ALL children to have.  We will nurture and encourage this curiosity!  The ’All About Me’ topic will allow the children to  talk about themselves and what makes them unique, learning to describe themselves using  simple adjectives.  We will share photo’s of families and talk about different jobs that people do, thinking about what they might like to do when they grow up.  Have a look at the word mat below.  Talk about your family with your child, see how many family-related words they know.
Writing and mark making
Physical development goes hand in hand with writing development.  The children need to develop both their gross and fine motor skills in order to be able to hold and use scissors and mark making materials confidently.  The children will develop these skills indoors and outdoors.  They will use playdough to strengthen their fingers, manipulating it into different shapes, paint and draw with different equipment and develop movement and balance on bikes and scooters.  Adults will model how to draw shapes with care and skill in order to make marks more recognisable.  We will use the  'Squiggle While You Wiggle' programme to develop gross motor skills which is movement to music and is great fun!
Maths
Number - in number we will be working on numbers to 3.  We will work on counting and understanding the value of quantities so the children are competent in this.  The children will play number games and learn to count out small quantities from a larger group, learning to 'stop' at the right number. The children will learn to share objects between two people by dealing items one by one until there are none left.
Have a go at the 'Counting Out' game below and see if your child can count out small quantities correctly.
Problem solving - the children will learn to sort objects by size, colour or shape using a range of equipment.
Shape - the children will have access to a range of construction equipment and will explore these, learning how they fit together.
Measure - the children will talk about how objects are the same and different, learning new vocabulary relating to this.
 
 
Communication and Language
Speech and Language is always a priority in Nursery and will continue to be this year.  The children will be encouraged to 'use their words' rather than gestures and sentences will be modelled for those who need this support.  New vocabulary will be introduced and used so the children's vocabulary is continually growing.  Small group activities will target less confident children and provide opportunitites to talk. The children will be taught to 'give me 5' - eyes looking, ears listening, lips closed, hands still and brain ready.  They will be encouraged to listen to each other and adults and to respond when someone talks to them.  Daily conversations and interactions will support the children's development more informally.