Literacy in the EYFS
Nursery
- Launchpad for Literacy activities.
- Aspects of Talk for Writing implemented to enable children to recall and retell familiar stories.
- Lending library books which children take home weekly to share and develop comprehension skills.
- A core book approach; children have access to familiar books, puppets and props in the reading area to revisit taught stories.
- Continuous provision, both indoor and outdoor, is planned to link to the focus stories each half term linking activities based on the 7 areas of learning to a focus story.
- Weekly drawing-based focus activity to develop pencil control and language skills.
- Planned fine motor activities to develop pencil grip, hand-eye coordination and build finger strength in preparation for writing.
- Key words linked to core story displayed in writing area to encourage independent writing.
- Early reading is encouraged throughout continuous provision areas e.g. non-fiction books available in the small world areas, signs and familiar logos displayed and access to texts of different genres through role play.
- Introduction of Read Write Inc phonic sessions when children are assessed as ‘ready’.
Reception
- Read Write Inc sessions delivered 4 days per week tailored to 3 ability group levels.
- Read Write Inc sessions include daily handwriting element.
- Independent writing session for all children once per week to apply phonic skills based on a familiar text (this may be a book or poem).
- Daily story time during snack session using core texts.
- Read Write Inc book bag scheme used for home reading – books are linked to the sounds children are currently learning to enable all children to be successful readers.
- Children read at least once per week with a member of the EYFS team.
- Children have access to a library, choosing a book to take home to share each Friday.
- The reading corner has 15-20 core books and poems which link to the children’s topics and are revisited many times throughout the year, giving children a deep understanding, the ability to recall and re-read and begin to adapt and tell their own stories based on familiar texts.
- Continuous provision, both indoor and outdoor, is planned to link to the focus stories each half term linking activities based on the 7 areas of learning to a focus story.
- Weekly rainbow challenges set each week contain at least 2 writing based activities to encourage children to access these areas of provision.
- Weekly Helicopter Stories session develops the children’s ability to use imaginative, story-based language alongside listening skills and deepen comprehension.
Maths in the EYFS
Nursery
- Weekly adult-focussed maths activity
- Maths focus at daily snack time including counting, halving, sharing etc
- Morning welcome routine includes counting children, displaying amounts on an abacus, writing numerals to show the total children present, days of the week and months of the year songs and language relating to size.
- Planned activities throughout continuous provision, both indoors and outdoors, with a maths focus.
- Maths area available to children to access independently, containing a range of resources.
- Quality interactions enhancing children’s understanding and mathematical thinking during child-initiated learning.
Reception
- Daily adult-led maths sessions planned linking to White Rose Maths scheme and based on the principles of Maths Hub ‘Number Sense’ training.
- Maths groups are differentiated to the needs of the children as individuals.
- Daily opportunities are provided within provision to apply skills taught in maths sessions.
- Designated maths area in the classroom has open-ended resources for the children to access independently to apply their mathematical understanding and consolidate key concepts.
- Numicon resources are used in multiple areas of continuous provision, both indoors and outdoors, to familiarise children with this in order to develop their maths understanding.
- Children’s maths sessions are practical based and provide children with the opportunity to continually use concrete resources including Numicon, cubes, counting objects, Cuisenaire and loose parts to develop concepts before progressing to pictoral or abstract methods.
- Daily maths sessions begin by using the large class number line. Children will spot errors in the number order (1-10 and then 1-20) and explain their reasons developing their justification e.g. 9 must go in the space after 8 because one more than 8 is 9.
- Focus children are selected for observations each week by the EYFS team – each of the focus children has an individual maths based target for adults to support and evidence in that particular week.
- From Spring Term, children complete a weekly open-ended maths challenge each Friday to develop their thinking skills and enable them to apply their knowledge of concepts to a problem solving scenario