This half term we will:

• Take part in small group activities such as building animal habitats, sorting animals and storytelling, where children follow instructions, complete tasks independently and develop confidence to try new challenges.

• Work collaboratively in provision areas such as small world, construction and den building, sharing ideas, taking turns and listening to others.

• Engage in outdoor learning experiences, including den building and safari role play, where children learn to follow rules and stay safe.

• Develop independence and perseverance through hands-on challenges, adapting and improving their work.

• Use language to negotiate roles and solve problems during shared play.

• Take part in role play (e.g. animal rescue, safari explorers) to develop cooperation and understanding of real-life roles.

• Reflect on their learning, talking about what they have created and how they can improve.

• Show care and responsibility when handling animals and resources in provision.

• Explore emotions through storytelling, identifying feelings such as angry and calm.

Early Learning Goal

Self-Regulation

• Show an understanding of their own feelings and those of others, and begin to regulate their behaviour accordingly.

• Set and work towards simple goals, being able to wait for what they want and control their immediate impulses when appropriate.

• Give focused attention to what the teacher says, responding appropriately even when engaged in an activity, and show an ability to follow instructions involving several ideas or actions.

Manages self

• Be confident to try new activities and show independence, resilience and perseverance in the face of challenge.

• Explain the reasons for rules, know right from wrong and try to behave accordingly.

• Manage their own basic hygiene and personal needs, including dressing, going to the toilet and understanding the importance of healthy food choices.

Building Relationships

• Work and play cooperatively and take turns with others.

• Form positive attachments to adults and friendships with peers.

• Show sensitivity to their own and others’ needs. 

This half term we will:

• Take part in whole class, small group and one-to-one discussions about animals, habitats and environments, where children listen carefully and respond to what they hear.

• Use new vocabulary such as habitat, wild, shelter, jungle and savannah when talking about animals and their environments.

• Ask and answer questions during learning and play, making comments to clarify understanding and extend thinking.

• Engage in back-and-forth conversations with adults and peers during small world, den building and storytelling activities.

• Offer simple explanations for why things happen, for example, why animals live in certain habitats or what they need to survive.

• Express ideas and experiences using full sentences, with adult modelling and support.

• Use talk to organise play, explain ideas and describe what they are doing. 

Early Learning Goal

Listening, Attention and Understanding

• Listen attentively and respond to what they hear with relevant questions, comments and actions when being read to and during whole class discussions and small group interactions.

• Make comments about what they have heard and ask questions to clarify their understanding.

• Hold conversations when engaged in back-and-forth exchanges with their teacher and peers.

Speaking

• Participate in small group, class and one-to-one discussions, offering their own ideas, using recently introduced vocabulary.

• Offer explanations for why things might happen, making use of recently introduced vocabulary from stories, non-fiction, rhymes and poems when appropriate.

• Express their ideas and feelings about their experiences using full sentences, including use of past, present and future tenses and making use of conjunctions, with modelling and support from their teacher.

This half term we will:

• Develop gross motor skills through outdoor provision such as den building, climbing, balancing and large-scale construction.

• Develop strength and coordination through building and adapting large-scale habitats in outdoor provision. 

• Move confidently and safely, negotiating space and obstacles during play.

• Use a range of tools including paintbrushes, scissors and mark-making tools to develop fine motor control.

• Develop pencil grip through purposeful drawing and early writing activities.

• Show increasing control and accuracy when drawing animals and creating models.

• Use fine motor skills to add detail when drawing and creating animals and habitats. 

Comprehension

• Develop comprehension through listening to and discussing animal-themed stories, retelling key events and using new vocabulary.

• Engage in discussions about texts, anticipating what might happen next and talking about characters and events.

• Use storytelling and role play to retell and adapt narratives, using recently introduced vocabulary.

• Link stories and discussions to their learning about animals and habitats. 

Writing 

• Write simple words and sentences about animals, using phonics to segment sounds.

• Develop letter formation, ensuring letters are recognisable and increasingly well formed.

• Begin to write phrases and simple sentences that can be read by others.

• Use writing within play (e.g. labelling, simple captions) to give meaning and purpose to mark making.

Phonics - Read, Write, Inc.

• Read red and green story books.

• Apply phonics knowledge to read decodable words and simple sentences.

• Recognise and say sounds for all taught letters and digraphs.

• Use sound blending to read words consistent with phonic knowledge.

• Read simple books that match their phonics ability, including common exception words.

Early Learning Goal

Comprehension

• Demonstrate understanding of what has been read to them by retelling stories and narratives using their own words and recently introduced vocabulary.

• Anticipate – where appropriate – key events in stories.

• Use and understand recently introduced vocabulary during discussions about stories, non-fiction, rhymes and poems and during role-play.

Word Reading

• Say a sound for each letter in the alphabet and at least 10 digraphs.

• Read words consistent with their phonic knowledge by sound-blending.

• Reading aloud simple sentences and books that are consistent with their phonic knowledge, including some common exception words.

Writing

• Write recognisable letters, most of which are correctly formed.

• Spell words by identifying sounds in them and representing the sounds with a letter or letters.

• Write simple phrases and sentences that can be read by others.

Vocabulary

• zzzz

Composition, Subitising & Number within 10 

• Recognising numbers ‘at a glance’ (subitising) using dice patterns, fingers and 10-frames.

• Using fingers to represent numbers and show how numbers can be made.

• Exploring the composition of 5 using fingers (e.g. 3 and 2, 4 and 1).

• Using rhymes and practical activities to show how numbers can be split and combined.

• Finding missing parts of 5 when some objects are hidden.

• Exploring numbers 6–9 as ‘5 and a bit’.

• Using double dice frames and 10-frames to see patterns within numbers.

• Making numbers using objects, counters and practical resources.

• Recognising when a group shows 5 or does not show 5.

• Exploring the composition of 10 using objects, fingers and structured representations.

• Making collections of 10 objects and recognising a full set.

• Finding pairs of numbers that make 10.

• Solving problems by finding a missing part of 10.

• Using fingers (up and down) to represent parts of 10.

• Recognising when a set is 10 and when it is not.

Comparison & Number Relationships 

• Comparing numbers to 10 using language such as more than, fewer than, less than and equal to.

• Ordering numbers from 1 to 10 using number tracks and practical resources.

• Exploring where numbers sit in relation to 5 and 10.

• Identifying numbers that are before and after a given number.

• Understanding that numbers increase as we move along a number track.

• Playing track games to move along numbers in order.

• Counting on from different starting numbers.

• Comparing numbers that are close together and far apart.

• Describing differences between numbers (e.g. a lot more, a little more).

• Spotting mistakes in number order and explaining why.

Counting & Cardinality 

• Counting objects carefully using 1-to-1 correspondence.

• Counting sets of objects and matching them to numerals.

• Counting on from a given number during games and activities.

• Joining in with backward counting from 5 to 1.

• Recognising that the last number counted tells us how many there are.

• Using counting alongside subitising to check amounts.

• Applying counting skills in practical contexts (games, collections, outdoor learning).

Shape, Space & Measure (ongoing provision) 

• Using positional language such as before, after, next to and between on number tracks.

• Exploring direction and movement through track games.

• Building and arranging objects in lines and patterns.

• Using spatial awareness to organise objects into structured arrangements (e.g. 5 and a bit, 10-frames).

• Comparing lengths, heights and sizes using everyday language.

• Exploring patterns and arrangements in practical and outdoor contexts.

Early Learning Goal 

Number

• Have a deep understanding of number to 10, including the composition of each number.

• Subitise (recognise quantities without counting) up to 5.

• Automatically recall (without reference to rhymes, counting or other aids) number bonds up to 5 (including subtraction facts) and some number bonds to 10, including double facts.

Numerical Patterns

• Verbally count beyond 20, recognising the pattern of the counting system.

• Compare quantities up to 10 in different contexts, recognising when one quantity is greater than, less than or the same as the other quantity.

Shape, space and measure

• Has a developed range of mathematical language to describe and compare size, shape, length, weight and position. 

This half term we will:

• Draw on their experiences from the farm visit to talk about animals and how they are cared for 

• Explore the natural world by learning about a range of animals and their features, identifying similarities and differences between them.

• Develop understanding of habitats, including jungle and savannah, and begin to explain why animals live in certain environments.

• Learn that animals have basic needs, including food, water and shelter, and explore how habitats provide these.

• Observe and describe animals using real images, small world play and discussion, noticing key features and characteristics.

• Compare animals and environments, identifying what is the same and what is different.

• Use stories, non-fiction texts and discussion to develop knowledge of the wider world, including environments beyond their own experience.

• Engage in practical experiences such as building habitats, sorting animals and role play, to deepen understanding through play.

• Use simple maps and visual prompts to begin to understand where animals live in the world.

• Children revisit and build on this knowledge across provision each week across the half term. 

Early Learning Goal

Past and Present

• Talk about the lives of the people around them and their roles in society.

• Know some similarities and differences between things in the past and now, drawing on their own experiences and what has been read in class.

• Understand the past through settings, characters and events encountered in books read in class and storytelling. 

People Culture and Communities

• Describe their immediate environment using knowledge from observations, discussions, stories, non-fiction texts and maps.

• Know some similarities between different religious and cultural communities in this country, drawing on their experiences and what has been read in class.

• Explain some similarities and differences between life in this country and life in other countries, drawing on knowledge from stories, non-fiction texts and – when appropriate – maps. 

Natural World

• Explore the natural world around them, making observations and drawing pictures of animals and plants.

• Know some similarities and differences between the natural world around them and contrasting environments, drawing on their experiences and what has been read in class.

• Understand some important processes and changes in the natural world around them, including the seasons and changing states of matter. 

This half term we will:

Creating with Materials

• Explore a range of materials and tools to draw, paint and construct animals and their habitats, developing control and creativity.

• Use different techniques to represent animal features, such as fur, scales and patterns, selecting materials for a purpose.

• Develop and refine their ideas when creating, improving their work over time and adding increasing detail.

• Create models and structures, including animal habitats, thinking about how to build and adapt their designs.

• Share their creations with others, talking about what they have made and how they made it.

Being Imaginative and Expressive

• Take part in role play and small world play, acting out animal experiences and creating their own safari adventures.

• Use the storytelling area to retell and invent stories, developing narratives around animals and their habitats.

• Express ideas and feelings through movement, music and imaginative play, exploring how animals move and behave.

• Engage in group performances, songs and rhymes, building confidence when performing to others.

• Invent, adapt and perform stories, using props and materials to support their ideas.

Early Learning Goal 

Creating with materials

• Safely use and explore a variety of materials, tools and techniques, experimenting with colour, design, texture, form and function

• Share their creations, explaining the processes they have used

• Make use of props and materials when role playing characters in narrative and stories

Being imaginative and expressive

• Invent, adapt and recount narrative and stories with peers and their teachers

• Sing a range of well-known nursery rhymes and songs

• Perform songs, rhymes, poems and stories with others, and – when appropriate – try to move in time with music