Nursery Topics - My home covers all six areas of learning in the English early years curriculum, but it can be easily adapted to suit the Scottish, Welsh and Northern Irish curricula. The areas of learning are indicated as follows:
Personal, social andemotional development
Communication, languageand literacy
Mathematical development
Knowledge and understanding of the world
Physical development
Creative development
THEMES AND ACTIVITIES
The QCA Curriculum guidance for the foundation stage is very clear that good practice involves a balance between adult-led () and child-initiated () play and activities, stating that 'children should not make a distinction between "play" and "work" and neither should practitioners'.
Each of the four themes within My home likewise includes a balance between adult-led activities, with a planned learning outcome, and suggestions for child-initiated play that will reinforce learning and allow a wider exploration of the skills, knowledge and attitudes that the topic hopes to foster. The four parts are:
Part 1 Home and family
Draw your home and family
Role play homes and an estate agent's in the home corner and in small-world play
Part 2 Addresses and telephone numbers
Compile a large-format address book
Use the address book in role play
Play a telephone numbers game
Part 3 Outside and in Create imaginary scenes through a window
Explore small-world room design
Design your own wallpaper
'Paint' the nursery outdoors
Part 4 From home to nursery
Create and record narratives
Recreate routes from home to nursery
STEPPING STONES
'Stepping stones', giving information on how children may proceed towards a given goal, follow each adult-led activity and aim to develop practitioners' understanding of how children learn. They are set out according to a child's experience, but being 'inexperienced' should not be seen as a deficit. The information is intended only as a guide. The foundation stage guidance reminds us that children in our settings have varying levels of experience regardless of their chronological age, that they will work towards a goal in different ways and that their learning is not always linear.
POSSIBLE LEARNING OUTCOMES
The child-initiated suggestions include a list of possible learning outcomes to encourage practitioners to reflect on the holistic nature of children's learning. Observing possible, rather than merely planned, learning outcomes provides a much wider understanding of a child's learning.
TOPIC WEB
The topic web overleaf gives relevant key principles from the foundation stage guidance, as these have a greater bearing on the aims and planning of the topic than individual early learning goals. Only the most relevant goals and stepping stones from the QCA Curriculum guidance for the foundation stage are then listed, though the majority of them may apply, given the holistic nature of children's learning. Page references to the foundation stage guidance are also given.
