What Children Learn At Clifton Kindergarten - Early Years Foundation Stage
|
|
Through a range of carefully planned activities and experiences we aim to provide our three and four year old children with a curriculum based on the "Early Learning Goals" which are the guidelines for expectations of children's achievements throughout the "Early Years Foundation Stage". The Early Years Foundation Stage (EYFS) tracks a child's progress from birth to the end of their first year at school (Reception). The Early Learning Goals are divided into six areas of learning. These are:-
- Personal, Social and Emotional Development
- Communication, Language and Literacy
- Problem Solving, Reasoning and Numeracy
- Knowledge and Understanding of the World
- Physical Development
- Creative Development
Most activities that the children take part in each day encompass all areas of learning. Indeed, Ofsted 2008 commented that our staff were highly skilled in this.
"Staff have a clear understanding about children's learning and the six areas of learning. They plan interesting play based learning activities which enable children to make good progress towards the Early Learning Goals." OFSTED 2008
|
| PERSONAL, SOCIAL & EMOTIONAL DEVELOPMENT |
Children learn to establish constructive relationships with other children and adults. Within our safe, secure environment, children are respected and valued so that they learn to develop respect for themselves and others and develop a positive self image. This is one of the key areas, as when children develop feelings of competence and self confidence they develop a positive disposition to learn in other areas.
|
| COMMUNICATION, LANGUAGE AND LITERACY |
Children learn to communicate and to use language in a variety of ways and we provide many opportunities for this. We use stories and non-fiction books, songs, rhymes, circle time, role play, drama, sound and rhythm; as well as children being given the opportunity to speak and be listened to in 1:1, small and large group situations. Children are exposed to a varitey of texts and learn to associate that words and pictures carry meaning. They begin to use emergent writing in their play - writing lists, labelling drawings, writing letters and they make marks using different materials.
|
| PROBLEM SOLVING, REASONING AND NUMERACY |
There are many activities which help children develop in this area eg counting, sorting, matching, patterning, sequencing, looking at position, weight, shapes and comparisons etc. Children learn to use and recognise numbers through activities such as songs, role play and self registration etc. They begin to use mathematical language to describe shape, position, quantity and space.
|
| KNOWLEDGE AND UNDERSTANDING OF THE WORLD |
This area of learning develops children's sense of the world around them. It encompasses technology, history, geography, multi-cultural understanding as well as science and design. Through multi-cultural celebrations and topics children learn about other cultures and countries. Children find out about living things such as plants, animals and themselves. They learn to use tools such as computers, scissors and pencils safely and develop knowledge of how things work. Activities such as baking, circle time, clay work etc encourage children to observe changes and talk about their experiences and discoveries.
|
| PHYSICAL DEVELOPMENT |
Children learn to develop their skills of co-ordination, control, balance, movement and manipulation both indoors and outdoors. We have our own recently developed outdoor area which encompasses all areas of continuous provision. We have lots of outdoor toys which we make use of on a daily basis. In addition to this, we provide activities such as music and movement, dance, parachute games and equipment which encourages pushing, pedalling etc. Skills of manipulation are developed by using tools such as scissors and through activities such as filling containers, cutting and rolling dough, threading, small worlds etc.
|
| CREATIVE DEVELOPMENT |
This area is one of exploration, imagination and developing children's use of senses. In our secure environment, children feel safe to be adventurous in their creativity. They experiment with paint, colour and texture in 2 and 3 dimensions through activities such as painting, collage, modelling dough and clay, sand and water play. Through activities such as music and movement, dance, singing and playing insturments children explore sound and movement, expressing themselves in creative ways. Children are encouraged to express their ideas and feelings through acting out stories, role play, small worlds and pretend play.
|
|
