Curriculum
Physical Activity
There are growing concerns that as a nation we are becoming more sedentary and are damaging our health and the health of our children. At the Little Castle Playgroup we take those concerns seriously and have a regular daily physical activity session that is fun for the children. Weather permitting we include an outdoor activity session to benefit from all the fine country air.
“Movement skills need to be nurtured, not only because
they are important for the child’s long-term health and well
being, but because they support the child’s physical and cognitive
development.”
- Curricular Guidance for Pre school Education
Language Development
We use language to communicate, to express feelings, exchange information and ideas.
Listening and joining in with rhymes and books are important elements
of language development.
Play such as using ‘props’ and/or friends enable children to create their own detailed and sustained play activities.
“In these activities they recreate the world they experience
outside and inside school; they cook, they clean and polish, they
plan, travel and explore; they fall ill, are hospitalized and recover,
they teach scold and punish, they fall in love, get married and rear
children”
- The Excellence of Play, Moyles, Janet R.,(1996), Open University
Press.
Through this role play they learn linguistic, creative and social
skills and gain a huge amount of confidence.
Early Maths
All areas of play can provide opportunities to develop mathematical skills, for example, playing in sand, water and dough build concentration skills and can be developed into learning about size and if appropriate, concepts such as ‘half full’ and ‘twice as large’. This can be progressed on to involve counting when the child is ready. Again through the medium of play, activities such as reading, sorting games and talking about every day things the children are introduced to mathematical concepts such as quantity, time, order and shape and encouraged to use mathematical language as they talk about their findings.
The World Around Us
From birth onwards, children try to make sense of the world around them. They develop a range of skills and concepts through observation, experimentation and exploration. Talking and interacting with adults furthers the development of these skills as does books, posters, photographs and outdoor nature activities such as gardening.
Themed activities such as ‘The Seasons’ and ‘My Family’ are designed to organise activities over several weeks. These give the child opportunities to bring in relevant materials and experiences.
The Arts
Children have vivid imaginations, natural curiosity and creativity. By encouraging them to explore their own ideas through art and design they will discover what they can do and experience the joy of achievement that helps to develop self confidence.
We provide children with a wide range of good quality materials and ensure that their work is displayed and valued by other children, parents and adults. Through play in art and design children will learn to think through ideas, develop spatial, visual and tactile awareness as well as investigative and manipulative skills.
Personal, Social & Emotional
This area of learning focuses on the child’s emotional well being, about understanding who they are, respect for others and forming and sustaining relationships. Good personal, social and emotional development gives children the best opportunity for success in other areas of learning. Listening to children, giving encouragement and positive reinforcement are amongst the ways we promote development in this area. Children will gain confidence by allowing them to make choices and to help each other. Organising their own play, independence at snack time, learning to take turns, observing and caring for aspects of nature are some of the ways that this is achieved in a play based curriculum.
“It is only when the curriculum evolves from the needs
of children that it can be viewed as being effective in promoting
learning.”
- Nursery Education Guidelines “The Curriculum” NICC 1989