Term/ Theme Texts Children In Nursery Children in Reception Activities Vocabulary

Autumn 1 – All About Me  

Chris Quigley  

Communication conveys meaning 

Harry and his bucketful of dinosaurs. 

Funny Bones 

Peace At Last 

Autumn non fiction texts. (Write Stuff) 

Ruby’s Worry  (Write Stuff) 

Enjoy listening to longer stories and can remember much of what happens.  

 Pay attention to more than one thing at a time, which can be difficult.  

Understand how to listen carefully and why listening is important.  

Listen carefully to rhymes and songs, paying attention to how they sound.  

Learn rhymes, poems and songs. • 

C&L skills are embedded in all activities and everyday routines and in those back and forth interactions.  

Daily Story time  with a range of star reads, termly reads and phonics books. 

Child initiated activities Adult initiated activities Phase 1 phonics activities Listening games 

 Sharing News.  

Show and Tell 

Zumos Circle Time 

 Hot seating 

 Continuous Provision including 

 Puppets  

Small World Role Play 

Talk  

Listen 

Understand 

Concentrate 

Autumn 2 – Celebrations  

Chris Quigley  

Communication conveys meaning 

The Write Stuff texts 

Poppies  

Diwali  

Laura’s Star

Use a wider range of vocabulary.  

Understand a question or instruction that has two parts, such as “Get your coat and wait at the door” 

Learn new vocabulary.  Use new vocabulary through the day.  

Articulate their ideas and thoughts in well-formed sentences.  

C&L skills are embedded in all activities and everyday routines and in those back and forth interactions.  

Daily Story time  with a range of star reads, termly reads and phonics books. 

Child initiated activities Adult initiated activities Phase 1 phonics activities Listening games 

 Sharing News.  

Show and Tell 

Zumos Circle Time 

 Hot seating 

 Continuous Provision including 

 Puppets  

Small World Role Play 

Role Play

Words 

vocabulary

Spring 1 –  

New Year 

Be healthy and Safe  

Chris Quigley  

Communication conveys meaning  

The Write Stuff 

Luna New Year  

Handa’s Surprise/ Oliver’s Vegetable –

Sing a large repertoire of songs.  

 Know many rhymes, be able to talk about familiar books, and be able to tell a long story. 

Connect one idea or action to another using a range of connectives. Describe events in some detail.  

Use talk to help work out problems and organise thinking and activities, and to explain how things work and why they might happen.  

Develop social phrases.  Engage in story times.  Listen to and talk about stories to build familiarity and understanding. Retell the story, once they have developed a deep familiarity with the text, some as exact repetition and some in their own words. 

C&L skills are embedded in all activities and everyday routines. Story time  

Child initiated activities  

Adult initiated activities  

Listening games Sharing News.  

Show and Tell Weekend Bear 

Zumos Circle Time Hot seating Continuous Provision including Puppets  

Small World  

Role Play  

Nursery Phase 1 phonics activities New Year Be healthy Lent Pancake Day Chinese New Year and animals  

Seasons – Winter Reception  

New Year around the world  

Be healthy and stay safe Lent,  

Chinese New Year and China 

Sentence 

Spring 2 – Growth and Change  

Easter 

Chris Quigley  

Communication conveys meaning 

The Write stuff 

The very Hungry Caterpillar  

Jack and the Jelly Bean 

Rosie’s Walk 

Understand ‘why’ questions, like: “Why do you think the caterpillar got so fat?”  

Develop their communication,  but may continue to have problems with irregular tenses and plurals, such as ‘runned’ for ‘ran’, ‘swimmed’ for ‘swam’.

Ask questions to find out more and to check they understand what has been said to them.

Use new vocabulary in different contexts

Engage in non-fiction books.

Listen to and talk about selected non-fiction to develop a deep familiarity with new knowledge and vocabulary. 

C&L skills are embedded in all activities and everyday routines. Story time  

Child initiated activities  

Adult initiated activities  

Listening games Sharing News.  

Show and Tell Weekend Bear 

Zumos Circle Time Hot seating  

Role Play  

 Growing Caterpillars 

Shrove Tuesday and Ash Wednesday 

Easter 

Questions 

Communicate

Summer 1 – The Wider World  

Chris Quigley  

Communication conveys meaning 

Bear Hunt  

How to catch a Star  

Katie’s Sunflowers

Develop their pronunciation but may have problems saying: some sounds: r, j, th, ch, and sh - multisyllabic words such as ‘pterodactyl’, ‘planetarium’ or ‘hippopotamus’

Listening and attention 

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 conversation 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. 

C&L skills are embedded in all activities and everyday routines. Story time  

Child initiated activities  

Adult initiated activities  

Listening games Sharing News.  

Show and Tell Weekend Bear 

Zumos Circle Time Hot seating  

Role Play  

 

Summer 2 – Moving on  

Chris Quigley  

Communication conveys meaning 

Rainbow Fish  

Snail and the Whale  

What will we build? 

Use longer sentences of four to six words. Be able to express a point of view and to debate when they disagree with an adult or a friend, using words as well as actions.  

Start a conversation with an adult or a friend and continue it for many turns.  

Use talk to organise themselves and their play: “Let’s go on a bus... you sit there... I’ll be the driver - 

C&L skills are embedded in all activities and everyday routines. Story time  

Child initiated activities  

Adult initiated activities  

Listening games Sharing News.  

Show and Tell Weekend Bear 

Zumos Circle Time Hot seating  

Role Play 

Disagree 

organise