The curriculum is the learning and development that I hope the children will achieve during their time at The Treasure Box. It is specific to the particular children in attendance at the moment, and will change from year to year as different children, with different strengths and needs, join us.

If you think your child will need an alternative curriculum, that is not a problem. I will work with you and your child to develop a new one.

LANGUAGE AND COMMUNICATION:

Early Communicating

Means of communicating…

Intensive Interactions including copying and imitating vocalisations, facial expressions, eye contact, gestures.

Turn taking.

Responding to body-language-communication.

Reasons for communicating…

Gaining someone’s attention and responding to someone else.

Positive interactions through exchanging objects, and clapping to show approval.

Simple negation, such as the sign for ‘finished’.

Praising ‘good choosing’.

Communication Skills

Means of communicating…

Objects of reference; PECS; Signs; Words.

Reasons for communicating…

Giving children the opportunity to speak, to different audiences, in setting, and out and about.

LITERACY:

The joy of sharing books, rhymes, poems, songs.

Making marks to communicate something.

Language comprehension.

PHYSICAL DEVELOPMENT:

Developing a positive attitude to keeping fit and healthy.

Engaging in regular exercise over a prolonged period of time.

Pre-requisite Sports Skills

Spatial awareness and an awareness of others; coordination; balance; controlled movement; strength; speed; stamina; agility; decision making; safety.

Hand Eye Coordination

Fine motor activities, puzzles, arts and crafts, using tools.

Games

Sending; receiving; travelling; awareness of space and others.

Outdoor and Adventurous Activities

Walking; trekking; map reading; obstacles; problem solving activities.

INTELLECTUAL AND REASONING SKILLS:

Play

Exploring and manipulating unfamiliar objects, materials and toys.

Solitary play.

Social play with an adult.

Social play with a peer.

Early Learning Responses

Giving eye contact to the task in hand.

Transferring eye contact between adult and task.

Pointing to an object or picture on request.

Giving an object to an adult on request.

Putting an object in a container on request.

Transferring objects from one container to another.

Early Reasoning Skills

Search strategies, such as hiding things and posting things.

Cause and effect, such as instruments, brick towers, skittles.

Environmental controls, such as sound buttons, fans, disco lights, with a choice of at least 2 buttons.

Visual Perception

2-D representations, such as PECS.

Matching, identifying and naming colours, shapes, sizes and positions.

Auditory Discrimination

Animal, bird, people, vehicle, gadget sounds.

Tactile

Naming tactile qualities.

Finer Motor Skills

Developing the use of manual skills, such as using pens, scissors, paintbrushes, tools and household implements.

Using hand-over-hand to draw shapes.

Conceptual and Reasoning Skills

Categorising, such as sorting animals and vehicles.

Temporal sequencing, such as sequencing 2 or 3 pictures of an event involving the child.

Short term memory, such as recalling an object of photo after it has been hidden for 5 seconds, e.g. an object and it’s PECS.

MATHEMATICS:

The child must be able to sort and match objects according to different characteristics, as well as pairing objects from one group with those of another group, by one-to-one correspondence.

Numbers

Verbal / sign ordering, as in knowing the sequence of number names up to 10.

Counting, as in counting each object just once, in a straight line, and then in a random arrangement, up to 10.

Spatial Reasoning Skills

Shape, space and measure.

Patterns, relationships, connections, organisation.

PSED:

Strong, warm, supportive attachments are key.

Personal Care Skills

Feeding… Hand-over-hand with a spoon; appropriate cutlery.

Dressing… Pushing and pulling for socks, shoes, clothes, outdoor gear.

Toileting… appropriate involvement with personal care and hygiene.

Keeping Healthy and Safe

Personal safety… road safety, strangers, safety in the home, safety in the natural environment.

Healthy living… nutrition, exercise and rest, personal hygiene, dentists, mental health and emotional wellbeing.

Inter-personal skills… sharing, turn taking, waiting, respecting other’s needs, listening to others, carrying out requests.

Recognising other people… cooperating; helping; respecting differences; accepting other’s wishes.

Recognising own effect on others… how choices can affect others; what we do is as important as what we say; what we choose to do can be copied by others.

Recognising that other people can affect our lives… other people’s choices can affect us; decisions and choices can be made collectively; some people have authority over us.

Use of community resources… we are part of many communities including family, nursery, village, Norfolk, England, UK, world. Including shops, library, doctors and dentists.

Self-advocacy… Recognising personal strengths and viewing self positively; knowing likes and dislikes; what’s fair and unfair; what’s right or wrong.

Making considered choices… starting with simple choices; praising the act of choosing; adults not choosing for children; giving time to choose; creating opportunities to choose; understanding the consequences of choices; setting achievable goals.

World of Work

Understanding a range of occupations.

Role play.

Relationship Education

The vocabulary to name feelings.

What makes the child happy, sad, angry, frustrated, frightened, etc.

Being sensitive to the feelings of those around us.

The feelings associated with transitions and separation.

TECHNOLOGY:

Making Things Happen

1. Reacting to media without intent

2. Reacting to media with intent

3. Interacting with media with intent

4. Controlling media with intent.

Finding Things Out

Using DVDs; using technology to access people; using remote media such as the internet.

Create, Review and Modify Work

Media capture processes, including: still images, moving images, sound, and text.

EXPRESSIVE ARTS AND DESIGN:

Art and Design

Colour, shape, pattern and texture… visual and tactile; natural and man made; colour matching; colour mixing; lines and tones; shape, form and space; images and artefacts.

Media, techniques and tools… drawing, painting, printing, photos, collage, sculpture. Working cleanly, tidying up, handling tools appropriately.

Music

Listening… enjoyment of music; different musical moods; choices and preferences; music from different times, places and cultures.

Performing… rhythm and percussion; playing simple tuned and untuned instruments; singing; improvisation.

Dance

Building up on and around, an initial stimulus.

Developing Self Expression

UNDERSTANDING THE WORLD:

Drawing on first hand and immediate experiences such as where children live, what they were like as babies and their relationships with familiar people.

Investigating the wider world including other languages, cultures and beliefs.

Broadening vocabulary through conversation, stories and non-fiction.

People and Places

Looking at the immediate environment and the nursery locality.

Visiting places of interest.

Meeting important members of society.

Using tools such as observation; mapping; field work; weather watch; directions; using photos; giving and following directions; environmental quality; asking questions.

SCIENCE:

Learning to: notice; respond to; describe; compare and contrast; categorise; question; interpret; and draw conclusions.

Life Processes and Living Things

Life processes… life cycles of humans, animals and plants.

Humans and other animals… all needing food and water to live; learning about ourselves, the 5 senses and our body parts; naming common animals; discovering the interdependence of plants and animals.

Green plants… identifying and naming the basic structure of plants and trees; life cycles; what plants need for survival.

Materials and Their Properties

Describing materials… the properties of texture, weight, appearance and transparency; naming common materials; the distinction between solids, liquids and gases.

Changing materials… learning about heating and cooling; dissolving; melting; freezing; evaporating.

Separating mixtures of materials… sieving; dissolving versus suspension; filtering.