The home of the Fox Cubs!
Hello Everyone!!
Hello and welcome to our special page for Nursery, known as the 'Fox Cubs' class! The place where children have lots of fun learning through play!
In Nursery, Miss Harrison is the class teacher, Mrs Rowley, Mrs Tomlinson, Mrs Newton, Miss Teather and Miss Hall are the Early Years Staff who will be working with the children throughout the week.
We want your child to be happy and to enjoy learning so if you have any questions or concerns please come and see us!
Please don't hesitate to get in touch with any question no matter how big or small. Email me at foxcubs@coppice.derbyshire.sch.uk I know this year will be another amazing year in our Fox Cubs class with lots of learning and laughter happening!!
Meet the Fox Cubs Team
Miss K Harrison - Nursery Teacher/ EYFS co-ordinator
Mrs L Rowley - EYFS Practitioner
Mrs D Tomlinson - EYFS Practitioner
Mrs S Newton - EYFS Teaching Assistant
Miss K Teather - EYFS Teaching Assistant
Miss A Hall - EYFS Teaching Assistant
Miss S Kean - EYFS Teaching Assistant
Our topic this term is
Stomp, Chomp, BIG Roars! Here come the Dinosaurs!
Here are some ideas to start with and we will continue to add to them as we go through the half term! We base our learning on a book/theme each week linked to our topic. Within this we also follow the principles of 'planning in the moment' which means that the children guide our learning following their interests and so every day is full of surprises!!
Autumn One - Week 1
1, 2, 3 Do the Dinosaur!
What are the dinosaurs doing? What do the dinosaurs look like? How are they similar or different? Which numerals can we recognise? How could we sort the dinosaurs into groups? Who are my new friends in Nursery? What will I find in Nursery? What happens each day in Nursery?
Wow! Who can believe that we are at the start of a new academic year!! We cannot wait to welcome back children who are staying in Nursery for another year as well as our new Nursery children joining us! We will have a lot of fun!
During our first week we will be learning what different areas we have in the classroom and what resources and toys we have to play with in the classroom but also in the outside area! We will be learning the names of our new friends and start to find out more about them and what they like to do. We will begin to learn the different rules and expectations of Nursery. During the first term we will learn the routines of Nursery and become familiar with what we do each day in Nursery!
We will start our first topic of the year which is the one with the longest name - "Stomp, chomp, BIG ROARS! Here come the Dinosaurs!!" through the story "1, 2, 3 Do the Dinosaurs!" we will start to see different dinosaurs and learn about saying numbers in order from 1 to 3. We will also begin to put our own dance moves together so we can move like the dinosaurs in the story! What dance moves do you think a dinosaur should make?
Autumn One - Week 2
Dinosaurs Love Underpants!
Why do dinosaurs love underpants? How do dinosaurs move? What colour/pattern are on the pants? What happened to the cave men in the story? What is a skeleton? What are our classroom rules? How can we move up the behaviour ladder and what do the different pictures/stages mean? Who are my new friends in Nursery? What will I find in Nursery? What happens each day in Nursery?
This week we are going to be learning through one of our favourite authors, Claire Freedman! We have read other stories by this author in Nursery and cannot wait to read this one - so not only will we have a dinosaur theme this week we will also have an underpants theme and there will be pants in different areas of the classroom and the outside area as part of our learning.
So inside we will be washing the pants in the water world and design our own pants using 2D shapes as we print with them in the Calculation corner. Who could make a repeating pattern using 2D shapes? In the outside area we will be describing where we can find the pants using our positional language vocabulary!
We will begin to explore different dinosaur skeletons and try and match the skeletons to the various dinosaurs. We will use dinosaur bones in The Beach area as well as art straws in the Creation Station to create our own dinosaurs. I wonder which dinosaurs we will make! Whilst exploring dinosaurs we will begin to explore how we have bones in our bodies just like the dinosaurs and will begin to name the different features on a dinosaur and see how they are similar or different to us as humans!
Autumn One - Week 3
How to look after your Dinosaur!
What is the egg like? Where has the egg come from? How do you look after a dinosaur? How could we sort the dinosaurs by colour? What does a dinosaur like to do? What does the dinosaur like to eat for his meals? How should you treat each other?
This week we will be finding out how to look after a dinosaur and compare this to how to look after a baby in our own lives! We will read the story "How to look after your Dinosaur" and find out how the dinosaur is born from an egg! We will use this information to look at which other animals are born from eggs. In the Water World we will be exploring eggs and matching halves up to make whole eggs. We will investigate which dinosaurs would fit inside the eggs because they are small enough and which dinosaurs are too big!
We will find out about what you need to do to look after the dinosaur such as feed it, give it a drink, take it for a walk, put it to bed and find out how this is similar to looking after a human baby! We will look at photographs of ourselves as babies and see how we have grown from a baby to a 3 or 4 year old! We will share what we could not do as a baby but what we can do now! As a challenge we will begin to look at how we will grow into older children and then an adult!
As we explore how to look after a dinosaur we will explore what they eat and put together a perfect meal for them. What do you think that could be? We will then explore what our perfect meal would be!
Autumn One - Week 4
Harry and his Bucketful of Dinosaurs!
What has Harry got in his bucket? What can we collect in our bucket? How could we make a new bucket for Harry? What would we put on a missing poster to ask everyone if they have seen the dinosaurs?
This week we will be exploring the dinosaurs in Harry's bucket and then think about what we would collect in our own buckets. Will it be dinosaurs or something else? To begin with we will have a bucket full of dinosaurs and we will explore different ways to sort them - this could be by type of dinosaur, the colour of the dinosaur or the size of the dinosaurs! We cannot wait to see how the children will decide to sort the dinosaurs!
In the story, Harry loses his dinosaurs from his bucket and we will discuss how Harry is feeling when he realises his dinosaurs are missing. In the Message Centre we will be making posters to put around the classroom to ask if anyone has seen the missing dinosaurs from Harry's bucket!
We will go on hunts around the classroom and in the outside area to see what we could collect in our own buckets! Will it be dinosaurs just like Harry or will it be something else like cars, leaves, dolls or sea shells! It will be a great surprise! After we have collected different items we will mark make our ideas using a range of media and materials!
Autumn One - Week 5
Dig, Dig Dinosaur!
What is an expedition? What is a fossil? Which dinosaurs do we know now? How are dinosaurs similar or different? What features do dinosaurs have? What size words do we know? What do we use a brush or a trowel for? How do we use a map? Which dinosaur has tiny arms? Which dinosaur has a huge tail?
This week is the last week of our dinosaur topic! We will be finding out about how people today are still interested in dinosaurs and do lots of research about them. We will become palaeontologists and explore different dinosaurs bones and fossils. In the Funky Fingers area we will have sand and bones/fossils and brushes for the children to use to carefully brush the sand off them. What have they found? Which dinosaur could they belong to?
We will use all the information that we have learnt about dinosaurs over the term to create our own information book about dinosaurs. We will use a range of vocabulary to describe how the dinosaurs look and then mark make our ideas using a range of patterns and squiggles! We will play a game using images of the dinosaurs to play guess who using the different vocabulary related to type of dinosaurs, features of dinosaurs and size of dinosaurs!
We will begin to look at what maps are and how these are used by palaeontologists in the book "Dig, Dig Dinosaur" to show where the dinosaur fossils have been found. We will then have a go at using our own map of our outside area to locate different dinosaur fossils! As a challenge the children will then be able to make their own maps!
Autumn One - Week 6
The Little Red Hen
Who is the Little Red Hen? What did she do? Who are the other farm animals in the story? What did the animals do wrong? What was the Little Red Hen making? What ingredients do we need to make bread? How do we make bread? What happens at Harvest time? What do farmers do?
This week we will be learning how to retell a story using 'Talk for writing'. Miss Harrison really enjoys the story of 'The Little Red Hen'! We will learn the story by reciting the story many times using the story map and special actions. We will then learn the repetitive phrases such as "who will help me..." and "not I said the .....".
We will explore the different animal characters from the story and find out more about these animals which are typically found on a farm. We will then find out what other animals you would find on a farm. The children will learn about what the farm animals look like, what they eat and where about they would live - is it in a barn, in a field or even in a pond! Have you ever been to a farm? What animals did you see! We are hoping to go to Chatsworth Farm in the summer term so we might even see some of these farm animals!
We will also be exploring what Harvest means at this time of the year! We will be looking at what a farmer does and all the hard work that they do to ensure that we have food to eat! We will explore how they use a tractor in the fields to get the crops in!
Autumn One - Week 7
Autumn time!
What happens at Autumn time? What will we see in our outside area at Autumn on our walk? What colours are the leaves? What sounds can we make with the leaves?
Can you believe that we have made it to the last week of the term! This week we will be learning about the season of Autumn and we will find out what happens at this time of the year! At the beginning of the week we will go for a walk around our school ground to look for signs of Autumn! Hopefully there will be lots of crunchy leaves to walk on and to throw into the air for a leaf shower! We will look for different colours of Autumn and find out how some of the trees lose their leaves. We will also look for pine cones and conkers. We will set up an Autumn interest table and would love it for any Autumn items you find on an Autumn walk out of school!
Topic Web
To see the full topic web for this half term please click on the link below
Nursery Summer Two topic plan overview - Splish, Splash, Splosh!
Knowledge Organiser
To see the Knowledge Organiser for this half term please click on the link below
Nursery Summer Two knowledge organiser - Splish, Splash, Splosh!
Nursery Dates
Here are the dates we have so far for this half term. We will continue to add to them as the half term progresses. Also remember to check your weekly newsletter!
Friday 22nd May – Last day of term
Monday 1st June – Nursery/school reopens!
Wednesday 10th June – Fun Run in the afternoon
Thursday 11th June – Stay and play for new Reception intake and their families at 2.00pm
Monday 15th June – INSET day – Nursery and school closed
Wednesday 17th June - New Reception intake to visit in the afternoon
Wednesday 17th June – Induction evening for new Reception intake at 5.00pm
Wednesday 24th June – EYFS at Gulliver’s Valley all day
Thursday 25th June – SEND Coffee Morning in the hall
Thursday 25th June — New Reception cohort to visit 1pm — 3pm
Tuesday 30th June - Fox Cubs Sports Morning at 9.30am
Thursday 2nd July — Whole school transition day
Friday 10th July — Fox Cubs doing the Barnardo’s Toddle to Shipley Park
Monday 13th July — Summer Fair
Friday 17th July — Wednesday 22nd July —Wellbeing week
Wednesday 22nd July — Last day of term
The Early Years Foundation Stage
In Nursery we follow the Early Years Foundation Stage which is organised into seven areas of learning. These seven areas are as follows:
PSED - Personal, social, emotional development (developing self confidence and self awareness, making relationships as well as managing behaviour and feelings).
CL - Communication and Language (speaking, listening and understanding)
PD - Physical development (moving and handling as well as health and self care)
LIT - Literacy (reading and writing)
MATHS - Mathematics (numbers, shape, space and measures)
UW - Understanding the World (people and communities, the world and technology)
EAD - Expressive Arts and Design (exploring and using media and materials as well as being imaginative!)
Our School Values
The whole school will focus on the twelve values during the year whereas in Nursery we will focus on four of these values on a regular basis through the year - co-operation, achieving, respectful and enthusiastic. Our first value this term will be Co-operation. We will cover this in all aspects of Nursery and we will be expecting this to be demonstrated to all members of our Coppice community, it is important that even when we move onto a new value, the old one isn’t lost.
Each week on our Nursery newsletter, Miss Harrison will share which value we are working on in Nursery and what you can work on at home. We cannot wait for you to share how your child has demonstrated the values through proud clouds and on Tapestry! We look forward to seeing our children bright and early ready to embrace the new weekly challenges!
Nursery newsletters
We have a weekly newsletter which will keep everyone informed about what we are doing and what we will be learning about in the future. The newsletter will come home every Friday but we will also put a copy here on our web page.
Parent Partnership
We believe in having a good partnership with parents and carers. Together we can help your child to become a happy and successful learner!
Topic Challenges
Challenges for your child to work on with you during the topic. The children will receive a certificate for completing the challenges if they earn 6 or more points:
1 point— Find a book about pirates or the seaside and share it with your friends at Nursery.
2 points — Making a picture or model related to pirates/seaside.
3 points—Creating a postcard with a picture and mark make a message!
4 points—Make a piece of treasure!
Learning journeys
During the last few years we have developed the way that we collect observations about what your child can do during their time in Nursery. Your child will have a gorgeous book called 'My Little Book of Adventures' where we put in evidence of what your child has been learning! As part of this we will be using an app called 'Tapestry' on our iPads to take photographs of your child completing different activities and make notes about what they are doing. One of the best features of this is that we can email you all the evidence we collect! You can also let us know of any 'wow' moments you witness at home. We will be sending home an information letter and permission form for this during the beginning of September!
We also love to hear what your child has achieved at home and so we ask you fill in proud clouds and share them with us!
Proud cloud letter - September 2025
Have a question or concern?
We understand that there are times when you might have a question or concern! We have an open door policy in our school and you are always welcome to come and speak to any member of staff. Alternatively you can ring school on 01773 712840 or email me at kharrison4@ coppice.derbyshire.sch.uk and we will do all we can to help.
Our Nursery
Here is our latest Nursery booklet which contains all the information about our Nursery
Updated version coming soon!
School readiness
Over the year we will be preparing your child for their start in Reception. Is your child ready to start Reception? The following are some of the skills that your child is expected to be able to do as they begin their journey into Reception but remember we have a whole year to prepare them.
Is your child ready for Reception?
Stay and Play sessions
Each term we have a stay and play session so parents, carers and other family member can join us in Nursery to see what we do. The children love showing everyone their classroom and the type of activities we do every day in Nursery. We always end with an activity for both children and adults. This could be a story, a squiggle, a dough disco or a dance! Who knows!! We like to keep it a surprise!!
Our next Stay and play session is Friday 10th July - we are going on a Toddle to Shipley Park!!
Helping at home!
There are lots of things you can do to help your child. Below are some ideas of what you can do which are quick and easy and will help your child consolidate skills we have taught in school. If you would like any help or support please ask any member of EYFS staff. We would be more than happy to help with ideas!
Letters and Sounds
Level 1 Aspect 1 (Environmental Sounds) booklet - Ideas for parents to use at home.
Level 1 Aspect 2 (Instrumental Sounds) booklet - Ideas for parents to use at home.
Level 1 Aspect 3 (Body percussion) booklet - Ideas for parents to use at home.
Reading
Spend time sharing lots of books together. Practise holding the books the correct way round and turning the pages in order. Encourage your child to talk about the pictures and to support them in making their own stories using the pictures.
Writing
At this stage the children will be making lots of marks using a range of writing tools such as felt tips, pens and paint. Encourage your child to talk about what their marks mean. As your child becomes more confident in holding writing tools support them in writing their names on invitations and cards.
Nursery Always Skills for Writing
Nursery Literacy non-negotiables
Mathematics
Play board games such as 'snakes and ladders' to encourage your child to count spaces to move their counters forwards or backward. When you are walking as the children to count how many foot steps from one place to another and ask the children to identify different numbers they see on doors or buses.
By the end of nursery your child is expected to be able to recite numbers to 5, recognise numerals 1 to 3, count 3 to 4 objects and make marks to represent their counting.
Nursery Always Skills for Mathematics
Nursery Numeracy non-negotiables
Life skills
Encourage your child to put on and fasten their own coat, to put on their own shoes and to get dressed and undress by themselves. Remind them to wash their hands after going to the toilet and before eating a meal. When eating encourage your child to use a knife and fork correctly.
What does the topic “People who help us” mean?