Tag Archive for: Early Years Foundation Stage

Maths Concepts for Under-5s — & Why They're Important

Maths Concepts for Under-5s — & Why They're Important

Introducing under-5s to simple maths concepts early will benefit them hugely and lay the foundations for future learning.Once babies have transformed into toddlers, it’s never too early to introduce them to maths-based concepts and language. Indeed, introducing under-fives to such concepts in the earliest years will benefit them hugely as it lays the foundations for future learning. That’s one of the main reasons it is a part of the EYFS curriculum. Continuing this learning at home will also help them instinctively understand that mathematics is a normal and integral part of everyday life. As such, there is no need for it to be perceived as a daunting topic. With all that in mind, today’s guide explores why the early introduction of mathematics is so beneficial to under-fives and how parents and caregivers play a vital role in encouraging their mathematical curiosity, knowledge, and confidence.

The Benefits of Understanding Maths Concepts in the Early Years

As well as the obvious advantage of improving numeracy skills, learning mathematical language and concepts at an early age has several key benefits for under-fives.

Enhanced Vocabulary Development & Language Skills

Children exposed to rich mathematical language will naturally have stronger vocabularies. This, in turn, will facilitate enhanced communication skills, for example, through the mastering of such things as descriptive, comparative, and positional words.

Improved Cognitive Skills

Learning numeracy skills is like a subtle workout for the mind. Such activity is known to stimulate brain development and improve memory, attention, and critical thinking skills. Each of these benefits will allow children to make connections and solve problems more easily.

Stimulated Creativity & Imagination

Mathematics isn’t just about numbers; it also involves creativity. For example, children can explore patterns, shapes, and spatial relationships, each of which has maths at their heart. Indeed, maths is integral to design, art, music, dance, and many other creative areas that children can immerse themselves in.

“Studies show a direct correlation between early mathematical skills and later educational achievement.”

A Foundation for School Success

Familiarity with mathematical terms and concepts also helps to prepare children for school.Familiarity with mathematical terms and concepts also helps to prepare children for formal education, including in many areas other than pure mathematics. Understanding maths concepts from an early age will allow them to confidently engage in number-related exercises and discussions, greatly enhancing their school readiness across multiple topics. Such preparation will allow them to take maths-based challenges in their stride right from the moment they begin Reception Year in primary school. What’s even more striking is that studies show a direct correlation between early mathematical skills and later educational achievement.

What Kind of Maths Concepts Can Parents Teach Tots?

As you’ll see below, there are many different types of maths-related words and concepts that parents can help children grasp. As we said before, maths is all around us, so there are many opportunities to help little ones master mathematical concepts and language — even from an early age. Aside from learning the actual numbers, some examples include the following:

  • Counting fingers, toes, and objects like building blocks is an obvious way to help children master the most simple maths-related vocabulary.Counting is the most obvious example. Counting can be introduced and practised by your little one in many, many situations, from counting how many more mouthfuls of food a child should eat, to the number of Lego blocks in a tower they’re creating.
  • Size is another maths-based concept where, given some parental guidance, little ones can soon begin to understand whether something is tiny, medium-sized, big, gigantic, tall, short, thin, or wide.
  • Measurement is another maths-related concept for children to grasp, so encouraging them to learn when something is full, empty, long, heavy, light, etc., will stand them in good stead both linguistically and in terms of mathematics.
  • Similarly, comparatives will be useful for children to understand. It’s essential for them to grasp concepts and language like more, less, equal, different, the same, identical, and so on.
  • Maths concepts can be found by children in shapes, sizes, measurements, comparatives, positions, patterns, time and, of course, numbers.Shapes also have roots in maths, so children should get familiar with 3-sided triangular shapes, 4-sided shapes like squares and rectangles, and so on.
  • Positions are also founded in mathematics, so children should be encouraged to recognise when something is on, off, inside, outside, up, down, and suchlike.
  • Finally, time also has its roots in numbers and mathematics. Therefore, it will help children to not only tell the time eventually but also understand the meaning behind words like early, late, now, later, soon, etc.

How to Go About It

Parents, caregivers and relatives can help children under five learn about these mathematical concepts and the language that surrounds them. Games, books, and even songs, for example, often include facets of maths and maths language that adults can draw children’s attention to and get them involved in. Counting fingers, toes, and objects like building blocks is another obvious example and one which can be extended to include much of the maths-related vocabulary that we mentioned earlier (numbers, comparatives, positions, shapes, etc.). Mathematics language and concepts can be learned through everyday activities like games, reading books, cooking, playing with building blocks, helping with shopping, and so much more.Creative endeavours can also be vehicles through which supervising adults can highlight elements of mathematics that are built into designs and creations that children may generate. Patterns and shapes are obvious examples of that. Last but not least, parents can involve children in maths facets which are integral to everyday life, for instance, counting items when out shopping, or measuring when putting ingredients together for a meal. Children will love being more involved in such activities and will learn about maths in a fun, natural, and engaging way. Doing so will create the strongest foundations for their future learning.

We may follow up at a later date with some in-depth activity ideas that will help children learn more about maths and the language surrounding it, so watch this space!

Little Acorns: an Outstanding Nursery in Clayton-le-Woods, Chorley

Award-Winning Childcare in Central Lancashire

An outstanding childcare provider

Little Acorns Nursery, Clayton-le-Woods, Chorley

Little Acorns gives babies, toddlers and preschoolers the very best start in life at their Clayton-le-Woods nursery near Chorley. That’s backed up by being rated an Outstanding Provider by Ofsted and a prestigious National Nursery Award too. So, if you want the very best for your child, choose Little Acorns Day Nursery for their weekday childcare and we’ll ensure they absolutely thrive and are prepared for success.

Get in touch today to register your child for a nursery place, set a date for a guided tour of the setting, or ask any questions:

Little Acorns is an outstanding nursery and preschool located in Clayton-le-Woods, Chorley, near Clayton Brook, Clayton Green, Thorpe Green, Pippin Street, Buckshaw Village, Whittle-le-Woods, Farington, Bamber Bridge, Lostock Hall, Euxton, Leyland and Penwortham.

 

The ‘Progress Check at Two’ – Rough Guide

The ‘Progress Check at Two’ – Rough Guide

Every 2-year-old attending childcare settings in England is subject to a progress check at the age of 2.Every 2-year-old attending registered childcare settings in England is subject to what’s known as a ‘Progress Check at 2’. Today we explain what it entails, who is involved and how it benefits little ones. Here’s our rough guide to the Progress Check at 2:

What Exactly is the Progress Check at 2?

The ‘Progress Check at 2’ is, as the name suggests, a complete progress check for children who have reached the age of two. It should be completed before their 3rd birthday and appraises their progress in all the key areas of their learning and development. It’s actually a part of the continuous assessment that goes hand-in-hand with the Early Years Foundation Stage (EYFS). Amongst other things, the EYFS governs the learning and development curriculum that’s in place for children attending officially-registered childcare/early years education settings in England. It is appropriate to check that all is well in such areas, particularly at this critical age, and we’ll explain why later in this guide.

The ‘Progress Check at 2’ is Not the Same as the ‘2-Year Review’ — But They’re Linked

The ‘Progress Check at 2’ is not the same as the ‘2-Year Review’ — but they're ideally linked.The Progress Check at 2 should not be confused with the Healthy Child Programme’s 2-Year Review that 2-year-olds also undergo around the same age. While the ‘Progress Check at 2’ looks at the child’s learning and development progress and is the topic of today’s guide, the separate ‘2 Year Review’ is more about the child’s health and wellbeing and is undertaken by healthcare professionals like health visitors. They will look at things like overall health, immunisation uptake, physical and mental health and development, overall wellbeing and support levels from parents, carers or guardians.

Although the two reviews are different, there are definite areas of cross-over, so it makes sense for both reviews to align and feed into each other. It’s therefore useful for them both to be undertaken at a similar time, in tandem if possible. In this way, a 360 degree picture can be put together to give a complete, all-round, holistic view of the child at this milestone age. In so doing, any issues can be picked up early, so that suitable measures or interventions can be put in place to improve things for the particular child under review. For this reason, parents, guardians or carers of 2-year-olds are encouraged to allow the sharing of information*, pertaining to their child, between the various professionals involved in each of the two reviews.

Ofsted inspections will also check to ensure that Progress Checks at 2 are undertaken in an appropriate way at childcare settings. They also recognise the benefits of these progress checks aligning with the separate, more health-based, 2-Year Reviews.

The Significance of Age 2

The age of two is a significant one, hence both reviews taking place at this age. It’s a key age where the levels and progress of each child’s learning, speech, language, cognitive, physical, social and emotional development are becoming much more clear. Optimising each area as early as possible will pay long-term dividends for children, so it is a great moment to check that everything is heading in the right direction.

Areas of Focus in the Progress Check at 2

The 3 'prime' areas of the Early Years Foundation Stage (EYFS) curriculum are the core focus areas of the Progress Check at 2.The three ‘prime’ areas of the Early Years Foundation Stage (EYFS) curriculum are also the core focus areas of the Progress Check at 2. Hence, the checks will look to see how well the child is progressing primarily in their:

  • Communication and Language;
  • Physical Development;
  • Personal, Social and Emotional Development.

Having said that, the early years professionals who undertake the progress checks are at liberty to also report findings in other areas of the child’s learning and development should they deem it appropriate. For example, they may also include a summary of the child’s progress in the remaining 4 (‘specific’) areas of the EYFS curriculum. As anyone familiar with the EYFS will know, these are Literacy, Mathematics, Understanding the World and Expressive Arts & Design.

Who Undertakes the Progress Check at 2?

The Progress Check at 2 is a joint undertaking between the child’s early years/childcare provider, their parents, guardians or carers and, where appropriate, their health visitor too. Once complete, a written summary of the progress check will be provided to parents, or carers/guardians, as appropriate.

Identifying Support Areas Where Needed

The Progress Check at 2 is used to discover whether progress is at expected levels for the child's age and development.The core idea behind the Progress Check at 2 is to discover whether progress is at expected levels for the child’s age and development.

Using the findings of the progress check as a kind of benchmark for each individual child at that age, children can then be supported in any ways that will help optimise their progress going forwards. By sharing the findings with parents, any ongoing support that the child needs can also continue at home as well as at nursery, pre-school or other childcare setting that they attend.

Once identified, any strengths can be further enhanced and any areas of concern can be mitigated through extra help and support if needed. An example would be where an area of specific educational need or disability has been identified in the child. In such cases, the childcare provider’s Special Educational Needs Co-ordinator (SENCo) will become involved along with any other health professionals or specialists* if required. Together, they would put in place a support plan of measures that are most likely to help the child in any areas in which they are struggling. Such a plan will include both strategies and specific activities that will be designed to help the child, whether that’s at nursery, at home, or both.

Preparing Children for School

Through implementing the progress check and setting up support so early in their lives, children are more likely to overcome areas where they were struggling by the time they start school. This avoids them being held back at such a crucial milestone. Without such measures, they could otherwise have a bad start at school and this could lead to a detrimental domino effect in their education and development going forwards. As you can see, the Progress Check at 2 is therefore incredibly important — and a powerful tool to help little ones thrive.

Outstanding Childcare Services at an Outstanding Nursery in Clayton-le-Woods, Chorley

An outstanding childcare providerLittle Acorns Nursery, Clayton-le-Woods, Chorley

If you’d like to give your child the very best start in life, choose an award-winning nursery/pre-school and one that’s ranked as an outstanding nursery by Ofsted. Little Acorns is just such a nursery and even has its own Forest School. With all of this, it’s hard not to consider it the best childcare service in Clayton-le-Woods, Clayton Green, Clayton Brook, Chorley, or indeed Central Lancashire.  Register for a nursery place or contact us to arrange a guided visit. You and your little one can then see Little Acorns for yourselves. We’re on hand to answer any questions too. Please choose a button to take the first step:

* Except where it is required by law, information sharing with third parties only takes place when permission has been granted by the child’s parents, carers or legal guardians (as appropriate).

SUPER-CHARGE Your Child's Education Through Reading

In a major study, preschoolers gained a boost of the equivalent of 8 months when they regularly read with a parent or carer.Last year, we wrote a detailed post outlining why every parent should be involved in their child’s education. There’s one particular area, though, that merits its own stand-alone article and that’s reading with your child. Reading with children is incredibly important — and a powerful way to absolutely super-charge their education. Let’s take a look.

Studies show that reading with your under-five can boost their language skills by a staggering 20%.

A 40 year study of pre-school children found enormous positive benefits when children regularly read with a parent or carer. Preschoolers were seen to gain a boost, incredibly, of the equivalent of 8 months. That’s remarkable given that the average age in the study was just 3¼. Particular benefits were clear to see in several areas, including:

  • Understanding (‘receptive language’);
  • Use of vocal grammar and vocabulary (‘expressive language’);
  • In the understanding of word structure and ‘pre-reading’ skills.

Receptive language skills were seen to benefit the most and that’s important — after all, understanding and comprehension of words and meanings are keys to potentially huge growth in many other areas a child’s early years education. Indeed, lacking such abilities has also been shown to really hold children back in terms of later social and educational ability, with poorer outcomes when they’re older.

A Special Boost for Children from Lower Socio-Economic Backgrounds

Instilling a love of reading in children is like educational gold dust.Interestingly, under-five children who came from disadvantaged backgrounds were shown to benefit even more than those who didn’t. For this reason, reading with parents/carers has been proposed as a possible way to close the performance deficit often seen with children from such backgrounds. It may well represent a perfect solution to even up the playing field.

“Receptive language skills – the ability to understand information – are positively affected when pre-school youngsters read with someone who cares for them.”

Read With Children, Not Just To Them

That’s an important factor. Reading to children is all very well and will have benefits, for sure. However, reading with children takes the potential benefits to a whole new level and that’s why it’s the kind of approach we use at Little Acorns Nursery. Parents and carers should also involve their children in the reading. Getting them to interact with what’s being read will also make the reading process fun and interesting for them. For example, explaining what things mean, asking them questions about the story or topic and commenting on their answers. Sometimes get them to repeat words correctly and show them how those words and sounds are made up on the written page. Getting them really involved interactively will make reading both fun and educational. By doing so, you will show them how reading works and you will also be more likely to instil in them a love of reading as they grow older. That is like educational gold dust.

Instilling a love of reading in children is like educational gold dust.

More Benefits of Reading with Children

By getting children to interact with shared reading sessions, they are learning all the time and often in profound ways. That’s true not only in respect of the topics written in the reading material but also in relation to language, grammar, phonics, sentence structure, phrasing, letters, syllables, reading itself and basically the English language as a whole. All these skills are crucial to their current and future success. With good reading and comprehension skills, they’ll learn and excel in all other educational areas and also as individuals going forwards. The importance of all of that cannot be overstated.

Other benefits of regular shared reading sessions with adults include:

  • Children gain a deeper, more profound understanding of a much wider range of topics when they regularly read with a parent.Deeper bonds with parents/carers (after all, this is quality time spent together, one-to-one);
  • Greater imaginations and thereby enhanced creativity skills;
  • Improved social skills due to their improved language skills and knowledge;
  • A better understanding of the world;
  • Improvements to their self-expression skills, including around expression of their emotions;
  • Often even improved empathy skills because they’ll learn, through reading, how to look at things from multiple perspectives, including from those of others;
  • Overall, a deeper, more profound understanding of a much wider range of topics and facts.

Children, particularly in their early years, often take in and comprehend far more than we realise and far more than they can articulate at such a young age. Indeed, millions of new pathways are developed in their young brains with every activity that they undertake. Reading, in particular, teaches children so much, in deep, profound ways. All its benefits can only help children to thrive and optimise their potential to learn, become as well-educated as possible and be successful individuals as they grow older.

Reading is powerful.

Little Acorns Nursery — Outstanding Early Years Education for Under-Fives

An outstanding childcare provider in Clayton-le-Woods, Chorley, Central LancashireAt Little Acorns, we know the value of reading with children under our care and take every opportunity to do so. We make it fun and interactive in the knowledge that it will help give them a huge boost in their early years education. In so doing, they’ll become more school-ready by the time they leave us at the age of 5 and join reception year at school. Little Acorns Nursery, Clayton-le-Woods, Chorley, Central LancashireIt’ll also give them the tools to absolutely thrive and enjoy better outcomes in their school lives and beyond.

Little Acorns is an award-winning childcare provider with an outstanding Ofsted rating. As such, it represents the best nursery and pre-school in Clayton-le-Woods, Chorley and the Central Lancashire area. If you’d like your baby or child to go to the very best childcare setting available, please get in touch:

Arrange a Nursery Visit Send Us a Message Call: 01772 696 288
Our EYFS Nursery Curriculum

Our EYFS Nursery Curriculum

The curriculum at our Clayton-le-Woods nursery adheres to what’s known as the Early Years Foundation Stage (‘EYFS’) framework. This educational framework is specified by the UK Government and its implementation is overseen and appraised by Ofsted. It’s down to individual nurseries like Little Acorns to implement the framework and we strive to do so in the optimum way. This is all achieved in a stress-free, relaxed way, almost entirely through active play. This approach makes learning natural — and immense fun!

“Children learn by leading their own play, and by taking part in play which is guided by adults.” (Department for Education).

The EYFS curriculum covers all the critically important areas of learning and development for babies (from birth) up to children aged 5. As such, it’s a perfect fit for children at Little Acorns Nursery.

The 3 Prime Areas of the Curriculum

There are 7 key areas within the early years curriculum. These include 3 ‘prime’ areas which, in turn, interconnect and enhance the remaining four — each helping to improve the other.

  • Communication & Language is the first of the three prime areas of our EYFS-based curriculumCommunication & Language is the first of the three prime areas of our EYFS-based curriculum. Without good communication and language skills, all other areas of learning could suffer, so these are critically important skills for children to master in their early years. Staff at the nursery therefore encourage rich communications between staff and children — and from peer to peer — from the very first day they join the nursery. Language and communication skills grow naturally to children through engaging, fun activities like role-play, story-telling and question-and-answer games. High quality books and other rich reading materials are also employed by staff to read with children in an interactive way. Using these kind of approaches helps children to learn new vocabulary and grammar, to improve reading and comprehension and to almost effortlessly broaden their language and communication skills as they grow.
  • Physical Development is the second of the prime areas of the nursery’s EYFS-based curriculum. At this formative age, the young children are growing and developing rapidly, so their physical development pace is significant. That’s why nursery staff at Little Acorns will do everything they can to ensure optimal health, wellbeing, strength, Physical Development is the second of the prime areas of the nursery's EYFS-based curriculumcoordination and fitness among the children at every stage. This is all done incrementally through a physical development programme that’s custom-designed for each individual child. This tailored programme takes consideration of their natural abilities, preferences and, of course, any disabilities or limitations. As they grow, the programme of fun, physical activities will help every child to reach their own personal bests for traits like fitness, balance, coordination, hand-eye coordination, agility and spatial awareness. In turn these physical improvements will help with their general wellbeing and happiness. And, at all times, the children will have been having immense fun, making friends and improving social skills, self-confidence and more along the way.
  • Personal, Social & Emotional Development (‘PSED’) is the third of the three prime areas of our curriculum. The personal part of it aims to ensure that children can look after aspects of their lives themselves, independently managing personal needs like cleanliness, toilet training, healthy eating and so on. Personal, Social & Emotional Development (‘PSED’) is another prime area of our curriculumThe social and emotional aspects of it aim to help children fit in with adults and peers around them, support one another, themselves feel supported by others and together learn to manage emotions and behave in acceptable, appropriate ways. As they learn to do all of this, they will become more confident, feel rightly valued, more easily resolve any conflicts and form closer friendships with peers and create stronger bonds with staff. All of this will act as a social and emotional foundation to build everything else upon.

The 4 Additional ‘Specific Areas’ of the Curriculum

Running in parallel with the 3 prime areas, there are 4 additional areas of focus for nurseries like Little Acorns, which adhere to the excellent EYFS framework for their early years curriculum.

  • Literacy is key area of focus in our curriculumLiteracy is the first of the remaining four areas of focus. A curriculum would be sadly lacking if children didn’t end up literate at the end of study. Literacy is absolutely fundamental and will give each young child the very best start when they leave early years settings to start school. On the face of it, it’s all about reading and writing. However, getting these right will help with many other areas of learning. At Little Acorns, we encourage nursery children to take enjoyment from reading. After all, once they can read they will understand so much more about the world from non-fiction material and so much more about the possibilities of the imagination and creativity from fiction books. So, they have access to a wide, rich variety of reading materials. Grammar, spelling, punctuation, phonetics and overall comprehension of a huge variety of topics will all go hand-in-hand with active and regular reading. In a similar way, writing will benefit too, as the children learn to recognise the correct spelling, composition and sentence structure and so on. Exposure to our rich variety of books will feed their imaginations and help them to be more creative themselves. We also encourage our children to verbalise, for example by reading out loud to themselves and others in an interactive way. By so doing, speech, pronunciation and articulation also benefit, as does their confidence to speak up.
  • Mathematics is our fifth area of study within the core EYFS curriculum at Little Acorns NurseryMathematics is our fifth area of study within the core EYFS curriculum at Little Acorns Nursery. It’s another fundamental skill that children need to learn but, as with everything at Little Acorns, we make it fun. Through play and interactive sessions, children will learn the concepts behind mathematics, soon learning to distinguish things like odd and even numbers, number patterns and sequences, concepts like larger or smaller, wider or taller and more or less. Counting will first be mastered from one to ten, then in reverse, then extended to 20 or more. Concepts like volume, shape, measuring and space will also be included. So, by the time they leave our early years setting, they’ll have learnt the requisite maths skills and concepts that they’ll need in order to hit the ground running when they start school.
  • Understanding the World is our sixth key area of focus within the curriculum at Little Acorns Nursery in Clayton-le-Woods, Chorley. It’s a very broad but important area of study for the young children at the nursery and one that’ll stand them in good stead going forwards. Understanding the World is our sixth key area of focus within the nursery curriculumAfter all, there is so much around them and they need to understand it and to give everything they see context. With that in mind, we’ll help them to recognise, understand, describe and even sometimes draw what’s immediately around them. They will also learn about the technology they see and use around them. Our excellent Forest School also gives children ample opportunity to learn about the natural world and the flora and fauna nearby. The children will also learn about the more distant world through things like museum visits, local parks and visiting professionals from the emergency services and suchlike. They will also learn about other communities, both in the UK and abroad, including aspects like culture, beliefs and religions. Once again, having an excellent grounding, at such an early age, in the comprehension of the world will stand them in great stead going forwards.
  • Expressive Arts & Design is the final area of focus within our EYFS led curriculum at Little Acorns Nursery. It’s also one of the areas that children find most fun as it gives them the freedom to express themselves, be imaginative and creative, and even to get messy from time to time. Expressive Arts & Design is the seventh area of focus within our EYFS led curriculumA wide variety of media, equipment and tools are available to them at the nursery and activities encourage the children to get involved and to create. It’s not just art, though; the children can involve themselves in role-play activities, they can sing, dance, tell stories and perform. Their imaginations can run riot and be free as they can express themselves and their creativity in a rich variety of ways.

There will be some changes to the Early Years Foundation Stage guidelines starting in September 2021. In essence, the seven key areas remain the same but more emphasis will be put on early years language and vocabulary within those key areas. Full guidance can be downloaded here.

The Impact of the Curriculum for Children at Little Acorns Nursery

Little Acorns Nursery, Clayton-le-Woods, ChorleyThe EYFS led curriculum at Little Acorns nursery is in large part about helping them to be ‘school-ready’ by the time they reach the age of five. However, it also gives children the very best start in life generally. Every support is given to them to fulfil their own personal bests, reaching their optimum potential in every area of study, through personalised goal-setting, a ‘Key Person’ allocated to every child, continual test-free assessment and an important Progress Check between the ages of two and three. Getting it right in this way during their early, most formative years, is proven to vastly improve outcomes and life chances. So, it’s an incredibly powerful and important approach to their early years education. In a nutshell, it helps every child at Little Acorns Nursery to absolutely thrive.

A Nursery Place for your Child in Clayton-le-Woods, Chorley, Lancashire

If you are looking for a nursery or pre-school place for your baby or child in Clayton-le-Woods, or near Chorley in Lancashire, you really should consider Little Acorns Nursery. It is officially an ‘outstanding’ nursery according to Ofsted. We also have our own Forest School, so children can benefit hugely from everything nature and the outdoors has to offer. We were also the sole winner of best ‘Individual Nursery Award’ in the NMT Nursery Awards 2020 — so it would be extremely hard to find a better nursery or pre-school. If you’d like discuss a possible place for your baby or child at Little Acorns, we’ll be happy to help (N.B. spaces are limited, so please don’t delay). Select an appropriate button below to take the first step …

Arrange a Nursery Visit Send Us a Message Call: 01772 696 288