Persist for extended periods of time at an activity of their choosing.
Continue to be interested, excited and motivated to learn.
Be confident to try new activities, initiate ideas and speak in a familiar group.
Maintain attention, concentrate, and sit quietly when appropriate.
The activities which absorb and interest individual children.
Reactions to new activities and experiences, understanding that for some children such experiences can be both exciting and worrying.
Children's attentiveness to others, such as at group time, when a child is telling the others about something they have done at home, for example, helping to bath the baby.
Give children opportunities to complete activities to their satisfaction.
Encourage children to explore and talk about what they are learning, valuing their ideas and ways of doing things.
Explain why it is important to pay attention when others are speaking. Give children opportunities both to speak and to listen, ensuring that the needs of children learning English as an additional language are met, so that they can participate fully.
Give time for children to pursue their learning without interruption, and to return to activities.
Provide experiences and activities that are challenging but achievable.
Plan regular short periods when individuals listen to others, such as singing a short song, sharing an experience or describing something they have seen or done.
Putting the blocks away - In a nursery school, a small group of children work independently, together, and with the support of the practitioner to tidy away the resources.
[transcript]
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Making music - In a reception class, the practitioner and a group of children work out different rhythms using percussion instruments. [transcript]
You can watch the video, via modem or slow / fast / superfast broadband connections. If you are behind a network firewall, why not click here to view a flash file of the video. You do need to have the flash plugin.
Self-confidence and Self-esteem
Express needs and feelings in appropriate ways.
Have an awareness and pride in self as having own identity and abilities.
Respond to significant experiences, showing a range of feelings when appropriate.
Have a developing awareness of their own needs, views and feelings, and be sensitive to the needs, views and feelings of others.
Have a developing respect for their own cultures and beliefs and those of other people.
Is confident in seeking comfort, reassurance and help from special people.
Approaches adults with a degree of social skill.
Can express wishes and needs clearly and understands when not immediately met.
Is able to negotiate, argue point of view and accept others' perspectives.
Shows compliance with social expectations.
Often actively seeks sharing and fairness.
Has strong sense of fun and humour; is able to engage others in pleasurable interaction.
Positively values playing with other children and joins in shared play.
Approaches new challenges with assurance in own ability.
Is aware of own strengths and weaknesses.
Can describe self in positive terms and talk about abilities.
Welcomes and values praise for achievements.
Enjoys talking about past experiences, the present and future plans.
Identifies with own immediate family, relations and family friends.
Enjoys taking part in family routines and chores.
Takes pride in own appearance.
Practices good self-care, often without prompting.
The different ways children find to express their feelings, such as, "We are going to the tree house because the scary monsters are after us".
Children's pleasure in who they are and what they can do.
How children show their own feelings and are sensitive to the needs, views and feelings of others.
Children's awareness and appreciation of their own cultures and beliefs and those of other people.
Invite people from a range of cultural backgrounds to talk about aspects of their lives or the things they do in their work, such as a volunteer who helps people become familiar with the local area.
Support children's growing ability to express a wide range of feelings orally, and talk about their own experiences.
Encourage children to share their feelings and talk about why they respond to experiences in particular ways.
Explain carefully why some children may need extra help or support for some things, or why some children feel upset by a particular thing. This helps children to understand that when it is required their individual needs will be met.
Help children and parents to see the ways in which their cultures and beliefs are similar, encouraging them to contribute to everyone's knowledge and understanding by sharing and discussing practices, resources, celebrations and experiences.
Make a display with the children, showing all the people who make up the 'community' of the setting.
Plan circle times when children can have an opportunity to talk about their feelings and support them by providing props, such as a sad puppet, that can be used to show how they feel.
Keep a diary with children, and refer to it from time to time to help them recall when they were happy, when they were excited, or when they felt lonely.
Collect information that helps children to understand why people do things differently from each other, and encourage children to talk about these differences.
Share stories that reflect the diversity of children's experiences.
Making Relationships
Value and contribute to own well-being and self-control.
Form good relationships with adults and peers.
Work as part of a group or class, taking turns and sharing fairly, understanding that there needs to be agreed values and codes of behaviour for groups of people, including adults and children, to work together harmoniously.
Understands that own actions affect other people, for example, becomes upset or tries to comfort another child when they realise they have upset them.
Monitors other children's behaviour with a sense of right and wrong.
Generally more cooperative and amenable to rules and routines, has fewer tantrums.
Knows cannot always have what they want when they want it.
Is conscious of and curious about sex differences.
Gets satisfaction from doing things with other children and adults.
Joins in imaginative play, for example, in the home corner.
More confident in new social situations, for example, playgroup, but may be anxious at first.
Children's acceptance that they may need to wait for something, or to share things.
Children's relationships with other children and with adults.
Examples of children cooperating with other children or with an adult.
How children show you they understand that they cannot always have what they want, when they want it.
How children react to new social situations.
Children's understanding that their own actions affect other people.
Support children in linking openly and confidently with others, for example, to seek help or check information.
Ensure that children and adults make opportunities to listen to each other and explain their actions.
Be aware of and respond to particular needs of children who are learning English as an additional language.
Explaining the rules - In a reception class, a practitioner supports a child to discuss what has upset her and help her understand the need for boundaries. [transcript]
You can watch the video via modem or slow / fast / superfast broadband connections. If you are behind a network firewall, why not click here to view a flash file of the video. You do need to have the flash plugin.
Meeting individual needs - In the nursery class, the practitioner supports an individual child in his home language while exploring a till and money. [transcript]
You can watch the video via modem or slow / fast / superfast broadband connections. If you are behind a network firewall, why not click here to view a flash file of the video. You do need to have the flash plugin.
Provide activities that involve turn-taking and sharing.
Involve children in agreeing codes of behaviour and taking responsibility for implementing them.
Behaviour and Self-control
Show confidence and the ability to stand up for own rights.
Have an awareness of the boundaries set, and of behavioural expectations in the setting.
Understand what is right, what is wrong, and why.
Consider the consequences of their words and actions for themselves and others.
Children's understanding of boundaries and behavioural expectations.
Children's increasing understanding of acceptable behaviour for themselves and others.
Children's ideas and explanations about what is right and wrong.
Children's awareness of the consequences of their words and actions.
Be alert to injustices and let children see that they are addressed and resolved.
Ensure that children have opportunities to identify and discuss boundaries, so that they understand why they are there and what they are intended to achieve.
Help children's understanding of what is right and wrong by explaining why it is wrong to hurt somebody, or why it is acceptable to take a second piece of fruit after everybody else has had some.
Involve children in identifying issues and finding solutions.
Make time to listen to children respectfully when they raise injustices, and involve them in finding a 'best fit' solution.
Provide books with stories about characters that follow or break rules, and the effects of their behaviour on others.
Affirm and praise positive behaviour, explaining that it makes children and adults feel happier.
Encourage children to think about issues from the viewpoint of others.
Explaining the rules - In a reception class, a practitioner supports a child to discuss what has upset her and help her understand the need for boundaries. [transcript]
You can watch the video via modem or slow / fast / superfast broadband connections. If you are behind a network firewall, why not click here to view a flash file of the video. You do need to have the flash plugin.
Self-care
Operate independently within the environment and show confidence in linking up with others for support and guidance.
Appreciate the need for hygiene.
Dress and undress independently and manage their own personal hygiene.
Select and use activities and resources independently.
How children set about a chosen activity or task, and the success they achieve.
Children's recognition and management of their own needs, for example, that they need to put on a waterproof coat to go out in the rain.
Give children opportunities to be responsible for setting up, and clearing away, some activities.
Praise children's efforts to manage their personal needs, and to use and return resources appropriately.
Provide opportunities for self-chosen activities, and for choices within adult-initiated activities.
Sense of Community
Have an awareness of, and an interest in, cultural and religious differences.
Have a positive self-image, and show that they are comfortable with themselves.
Enjoy joining in with family customs and routines.
Understand that people have different needs, views, cultures and beliefs, that need to be treated with respect.
Understand that they can expect others to treat their needs, views, cultures and beliefs with respect.
Children's interest in and respect for different ways of life.
Children's recognition and appreciation of their place in the world and extended family, and among friends and neighbours.
Strengthen the positive impressions children have of their own cultures and faiths, and those of others, by sharing and celebrating a range of practices and special events.
Encourage children to talk with each other about similarities and differences in their experiences, and the reasons for these, supported by props for telling stories, reflecting experiences of children who are both like them and different from them.
Develop strategies to combat negative bias and, where necessary, support children and adults to unlearn discriminatory attitudes.
Give children opportunities to be curious, enthusiastic, engaged and tranquil, so developing a sense of inner-self and peace.
Ensure that all children are given support to participate in discussions and to be listened to.
Provide additional resources including interpreter support for children learning English as an additional language.
Communication, Language and Literacy
Development matters
Look, listen and note
Effective practice
Planning and resourcing
Language for Communication
Have confidence to speak to others about their own wants and interests.
Use talk to gain attention and sometimes use action rather than talk to demonstrate or explain to others.
Initiate conversation, attend to and take account of what others say.
Extend vocabulary, especially by grouping and naming.
Use vocabulary and forms of speech that are increasingly influenced by their experience of books.
Link statements and stick to a main theme or intention.
Consistently develop a simple story, explanation or line of questioning.
Use language for an increasing range of purposes.
Use simple grammatical structures.
Interact with others, negotiating plans and activities and taking turns in conversation.
Enjoy listening to and using spoken and written language, and readily turn to it in their play and learning.
Sustain attentive listening, responding to what they have heard with relevant comments, questions or actions.
Listen with enjoyment, and respond to stories, songs and other music, rhymes and poems and make up their own stories, songs, rhymes and poems.
Extend their vocabulary, exploring the meanings and sounds of new words.
Speak clearly and audibly with confidence and control and show awareness of the listener.
Children's readiness to engage in conversation.
Children's awareness of conventions, such as taking turns to talk.
How children link statements to develop stories and explanations.
The purposes for which children use talk, for example, to gain attention or to resolve disagreements.
How children concentrate on what others say and their responses to what they have heard.
Rhymes and songs children know by heart.
Children's made-up songs.
Children's growing vocabulary.
The occasions when children speak clearly and confidently and show awareness of the listener.
Encourage conversation with others and demonstrate appropriate conventions: turn-taking, waiting until someone else has finished, listening to others and using expressions such as "please", "thank you" and "can I...?". At the same time, respond sensitively to social conventions used at home.
Show children how to use language for negotiating, by saying "May I...?", "Would it be all right...?", "I think that..." and "Will you...?" in your interactions with them.
Model language appropriate for different audiences, for example, a visitor.
Encourage children to predict possible endings to stories and events.
Encourage children to experiment with words and sounds, for example, in nonsense rhymes.
Encourage children to sort, group and sequence events in their play, using words such as: first, last, next, before, after, all, most, some, each, every.
Encourage language play, for example, through stories such as 'Goldilocks and the Three Bears' and action songs that require intonation.
Value children's contributions and use them to inform and shape the direction of discussions.
Give time for children to initiate discussions from shared experiences and have conversations with each other.
Give thinking time for children to decide what they want to say and how they will say it.
Set up collaborative tasks, for example, construction, food activities or story-making through role-play. Help children to talk about and plan how they will begin, what parts each will play and what materials they will need.
Provide opportunities for talking for a wide range of purposes, for example, to present ideas to others as descriptions, explanations, instructions or justifications, and to discuss and plan individual or shared activities.
Foster children's enjoyment of spoken and written language by providing interesting and stimulating play opportunities.
Provide word banks and writing resources for both indoor and outdoor play.
Resource role-play areas with listening and writing equipment and provide easy access to word banks.
Provide opportunities for children to participate in meaningful speaking and listening activities. For example, taking models that they have made to show children in another class and explaining how they were made.
Writing a letter - In a nursery class, children explore writing materials, commenting on the marks they have made. [transcript]
You can watch the video via modem or slow / fast / superfast broadband connections. If you are behind a network firewall, why not click here to view a flash file of the video. You do need to have the flash plugin.
Language for Thinking
Begin to use talk instead of action to rehearse, reorder and reflect on past experience, linking significant events from own experience and from stories, paying attention to how events lead into one another.
Begin to make patterns in their experience through linking cause and effect, sequencing, ordering and grouping.
Begin to use talk to pretend imaginary situations.
Use language to imagine and recreate roles and experiences.
Use talk to organise, sequence and clarify thinking, ideas, feelings and events.
How children use talk to reflect upon, clarify, sequence and think about present and past experiences, ideas and feelings.
How children link one thing to another to explain and anticipate things. For example, "We won't play out today because it's too windy... you might get blown away".
Ways in which children use language in their pretend and imaginary play.
For children speaking languages other than English, note which language is dominant, as well as their use of gesture and intonation to convey meaning.
Ask children to think in advance about how they will accomplish a task. Talk through and sequence the stages together.
Use stories from books to focus children's attention on predictions and explanations, for example, "Why did the boat tip over?".
Help children to identify patterns, for example, what generally happens to 'good' and 'wicked' characters at the end of stories; to draw conclusions, "The sky has gone dark. It must be going to rain"; to explain effect, "It sank because it was too heavy"; to predict, "It might not grow in there if it is too dark" and to speculate, "What if the bridge falls down?".
Take an interest in what and how children think and not just what they know.
Set up displays that remind children of what they have experienced, using objects, artefacts, photographs and books.
Provide for, initiate and join in imaginative play and role-play, encouraging children to talk about what is happening and to act out the scenarios in character.
Linking Sounds and Letters
Continue a rhyming string.
Hear and say the initial sound in words and know which letters represent some of the sounds.
Hear and say sounds in words in the order in which they occur.
Link sounds to letters, naming and sounding the letters of the alphabet.
Use their phonic knowledge to write simple regular words and make phonetically plausible attempts at more complex words.
Can write a few letters when named and make a good attempt at writing own name.
Can recognise several letters.
Makes attempts at reading familiar words in picture books.
Produces more than half of the consonant sounds accurately.
Produces some consonant blends (for example, 'tr' in tree, 'bl' in blue).
Produces almost all vowel sounds accurately.
Starting to mark two and three syllables in words.
Children's alternative versions of favourite rhymes that draw upon their phonic knowledge.
Children's knowledge of initial sounds at the beginning of words, short vowel sounds within words and endings of words. For example, Ranjit notices the letters in his name whenever he sees them, such as 'j' at the beginning of jam.
How children link sounds to letters and begin to use this knowledge to write words, for example, "Pz cn I hv a d" (Please can I have a drink).
Children's confidence in blending and segmenting and in using grapheme-phoneme knowledge to read and spell regular consonant-vowel-consonant (CVC) words, including consonant digraphs and long vowels.
The ways in which children use their phonic knowledge and the number of grapheme-phoneme correspondences used for reading and writing in a variety of contexts.
How children read simple words by sounding out and blending the phonemes all through the word from left to right.
Talk to children about the letters that represent the sounds they hear at the beginning of their own names and other familiar words. Incorporate these in games.
Demonstrate writing so that children can see spelling in action. Encourage them to apply their own grapheme-phoneme knowledge to what they read and write.
When children are ready (usually by the age of five), provide systematic regular phonics sessions. These should be multi-sensory in order to capture their interests, sustain motivation and reinforce learning.
Ensure that role-play areas encourage writing of signs with a real purpose, for example, a pet shop.
Plan fun activities and games that help children create rhyming strings of real and imaginary words, for example, Maddie, daddy, baddie, laddie.
When practitioners judge that children are ready to begin a programme of systematic phonic work they should refer to the guidance on the EYFS CD-ROM, which can be found in areas of Learning and Development: Communication, Language and Literacy: Early Reading.
This will support practitioners working in the EYFS and beyond to start teaching the phonic knowledge and skills children need to be able to recognise words and read them with fluency by the end of KS1. Practitioners need to make principled professional judgements as to when individual children are ready to start such work. For most children this will be by the age of five.
Reading
Enjoy an increasing range of books.
Know that information can be retrieved from books and computers.
Explore and experiment with sounds, words and texts.
Retell narratives in the correct sequence, drawing on language patterns of stories.
Read a range of familiar and common words and simple sentences independently.
Know that print carries meaning and, in English, is read from left to right and top to bottom.
Show an understanding of the elements of stories, such as main character, sequence of events and openings, and how information can be found in non-fiction texts to answer questions about where, who, why and how.
Children's book choices.
Children's understanding about how information is kept in different places and can be retrieved.
Children's understanding of the elements of stories, for example, Mehmet refers to the 'beginning' and 'end' of a story. He says, "I don't like that ending. I think he should've run away and been happy ever after".
How children use non-fiction books.
The favourite books, songs and rhymes children turn to, to be re-read and enjoyed.
The phonic skills children use in decoding text.
The strategies that children use to read.
The words that children recognise, such as their name and signs such as 'open'.
The confidence with which children use their developing phonic knowledge.
Create imaginary words to describe, for example, monsters or other strong characters in stories and poems.
Discuss and model ways of finding out information from non-fiction texts.
Explain to parents the importance of reading to children, ask about favourite books, and offer book loans.
Help children to identify the main events in a story and to enact stories, as the basis for further imaginative play.
Make story boxes with the children. Practitioners should maximise the opportunities that these reading activities present to reinforce and apply children's developing phonic knowledge and skills, particularly once they have started a programme of systematic phonic work which will enable them to recognise words and read them for meaning. For example, demonstrate using phonics as the prime approach to decode words while children can see the text, for example, using big books.
Encourage children to recall words they see frequently, such as 'welcome', their own and friends' names, 'open' and 'bus stop'.
Play word bingo to develop children's grapheme correspondence, so that they can rapidly decode words.
When practitioners judge that children are ready to begin a programme of systematic phonic work they should refer to the guidance on the EYFS CD-ROM which can be found in areas of Learning and Development: Communication, Language and Literacy: Early Reading. This will support practitioners working in the EYFS and beyond to start teaching the phonic knowledge and skills children need to be able to recognise words and read them with fluency by the end of KS1. Practitioners need to make principled professional judgements as to when individual children are ready to start such work. For most children this will be by the age of five.
Encourage children to add to their first-hand experience of the world through the use of books, other texts and information, and information and communication technology (ICT).
Provide story boards and props which encourage children to talk about the sequence of events and characters in a story.
Provide story sacks and boxes for use in the setting and at home.
Provide varied texts and encourage children to use their phonics knowledge to recognise words.
Provide some simple texts which children can decode to give them confidence and to practise their developing skills.
Provide picture books, books with flaps or hidden words, books with accompanying CDs or tapes, and story sacks.
Writing
Begin to break the flow of speech into words.
Use writing as a means of recording and communicating.
Use their phonic knowledge to write simple regular words and make phonetically plausible attempts at more complex words.
Attempt writing for different purposes, using features of different forms such as lists, stories and instructions.
Write their own names and other things such as labels and captions, and begin to form simple sentences, sometimes using punctuation.
How children use writing to record things or to communicate, for example, Marcus writes "Marcus, fz (Faraz) and tm (Tommy)" on a drawing of himself and his two friends playing together.
Instances of writing for different purposes such as labelling the contents on the outside of a box.
How children make use of phonic knowledge as they attempt to write words and simple sentences, for example, "I went to see fiyuwercs and hat to pc by the hut" (I went to see fireworks and had to park by the hut).
Act as a scribe for children. After they say a sentence, repeat the first part of it, say each word as you write, and include some punctuation.
Encourage children to use their ability to hear the sounds at the beginning of words and then in the order in which they occur through words in their writing.
Play games that encourage children to link sounds to letters and then write the letters and words.
Encourage children to re-read their writing as they write.
Provide materials and opportunities for children to use writing in their play, and create purposes for independent and group writing.
Plan occasions where you can involve children in organising writing, for example, putting recipe instructions in the right order.
Provide word banks and other resources for segmenting and blending to support children to use their phonic knowledge.
Handwriting
Begin to use anticlockwise movement and retrace vertical lines.
Begin to form recognisable letters.
Use a pencil and hold it effectively to form recognisable letters, most of which are correctly formed.
Children's dexterity in using a range of tools in their play and writing.
Children's formation of recognisable letters.
Teach children to form letters correctly, for example, when they label their paintings.
Encourage children to practise letter shapes as they paint, draw and record, and as they write, for example, their names, the names of their friends and family, or captions.
Continue writing practice in imaginative contexts, joining some letters, if appropriate, for example, at, it, on.
Provide a variety of writing tools and paper, indoors and outdoors.
Give children practice in forming letters correctly, for example, labelling their work, making cards and writing notices.
Provide opportunities to write meaningfully, for example, by placing notepads by phones or having appointment cards in the role-play doctor's surgery.
Problem Solving, Reasoning and Numeracy
Development matters
Look, listen and note
Effective practice
Planning and resourcing
Numbers as Labels and for Counting
Recognise some numerals of personal significance.
Count up to three or four objects by saying one number name for each item.
Count out up to six objects from a larger group.
Count actions or objects that cannot be moved.
Begin to count beyond 10.
Begin to represent numbers using fingers, marks on paper or pictures.
Select the correct numeral to represent 1 to 5, then 1 to 9 objects.
Recognise numerals 1 to 5.
Count an irregular arrangement of up to ten objects.
Estimate how many objects they can see and check by counting them.
Count aloud in ones, twos, fives or tens.
Know that numbers identify how many objects are in a set.
Use ordinal numbers in different contexts.
Match then compare the number of objects in two sets.
Say and use number names in order in familiar contexts.
Count reliably up to ten everyday objects.
Recognise numerals 1 to 9.
Use developing mathematical ideas and methods to solve practical problems.
The personal numbers that children refer to, such as their age, house number, telephone number or the number of people in their family.
Instances of children counting an irregular arrangement of up to ten objects.
Children's methods of counting out up to six objects from a larger group, for example, when children do a jigsaw together and share out the pieces, counting to check everyone has the same number.
How children begin to represent numbers using fingers, marks on paper or pictures.
Children's recognition of numerals.
How children use their developing understanding of maths to solve mathematical problems, for example, solving a debate about which of two piles of pebbles has more in it.
Encourage estimation, for example, estimate how many sandwiches to make for the picnic.
Encourage use of mathematical language, for example, number names to ten: "Have you got enough to give me three?".
Ensure that children are involved in making displays, for example, making their own pictograms of lunch choices. Develop this as a 3D representation using bricks and discuss the most popular choices.
Add numerals to all areas of learning and development, for example, to a display of a favourite story, such as 'The Three Billy Goats Gruff'.
Make books about numbers that have meaning for the child such as favourite numbers, birth dates or telephone numbers.
Use rhymes, songs and stories involving counting on and counting back in ones, twos, fives and tens.
Emphasise the empty set and introduce the concept of nothing or zero.
Provide collections of interesting things for children to sort, order, count and label in their play.
Display numerals in purposeful contexts, for example, a sign showing how many children can play on a number track.
Use tactile numeral cards made from sandpaper, velvet or string.
Create opportunities for children to experiment with a number of objects, the written numeral and the written number. Develop this through matching activities with a range of numbers, numerals and a selection of objects.
Use a 100 square to show number patterns.
Make number games readily available and teach children how to use them.
Display interesting books about number.
Play games such as hide and seek that involve counting.
Use rhymes, songs and stories involving counting on and counting back.
Calculating
Find the total number of items in two groups by counting all of them.
Use own methods to work through a problem.
Say the number that is one more than a given number.
Select two groups of objects to make a given total of objects.
Count repeated groups of the same size.
Share objects into equal groups and count how many in each group.
In practical activities and discussion, begin to use the vocabulary involved in adding and subtracting.
Use language such as 'more' or 'less' to compare two numbers.
Find one more or one less than a number from one to ten.
Begin to relate addition to combining two groups of objects and subtraction to 'taking away'.
Methods children use to answer a problem they have posed, for example, "Get one more, and then we will both have two".
How children find the sum of two numbers.
The variety in responses when children work out a calculation.
The ways children count repeated groups of the same size, for example, counting the number of socks in five pairs.
How children share objects, for example, sharing eight crayons equally among four children and knowing that each child has two crayons.
Children working out what remains if something is taken away.
Show interest in how children solve problems and value their different solutions.
Make sure children are secure about the order of numbers before asking what comes after or before each number.
Discuss with children how problems relate to others they have met, and their different solutions.
Encourage children to make up their own story problems for other children to solve.
Encourage children to extend problems, for example, "Suppose there were three people to share the bricks between instead of two".
Use mathematical vocabulary and demonstrate methods of recording, using standard notation where appropriate.
Give children learning English as an additional language opportunities to work in their home language to ensure accurate understanding of concepts.
Encourage children to record what they have done, for example, by drawing or tallying.
Use number staircases to show a starting point and how you arrive at another point when something is added or taken away.
Provide a wide range of number resources and encourage children to be creative in thinking up problems and solutions in all areas of learning.
Encourage children to make links between cardinal numbers (quantity) and ordinal numbers (position).
Make number lines available for reference and encourage children to use them in their own play.
Help children to understand that five fingers on each hand make a total of ten fingers altogether, or that two rows of three eggs in the box make six eggs altogether.
Shape, Space and Measures
Show curiosity about and observation of shapes by talking about how they are the same or different.
Match some shapes by recognising similarities and orientation.
Begin to use mathematical names for 'solid' 3D shapes and 'flat' 2D shapes, and mathematical terms to describe shapes.
Select a particular named shape.
Show awareness of symmetry.
Find items from positional or directional clues.
Order two or three items by length or height.
Order two items by weight or capacity.
Match sets of objects to numerals that represent the number of objects.
Sort familiar objects to identify their similarities and differences, making choices and justifying decisions.
Describe solutions to practical problems, drawing on experience, talking about own ideas, methods and choices.
Use familiar objects and common shapes to create and recreate patterns and build models.
Use everyday language related to time; order and sequence familiar events, and measure short periods of time with a non-standard unit, for example, with a sand timer.
Count how many objects share a particular property, presenting results using pictures, drawings or numerals.
Use language such as 'greater', 'smaller', 'heavier' or 'lighter' to compare quantities.
Talk about, recognise and recreate simple patterns.
Use language such as 'circle' or 'bigger' to describe the shape and size of solids and flat shapes.
Use everyday words to describe position.
Use developing mathematical ideas and methods to solve practical problems.
Children's interest in and observation of shapes, such as how some are the same or different.
How children match some shapes by recognising similarities and orientation, for example, Stevie looked at a rhomboid, saying, "It looks like a boat". Picking up a triangle, she says, "This one's different... it's only got three points".
How children select a named shape for a particular purpose.
Children's use of positional or directional clues, for example, "We had to come round the park and past the shops".
Children's ordering of two items by length or height, for example, comparing the length of zips on coats: "Too long for your coat".
Children's identification of a mathematical problem involving shape, space or measures and the ways they solve them.
Children's use of positional language, for example, "I'm near the end of the path".
Words children use to describe comparisons and measures such as 'greater', 'smaller', 'heavier' or 'lighter'.
Ask 'silly' questions, for example, show a tiny box and ask if there is a bicycle in it.
Play peek-a-boo, revealing shapes a little at a time and at different angles, asking children to say what they think the shape is, what else it could be or what it could not be.
Make books about shape, time and measure: shapes found in the environment; long and short things; things of a specific length; and ones about patterns, or comparing things that are heavier or lighter.
Be a robot and ask children to give you instructions to get to somewhere. Let them have a turn at being the robot for you to instruct.
Introduce children to the use of mathematical names for 'solid' 3D shapes and 'flat' 2D shapes, and the mathematical terms to describe shapes.
Ensure children use everyday words to describe position, for example, when following pathways or playing with outdoor apparatus.
A picture of my family - In a pre-school, a practitioner supports two children to think about biggest, smallest, tallest and shortest, as they discuss the pictures they have drawn. [transcript]
You can watch the video via modem or slow / fast / superfast broadband connections. If you are behind a network firewall, why not click here to view a flash file of the video. You do need to have the flash plugin.
Provide a range of boxes and materials for models and constructions such as 'dens', indoors and outdoors.
Provide examples of the same shape in different sizes.
Have areas where children can explore the properties of objects and where they can weigh and measure, such as a cookery station or a building area.
Plan opportunities for children to describe and compare shapes, measures and distance.
Provide materials and resources for children to observe and describe patterns in the indoor and outdoor environment and in daily routines, orally, in pictures or using objects.
Provide a range of natural materials for children to arrange, compare and order.
Knowledge and Understanding of the World
Development matters
Look, listen and note
Effective practice
Planning and resourcing
Exploration and Investigation
Notice and comment on patterns.
Show an awareness of change.
Explain own knowledge and understanding, and ask appropriate questions of others.
Investigate objects and materials by using all of their senses as appropriate.
Find out about, and identify, some features of living things, objects and events they observe.
Look closely at similarities, differences, patterns and change.
Ask questions about why things happen and how things work.
Shows interest in the natural world.
Asks "Why?" frequently and considers replies.
The changes and patterns that children notice.
Instances of children identifying features of living things or objects.
Ways in which children find out about things in the environment, for example, by handling something and looking at it closely.
Instances of children investigating everyday events, such as why a bicycle stops when the brakes are pressed.
Help children to notice and discuss patterns around them, for example, rubbings from grates, covers, or bricks.
Encourage children to raise questions and suggest solutions and answers.
Examine change over time, for example, growing plants, and change that may be reversed, for example, melting ice.
Give opportunities to record findings by, for example, drawing, writing, making a model or photographing.
Provide a range of materials and objects to play with that work in different ways for different purposes, for example, egg whisk, torch, other household implements, pulleys, construction kits and tape recorder.
Encourage children to speculate on the reasons why things happen or how things work.
Designing and Making
Construct with a purpose in mind, using a variety of resources.
Use simple tools and techniques competently and appropriately.
Build and construct with a wide range of objects, selecting appropriate resources and adapting their work where necessary.
Select the tools and techniques they need to shape, assemble and join materials they are using.
The ways that children make things, for example, a child might use card, scissors, glue, string and a hole punch to make a bag to carry some things home.
How children construct for their own purposes.
Children's own assessment of the fitness for purpose of their designs and the modifications they decide to make to them.
Making a model with glue - In reception class, a practitioner supports the child in fixing boxes together. [transcript]
You can watch the video, via modem or slow / fast / superfast broadband connections. If you are behind a network firewall, why not click here to view a flash file of the video. You do need to have the flash plugin.
Discuss purposes of design and making tasks.
Teach joining, measuring, cutting and finishing techniques and their names.
Encourage children's evaluations, helping them to use words to explain, such as 'longer', 'shorter', 'lighter'.
Make links with children's experiences to provide opportunities to design and make things, such as a ladder for Anansi the spider (in the West African traditional tale).
Provide opportunities for children to practise skills, initiate and plan simple projects, and find their own solutions in the design and making process.
Ensure that the organisation of workshop areas allows children real choices of techniques, materials and resources.
ICT
Complete a simple program on a computer.
Use ICT to perform simple functions, such as selecting a channel on the TV remote control.
Use a mouse and keyboard to interact with age-appropriate computer software.
Find out about and identify the uses of everyday technology and use information and communication technology and programmable toys to support their learning.
Finding a website - In a nursery class, the practitioner supports a child using the computer to find a particular website. [transcript]
You can watch the video, via modem or slow / fast / superfast broadband connections. If you are behind a network firewall, why not click here to view a flash file of the video. You do need to have the flash plugin.
How children coordinate actions to use technology, for example, to direct dial a telephone number.
Teach and encourage children to click on different icons to cause things to happen in a computer program.
Ensure safe use of all ICT apparatus and make appropriate risk assessments for their use.
Provide a range of programmable toys, as well as equipment involving ICT, such as computers.
Time
Begin to differentiate between past and present.
Use time-related words in conversation.
Understand about the seasons of the year and their regularity.
Make short-term future plans.
Find out about past and present events in their own lives, and in those of their families and other people they know.
How children refer to past events, such as how long ago it was since they visited the swimming baths.
How a child compares experiences in their own life with those of others, for example, comparing their own play and playthings with their grandparents' experiences of play and playthings.
Sequence events, for example, photographs of children from birth.
Use stories that introduce a sense of time and people from the past.
Encourage children to ask questions about events in each other's lives in discussions, and explore these experiences in role-play.
Compare artefacts of different times, for example, garden and household tools.
Make the most of opportunities to value children's histories. Involve families in sharing memories. This might include celebration of a travelling background or of African-Caribbean roots.
Provide long-term growing projects, for example, sowing seeds or looking after chicken eggs.
Provide reference material for children to use, for example, comparing old and recent photographs.
Draw on the local community to support projects about the seasons. Tap into knowledge and expertise of local farmers, gardeners, allotment holders and so on.
Place
Notice differences between features of the local environment.
Observe, find out about and identify features in the place they live and the natural world.
Find out about their environment, and talk about those features they like and dislike.
How children talk about the different features of the surroundings, such as the sizes, shapes, uses and types of buildings or spaces they notice on a walk to the shops.
How children connect photographs to places in the environment and can work out a route, for example, from the local shop to their setting.
How children talk about and evaluate the quality of their environment, by, for example, talking about how the flower baskets improve the area, and how the litter makes it look untidy.
Use appropriate words, for example, 'town', 'village', 'road', 'path', 'house', 'flat', 'temple' and 'synagogue', to help children make distinctions in their observations.
Help children to find out about the environment by talking to people, examining photographs and simple maps and visiting local places.
Encourage children to express opinions on natural and built environments and give opportunities for them to hear different points of view on the quality of the environment.
Ensure all children have opportunities to express themselves and learn the vocabulary to talk about their surroundings, drawing on and encouraging the home language to support the learning of English.
Encourage the use of words that help children to express opinions, for example, 'busy', 'quiet' and 'pollution'.
Provide stories that help children to make sense of different environments.
Provide stimuli and resources for children to create simple maps and plans, paintings, drawings and models of observations of known and imaginary landscapes.
Give opportunities to design practical, attractive environments, for example, taking care of the flowerbeds or organising equipment outdoors.
Communities
Gain an awareness of the cultures and beliefs of others.
Feel a sense of belonging to own community and place.
Begin to know about their own cultures and beliefs and those of other people.
The interest children show in stories, music and dance from a range of cultures.
How children talk about the practices and beliefs of their friends.
How children express their attitudes such as about differences in skin colours.
How children respond to information about people's unfamiliar lifestyles.
Introduce children to a range of cultures and religions, for example, tell stories, listen to music, dance and eat foods from a range of cultures. Use resources in role-play that reflect a variety of cultures, such as clothes, symbols, candles and toys.
Extend children's knowledge of cultures within and beyond the setting through books, videos and DVDs, and photographs; listening to simple short stories in various languages; handling artefacts; inviting visitors from a range of religious and ethnic groups, and visiting local places of worship and cultural centres.
Ensure that any cultural assumptions and stereotypes that are already held are countered in activities.
Provide opportunities for children to sample food from a variety of cultures, such as a traditional Caribbean dish.
Provide books that show a range of languages, dress and customs.
Use appropriate resources at circle time to enable children to learn positive attitudes and behaviour towards people who are different to themselves.
Ensure the use of modern photographs of parts of the world that are commonly stereotyped and misrepresented.
Physical Development
Development matters
Look, listen and note
Effective practice
Planning and resourcing
Movement and Space
Go backwards and sideways as well as forwards.
Experiment with different ways of moving.
Initiate new combinations of movement and gesture in order to express and respond to feelings, ideas and experiences.
Jump off an object and land appropriately.
Show understanding of the need for safety when tackling new challenges.
Avoid dangerous places and equipment.
Construct with large materials such as cartons, fabric and planks.
Move with confidence, imagination and in safety.
Move with control and coordination.
Travel around, under, over and through balancing and climbing equipment.
Show awareness of space, of themselves and of others.
The different ways children find of moving across and off and on objects.
How children combine movements to make simple sequences.
The way children recognise the need to take account of space when they plan to do things such as building and demolishing a tower or riding a wheeled toy.
The ways children manage themselves safely.
The ways children negotiate equipment by, for example, balancing, climbing, sliding or slithering.
Children's fine motor control when using a pencil or a brush.
Children's free, spontaneous movement and how they demonstrate control.
Encourage children to use the vocabulary of movement, such as 'gallop' and 'slither'; of instruction, such as 'follow', 'lead' and 'copy'; and of feeling, such as 'excited', 'scared' and 'happy'.
Help children communicate through their bodies by encouraging expressive movement linked to their imaginative ideas.
Talk with children about body parts and bodily activity, teaching the vocabulary of body parts.
Help children to think about how their movements and actions can impact on others.
Pose challenging questions such as "Can you get all the way round the climbing frame without your knees touching it?".
Talk with children about the need to match their actions to the space they are in.
Encourage children to be active and energetic by organising lively games.
Provide opportunities for children to repeat and change their actions so that they can think about, refine and improve them.
Help children to be aware of risks and to consider their own and others' safety.
Take time to review individual needs for space and equipment for a child who may require modifications to either or both.
Show children how to collaborate in throwing, rolling, fetching and receiving games, encouraging children to play with one another once their skills are sufficient.
Plan target throwing, rolling, kicking and catching games.
Plan games where children can use skills in different ways, such as hopping backwards and galloping sideways.
Provide open-ended resources for large-scale building.
Use whole-body action rhymes such as 'Head, Shoulders, Knees and Toes'.
Provide time and space to enjoy energetic play daily, either indoors or outdoors, visiting parks if other spaces are limited.
Ensure children know the rules for being safe in different spaces.
Regularly check resources for safety, for example, ensuring that fabric is clean and that planks are free from splinters and rough edges.
Provide a range of equipment at different levels, such as an overhead ladder, a tunnel, a bench and a mat.
Provide large portable equipment that children can move about safely and cooperatively to create their own structures.
Plan imaginative, active experiences, such as 'Going on a bear hunt'. Help them remember the actions of the story (We're Going on a Bear Hunt by Michael Rosen and Helen Oxenbury) and think about the different ways of moving and ways of avoiding bumping into each other.
Health and Bodily Awareness
Show some understanding that good practices with regard to exercise, eating, sleeping and hygiene can contribute to good health.
Recognise the importance of keeping healthy, and those things which contribute to this.
Recognise the changes that happen to their bodies when they are active.
Feeding:
Helps with food preparation.
Has food preferences and wishes and expresses them.
Understands need for variety in food.
Eats a healthy range of foodstuffs.
Understands need for hygiene in food preparation, serving and eating.
Washing:
Begins to take responsibility for self-care in washing, teeth cleaning.
Uses personal hygiene materials competently.
Knows when to wash hands and face.
Shows negative reactions to lack of cleanliness in food, personal items and so on.
Toileting:
Reliably dry and clean during the day.
Usually initiates use of toilet when needed, and seeks help as required.
Knows routine of wiping self and handwashing and usually carries this out.
Note:
Early Support material relating to dressing appears in Personal, Social and Emotional Development: Self-care
How children indicate that they are hungry or need to wash their hands before starting to cook.
Children's familiarity with hygienic practices, such as throwing used tissues in a bin.
Children's understanding of what they need to do to maintain health, for example, a child telling others they are going to the dentist: "I need to have a check-up to keep my teeth strong".
Children talking about and feeling their heart beating after running, without prompting from an adult.
Promote health awareness by talking to children about exercise, its effect on their bodies and the positive contribution it can make to their health.
Help children to understand the thinking behind the good practices they are encouraged to adopt.
Be aware of specific health difficulties among the children in the group, such as allergies.
Be sensitive to varying family expectations and life patterns when encouraging thinking about health.
Find ways to involve children so that they are all able to be active in ways that interest them and match their health and ability.
Discuss with children why they get hot and encourage them to think about the effects of the environment, such as whether opening a window helps everybody to be cooler.
Ensure that children who get out of breath will have time to recover.
Place water containers where children can find them easily and get a drink when they need one.
Plan opportunities, particularly after exercise, for children to talk about how their bodies feel.
Using Equipment and Materials
Explore malleable materials by patting, stroking, poking, squeezing, pinching and twisting them.
Use increasing control over an object, such as a ball, by touching, pushing, patting, throwing, catching or kicking it.
Manipulate materials to achieve a planned effect.
Use simple tools to effect changes to the materials.
Show understanding of how to transport and store equipment safely.
Practise some appropriate safety measures without direct supervision.
Use a range of small and large equipment.
Handle tools, objects, construction and malleable materials safely and with increasing control.
Children's preferred hand for putting on clothes or using a paintbrush.
Children's developing ball skills.
Children's play patterns, identifying the ways they show interest in using a range of equipment and materials.
The different ways children explore and manipulate materials.
The tools children use to achieve effects.
Some of the ways children demonstrate their understanding of the need for handling equipment safely, such as when they carry a chair, ensuring they point its legs towards the ground.
How children use their skills when creating something they need in their play, or want to give to a friend.
Encourage children's large arm and hand movements and activities that strengthen their hands and fingers, for example, throwing and catching.
Introduce and encourage children to use the vocabulary of manipulation, for example, 'squeeze' and 'prod', and the language of description, for example, 'spiky', 'silky', 'lumpy' and 'tall'.
Justify and explain why safety is an important factor in handling tools, equipment and materials, and have sensible rules for everybody to follow.
Teach skills where necessary and then give children the chance to practise them.
Teach children how to use tools and materials effectively and safely.
Talk with children about what they are doing, how they plan to do it, what worked well and what they would change next time.
Provide a range of left-handed tools, especially left-handed scissors, for children who need them.
Provide a wide range of materials, such as clay, that encourage manipulation.
Offer different tools, techniques or materials when the available tools are inadequate to achieve the desired effects.
Provide tweezers, tongs and small scoops for use in play and investigation.
Provide a range of construction toys of different sizes, made of wood, rubber or plastic, that fix together in a variety of ways, for example by twisting, pushing, slotting or magnetism.
Creative Development
Development matters
Look, listen and note
Effective practice
Planning and resourcing
Being Creative - Responding to Experiences, Expressing and Communicating Ideas
Talk about personal intentions, describing what they were trying to do.
Respond to comments and questions, entering into dialogue about their creations.
Make comparisons and create new connections.
Respond in a variety of ways to what they see, hear, smell, touch and feel.
Express and communicate their ideas, thoughts and feelings by using a widening range of materials, suitable tools, imaginative and role-play, movement, designing and making, and a variety of songs and musical instruments.
The connections children make as they respond to different experiences, for example, remembering being cold at Diwali and seeing the cheery lights may inspire one child to begin to dance like the flames of the Diwali lamps.
How children respond to new experiences and how they respond differently to similar experiences, for example, a child may run around moving their arms rhythmically when they see or hear a train, or run along calling "train, train" as if they are trying to catch up with it, while another day they may want to draw, paint or represent the power of the train.
How children design and create, either using their own ideas or developing those of others.
Support children in expressing opinions and introduce language such as 'like', 'dislike', 'prefer' and 'disagree'.
Be alert to children's changing interest and the way they respond to experiences differently when they are in a happy, sad or reflective mood.
Introduce language that enables children to talk about their experiences in greater depth and detail.
Provide children with examples of how other people have responded to experiences, engage them in discussions of these examples and help them to make links and connections.
Provide and organise resources and materials so children can make their own choices in order to express their ideas.
Be sensitive to the needs of children who may not be able to express themselves easily in English, using interpreter support from known adults, or strategies such as picture cards to enable children to express preferences.
Exploring Media and Materials
Explore what happens when they mix colours.
Choose particular colours to use for a purpose.
Understand that different media can be combined to create new effects.
Experiment to create different textures.
Create constructions, collages, painting and drawings.
Use ideas involving fitting, overlapping, in, out, enclosure, grids and sun-like shapes.
Work creatively on a large or small scale.
Explore colour, texture, shape, form and space in two or three dimensions.
The inventive ways in which children mix colours.
The decisions that children make about colour choices.
How children experiment to create new effects and textures, for example, by drizzling glue over wool, or squirting pools of colour on to paper.
How children combine their creative skills and imagination to create something new, such as when a small group of children are using large blocks to represent their experience of a visit to the ferry port. After much discussion and negotiation they make arrows for the one-way system and a variety of signs and symbols. They tell the stories of people who will go on the ferry and wonder about whether one family will get there on time.
The numerous ways in which children create and construct, and how their explorations lead to new understandings about media.
Making a model with glue - In reception class, a practitioner supports the child in fixing boxes together. [transcript]
You can watch the video, via modem or slow / fast / superfast broadband connections. If you are behind a network firewall, why not click here to view a flash file of the video. You do need to have the flash plugin.
Help children to gain confidence in their own way of representing ideas.
Talk to children about ways of finding out what they can do with different media and what happens when they put different things together such as sand, paint and sawdust.
Help children to develop a problem-solving approach to overcome hindrances as they explore possibilities that media combinations present. Offer advice and additional resources as appropriate.
Alert children to changes in properties of media as they are transformed through becoming wet, dry, flaky or fixed. Talk about what is happening, helping them to think about cause and effect.
Provide resources for mixing colours, joining things together and combining materials, demonstrating where appropriate.
Introduce pieces of wood, stone, rock or seaweed for children to feel and discover.
Provide children with opportunities to use their skills and explore concepts and ideas through their representations.
Have a 'holding bay' where 2D and 3D models and works can be retained for a period for children to enjoy, develop, or refer to.
Block play - In a nursery school, a small group of children work together on a large construction, and afterwards their work-in-progress is cordoned off, showing that their achievement is respected. [transcript]
You can watch the video via modem or slow / fast / superfast broadband connections. If you are behind a network firewall, why not click here to view a flash file of the video. You do need to have the flash plugin.
