Our Blended Curriculum

ICAN- Early Talk Boost

Here at Lovacott Nursery, we believe communication is a fundamental skill to develop from a young age, but understand that some children may need a little extra support in the areas of language and communication, to further develop these skills. For children aged between 3 and 4 years old, we may use the Early Talk Boost intervention; designed by ICAN Communication and deliver this using three main areas of learning: Attention and listening, learning and using new words and building sentences.

This exciting programme involves small group time activities and runs for approximately 9 weeks.  Each session is set up with two activities; a song and a Early Talk Boost Book, which changes as the weeks progress. The fun and exciting storybooks involve a fun character and puppet: Tizzy the Tiger who promotes our expectations of Good Listening, Good Looking and Good Sitting, alongside supporting the importance of following instructions.

Nursery Signs

We support children of all ages to build their communication skills using sign language and words combined. As we talk to children we will use everyday signs to support our language. Research has shown this particularly helps younger children to become less frustrated, as using signs can give them a means to express feelings, wants and needs before they learn how to talk.

At Lovacott we focus on two signs each week and incorporate these through our curriculum and implement them into our everyday practice.

Letters and Sounds

As children begin to develop language at Nursery, we continue to build their knowledge through focusing on letters and sounds. We follow a Letters and sounds programme involving seven aspects;

  •  The environmental sounds
  •  Instrumental sounds
  • Our body percussion
  • Rhythm and Rhyme
  • Alliteration
  • Our voice sounds
  • Oral blending and Segmenting

At Lovacott we introduce a letter sound each week and create different activities and games to support this way of learning. We may introduce an alphabet soup game at group time or incorporate sound and letter games based around the children’s current interests. Children’s engagement through using instruments helps the children focus on the different sounds they can recreate and learn about different volumes they can make.

Stories and Language

Each week we follow a story based on a festival /celebration/ area of learning we would like to build knowledge from or simply stories we know children love or have shown a particular interest in.

Stories are a perfect way for us to develop the children’s listening skills and incorporate new language. As the story develops, we extend this teaching and learning through activities to cover all area of learning.