Hi Sleepy. Dont worry, Nursery is loads of fun, you'll love it. This is the way i plan (have worked in 2 schools and done the same in both) but i guess maybe not all settings approach it in the same way. Your school will guide you, so don't worry.
We have a half termly topic which i choose (after discussion with my support staff - important to find something we think the children will really enjoy AND that we are all enthusiastic about and have lots of ideas for activities). E.g. Dinosaurs / Space / Winter / People who help us / Fairy Tales etc.
Then i try to tie-in as much of our learning as possible to that topic.
I break it down into weeks usually - e.g. Winter - a week on keeping warm, a week on freezing and melting, a week on animals who live in the snow, a week on wintery sights and sounds etc.
Then for each week i plan the following (covering the objectives we need to cover and linking to weekly theme as much as possible):
- 5 carpet time / circle time activities - usually 1 Maths, 1 Understanding of the World, 1 CAL / Literacy, Phonics (i dont link this to the theme) & 1 other
- child-initiated learning inside - covering all the 7 areas of learning - so what i'll have in the maths area, the construction area, the art area, water tray etc
- child initiated learning outside - again covering all the 7 areas of learning
- 2 adult-led small group activities - e.g. for Winter - keeping warm - perhaps a dressing teddies for winter activity and making vegetable soup.
Then all through the week we'll see where the children go with it and add ad change things so that its child led. The majority of the resources they can help themselves to if they want, and if they request something then we'll encorporate it.
God sorry that makes it sound so complicated and it isnt at all! :-)
I learnt on the job really, cant think of any reading. Getting familiar with Development Matters will really help.