Review

A book to guide teachers and practitioners through the process of making useful observations on children, and, more importantly, one which explains what to do with them!

This is an excellent book both for experienced practitioners and those new to working with children. The authors explain the reasons why we need to observe children and what we can learn by observing them in a systematic way. There are step-by-step guides to carrying out a variety of observational techniques, and there are many examples of each, clearly and concisely written. These are exactly the kinds of observations I do in my own setting, and have witnessed other practitioners doing in various early years settings; they work!

The most significant chapter,"Extending and Utilizing Your Observations", is the one most practitioners could really use. So much has been written about doing observations, but there is generally very little guidance on what to do with them once you have them. In the light of the EYFS, we all know that we must use our observations to plan developmentaly appropriate , yet suitably challenging, activities for our children, and this chapter goes some way to helping us make those decisions.

The final chapters suggest activities to assist curriculum planning according to broad age ranges,and there are some charts and sections on developmental milestones from birth to 16. Very easy to dip into, and particularly useful for students who need to have an understanding of the wider age range.