Guest Posted August 26, 2008 Share Posted August 26, 2008 Well I have spent several hours looking at forums, resources etc., and my head is in a spin. I have taught Year 1/2 for the past 4 years and now I'm moving to Nursery which I'm very excited about. I usually spend most of my summer holiday planning and resourcing for my Year 1/2 class and now it's just a week to go until I start my new class and I have done NOTHING! Where should I start? Should I try to plan for the whole year as I normally do for my class? How do I improve the layout of my classroom? How many observations should I do each week? What will my nursery nurse do each day? How do I settle the children in? Please help I'm in such a panic (but still very excited!) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted August 26, 2008 Share Posted August 26, 2008 Hello bewildered!!! First off... if you are lucky, your nursery nurse will be your partner!!!!!!! All things that go on should be done together or at the very least in consultation with each other!!!!!!!!! Its team work that makes a nursery work well.... Whatever else is or isn't there the team thing makes ALL the difference. (I know from experience) A nursery nurse in a nursery setting, alongside a teacher is a well qualified staff member in her own right, its not like having a TA in a class room Are you joining her there? Or are you both new to the nursery? If she has prior knowledge of the place and its routines etc use it!!!!!!! I know you will want to make your own mark but you have to set out at a walking pace before trying to run! Did you chat with the previous nursery teacher and get an overview of what did and didn't work? I don't think you should be planning for the year ahead. For a start again it should be a team thing and also the children should lead the activities so you need to get to know them a little before you can tell where the year might take you! I have some continuos provision plans ready and the rest we will get to grips with as we get to know our new children. We are lucky that some of our children are returning to us in Sep so we used their ideas and interests to prompt us doing dinosaurs as we get back........... My colleagues and I started collecting resources before we broke up to aid this theme. However the other areas of nursery are just as important and so we have had our eyes peeled for resources for nursery generally too. As for the class layout...... will you have time with your nursery nurse before the children head back, to talk it through with her and see what you can come up with together? You will probably be trying out things and then altering / tweaking for a while. A move around is often good for everyone. Theres a lot of stuff for everyone to get their heads round this Sep in early years settings, so I dont think theres a right or wrong way to observe actitivies, how many to do etc........ feel your way. The stuff on here has helped me enormously and I have been in my job almost 12 years!!!!!!!!!!! I hope this helped. Hope it didn't sound preachy. I do know though that setting off on the wrong foot together (you and your nebby) can make life very hard and unpleasant. I almost left my job when we had a change of staff because of the issues that came about!!!!!! Hope you get good feedback! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted August 26, 2008 Share Posted August 26, 2008 Hi susieb, Where should I start? Read the EYFS documents HERE Should I try to plan for the whole year as I normally do for my class? Try this site fo planning ideas HERE- (link from Marion) How do I improve the layout of my classroom? Have you read Martine Horvath's article, Enebling Environments, found in the members articles section of the forum. HERE How many observations should I do each week? I would suggest the first few weeks you need quite a few to get to know your children, then it will depend on what you need to know, what you need to evidence within individual childrens achievement / progress records. What will my nursery nurse do each day? Consider the need for a keyworker system as described in the EYFS, also getting to know your staff. What are his/her strengths, areas of expertise / interests? What is he/she capable of doing to enable you the time you need to do your role? Maybe work together to devise how she can timetable her tasks, work o his/her job description. How do I settle the children in? Have a search of the forum for ideas on settling in activities, ideas re: home visits, self registration etc. Are you aware of the SEAL resources (Social and emotional aspects of learning) found HERE On this link page select theme by theme then 'new beginning' resources. Best of luck for September and most important of all HAVE FUN. (If you feel happy and relaxed the children will too ) Peggy Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted August 26, 2008 Share Posted August 26, 2008 Thank you both! My nursery nurses worked with me before in my previous class but also worked in the nursery. They are both talented and very capable and the last nursery teacher's advice was to talk to them. I just feel very panicky because I have always been so prepared for my class before and have outline and detailed plans for the whole year before I start in September. It's been great not working all summer but leaving things to happen on a day to day basis seems bizarre, however this does seem to be the best idea for my new job. I have researched the EYFS site a bit but there's a lot to get my head around. We have two days before the children start back so we can have a good clean and organise of equipment. I have used sparklebox for some resource ideas. I think I will just sit back and wait until next week when I can talk to my NNs and look at the previous teacher's planning and paperwork. Thanks for your help I will look at the links too. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted August 30, 2008 Share Posted August 30, 2008 hi bewildered! i too am in the same situation as you. i have taught y1 for the past 4 years and am moving to nursery. what makes this transition even harder is i am coming back after a maternity leave!! i normally plan eveything too. but after many chats with our fantastic supervisory nursery nurse i have decided that for at least the first half term, i nee d to be quite organic and let things just happen. i am letting the children come in to start with, go to activities, and thast means i can chat to parents and make them feel settled. we have quite a quick induction, so i will focus on just a few goals. shaking bells to stop and mayne a 5 minute or so carpet activity. i'm going to let them have run of the classroom and me and my ta can introduce areas, help them play etc. the second week, when all the children are in for half days. i am going to focus on 1 group and do as many observations, post its, photos etc for assessment. and carry on like this. gradually i will introduce more teaching time/carpet time as i feel the children are ready. some might be from day 1, so i'll prob do small group work. i was very worried cause i hadnt planned a thing. but after going on many forums and chatting to experienced people, the basic idea i got was let it happen naturally. you dont know the children and your getting to know them and settle them which takes time. (when your in y1 its easier cause all the rules etc are usually in place, but this is starting from scratch!) you can assess each day as it comes, think about what they liked and what you could do if you think they'll be ready. which, i know will be hard for you..cause if your like me it feels unorganised cause your used to planning everything in advance. but as i said be organic and let it happne. the children will guide us...i hope!! hope this helps. let me know if you think my suggestions are totally ridiculous and you drfo think i need to do something more structured???!? hope it helps and you can hlpe me! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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