Guest Posted October 9, 2008 Posted October 9, 2008 You are most welcome tink, I think I saw a 'light bulb' moment there? It was me asking about the 3 stories thing, thank you for explaining! You are right about being an NQT, you do have to fit in with what is expected of you, but I am also wondering where your FS coordinator is in all this, could they be fighting that corner for you? You certainly did see a light bulb moment Mundia! I am re-organising my sessions as we speak!! My FS co-ordinator was the one who suggested we go to assembly and she does leads the FS one that we have on a Tuesday which is just nursery and reception - it is actually wuite nice - we have a story together and milk together. As for PE - which i think is silly really - i think thats just something nursery have always done... i am thinking i will just stop going to the hall and not tell anyone! Or i might suggest that i make sure outdoor time provides opportunities for the children to get all their PD... I do feel like i need to be doing what i am told tho right now!! Hee! Tink! x
Guest Posted October 9, 2008 Posted October 9, 2008 Until hall time became to tight nursery had a 'hall slot'. That didn't mean we had to do PE it was just a time free for our use.We planned things like teddy bears picnic or acting out 'going for a bear hunt', dancing to music with ribbons, ring games, . Things that there just wasn't enough space for in the nursery unit. We even took bikes occasionally when we had weeks of terrible weather when outdoor play was limited. I wouldn't give the slot up (as someone is bound to grab it) without seeing if you can use the space for other activities that your children would benefit from.It also had a place in climatising the children to the large space where they will eat their lunch when they start school.
Guest Posted October 9, 2008 Posted October 9, 2008 Until hall time became to tight nursery had a 'hall slot'. That didn't mean we had to do PE it was just a time free for our use.We planned things like teddy bears picnic or acting out 'going for a bear hunt', dancing to music with ribbons, ring games, . Things that there just wasn't enough space for in the nursery unit. We even took bikes occasionally when we had weeks of terrible weather when outdoor play was limited. I wouldn't give the slot up (as someone is bound to grab it) without seeing if you can use the space for other activities that your children would benefit from.It also had a place in climatising the children to the large space where they will eat their lunch when they start school. That's a good idea Biccy! Thank you for sharing that with me!! Tink! x
Guest Posted October 10, 2008 Posted October 10, 2008 Am i doing it wrong if i plan for certain activities in the areas instead of letting the children have free run of them? Eg: we are doing 'safe and healthy' week next week and i am planning to put out chalks and pastels for them to do observational drawings of fruit. If i then dont put the paint out for them to use, or whatever, is that wrong? It's just that its such a small table and there's no way there is room for them to pick and choose the materials they want to use there. The junk modelling / technology area is more or less the same size so i put out loads of joining materials and then there are tubs of glitter and mosaic bits to stick with and loads of junk so i guess in that case, they can do want and make what they want even if i plan something specific in there. I'm not making much sense am i!! grrrr! Tink! x
Guest Posted October 13, 2008 Posted October 13, 2008 Yeh i am aware now that i need to have a space somewhere on my planning to write stuff like that after watching what the children are interested in... Do you plan daily then? Do you plan a skeleton of ideas and then see what the children want to do and change you plans for the next day? Do you all do this as a team or is it you who does it and your staff have to get to grips with it when they come in the next day? And what about resources? Do you just hunt for them the next day to suit what the children want to do? I am trying so hard to get my head round this i'm spinnning!! Hee! We have a weekly plan that we look at at a team meeting once a week - I will post one. Fisrtly we write in next steps and adult led activities. Next steps will be one activity for the day and adult led could be between one and three activities spread over the whole week so all of the children get a chance to have a go. We then look at how the group has reacted over the week. Were the boys occupied or running around was there a group of children playing doggies in the home corner, we then select other activites to run according to this and call them Group led activites. When we come in of a morning we look at the plans again and then think about how the session went the day before. If we have planned to get out an activity that we don't think will be suitable for the children after the mood they were in the day previously we will change it then and make a note of why and what we changed it to on the observations. Basically our plans for the week never ever stick we just have something written down in the hope it might happen lol. Yeh i am going to ask my advisor if there is any more LA training on it. I did request that i went on one at the start of the year and emailed my FS Leader a list of stuff i wanted to go on and she never got back to me - partly my fault for not nagging her but i was very new and didnt like to nag ppl i didnt really know... wuss arent i! Not at all but you really shouldnt have to nag if you are struggling you need support... I totally agree and i need to make my planning more of a working document and go with the flow more but not sure how to do it when we have to be here there and everywhere, and read three stories and do singing and circle time (altho maybe i don't need to do that every day and can incorporate it into my L&S like - cant remember her name oops - said...) I think it is really just a case of relaxing into the session it sounds like you have a lot of stipulations about what you should and shouldn't be doing but I think it is important to free flow as much as possible it will make your whole day a lot easier and less busy. Well our day isnt much different in content really - we have an hour indoor free play and 45 min outdoor (well, at least we do on sessions where there is no assembly or PE!) then stories, letters and sounds milk and circle time all last 10 - 25 mins each i guess... its just that i have it timetabled so my staff can see what's going on. Im new to nursery, and im new to them, my planning is new to them and so is EYFS so i am trying to put into a format so they know what to do and where we need to be, and i try to break up my day so that they are not sitting for more than 10 mins at a time - thats where the timetabled look comes from i spose... i guess i just need to have space on the plan to be flexible with the planning for the next day... still not sure how one manages that yet... do you set it all up after school every night ready for the next day? Or am i reading too much into it? Is there not that much to change as far as provision goes? do you leave that as it is and just change your activities to suit what the children have been interested in? - Sorry for all my questions!!! Have answered that for you above and I will add on my planning sheets let me know if you want to see any more of my planning Debs Short_Term_Plan_Different_one.doc Next_Steps_Planning.doc
Guest Posted October 13, 2008 Posted October 13, 2008 Thanks for that Debs... just one question... your next steps planning - do you fill one of these out for every child every day?! Or every week?! That seems like an endless task... Thank you for letting me see your planning - i like your format for the provision and activities.... Would you mind showing me one that is filled in? Thank you again, Tink! x
Guest Posted October 14, 2008 Posted October 14, 2008 Thanks for that Debs... just one question... your next steps planning - do you fill one of these out for every child every day?! Or every week?! That seems like an endless task... Thank you for letting me see your planning - i like your format for the provision and activities.... Would you mind showing me one that is filled in? Thank you again, Tink! x These are filled out once per half term per child and we look at the child over the period of a week so there is plenty of time to get observations > When we fill in the relevant and achievable learning we give an overall of what we are looking at ie CLL - Handwriting or PSRN shape space and measure, this means that rather than looking at a specific outcome which they might not manage we are allowing for other learning to take place in the whole area. We of course note down any other areas too that might be included Hope that helps
AnonyMouse_3975 Posted October 14, 2008 Posted October 14, 2008 We use the same weekly plan as you - may be a silly question but where do you write in the next steps on this? smiles
Guest Posted October 14, 2008 Posted October 14, 2008 We use the same weekly plan as you - may be a silly question but where do you write in the next steps on this?smiles Are you asking me Smiles? Or Debs?! Sorry i wasn't sure! If you are asking me, the plans on this thread are redundant now cos i have changed them to reflect the adivce i have been given on here - so the ones on here do not have a space for next steps... Her is the thread that points to my ammended planning formats which have a sheet on for next steps. http://www.foundation-stage.info/forums/in...showtopic=15068 Tink! x
Guest Posted October 14, 2008 Posted October 14, 2008 We use the same weekly plan as you - may be a silly question but where do you write in the next steps on this?smiles And if you are talking to me we just write down what activity we are doing for the child ie in construction stickle bricks then put a small C/L underneath, the actual next steps are on the next step sheets stored in the child's folder I guess you were given the same planning disk as me at the EYFS training smiles as we are both in Essex - where abouts are you? im Harlow Debs
AnonyMouse_3975 Posted October 15, 2008 Posted October 15, 2008 Hi Debs, Im in Colchester and so presumably do have the same one. I am waiting for our EYA to come in too see if we are on the right track. smiles
Guest Posted October 17, 2008 Posted October 17, 2008 Hi Debs, Im in Colchester and so presumably do have the same one. I am waiting for our EYA to come in too see if we are on the right track. smiles Ours came out on a spot visit a couple of weeks ago and she was ok with what we are doing so that is a relief lol
Guest Posted October 17, 2008 Posted October 17, 2008 Hi I am new to this forum. I have a full daycare pre-school and for what it's worth these are my views on planning. First like others have said you have already shown that you are a responsive practitioner by asking for others views. What works for one will not work for another so I suggest that you take what you think will work for you and your school. One thing I would like to comment on is that I don't think you have mentioned where your planning has come from. Mt view is that the EYFS advocates that planning is initiated from the observations of children's interaction and interests. This I believe is very important and the reason planning must be done from what you have observed today and not from what you think will be interesting. Our local advisor's believe that planning with themes is only relevant if something has been raised by the children i.e if a child has spoken about hedgehogs visiting their garden then that would be the place to start. However it maybe that this goes in totally a different direction and you find that 'visiting' takes the lead rather than hedgehogs. Going with the child links to the EYFS (supporting every child - Enabling environments) This has taken us sometime to get our heads around and yes we do have some structure to the day like others have mentioned before me. Hope this has been of some help. This is new to us all and we all need to navigate our way round the EYFS so don't get despondent!! Hope I've posted this right!!!
Guest Posted October 17, 2008 Posted October 17, 2008 Hi neat1, Thanks for you reply. Unfortunately i am bound by the constraints of a MTP which is out of my hands so that is where my planning has come from! I have already modified my planning as well and this is in another thread... i am still modifiying it, and seem to do so every week! Tink! x
Guest Posted November 1, 2008 Posted November 1, 2008 Hi, I'm an NQT in Nursery and joined this forum after reading Tinkalink's problems about her planning and not being able to access them. I too am having problems with my planning but not sure if they're my own making. I do allow for free play throughout the day and plan some activities based on particular topics some from the children's interests, some to provoke an interest. My planning format is not my design and at first made no sense to me - I was observed by my headteacher and as a result have made my format more friendly! Unfortunately my observation didn't go very well but thats another matter. Now I'm rambling. Anyway I just wanted to say thanks to everyone for sharing their ideas and plans I'm sure things will get easier the more I do them.
AnonyMouse_79 Posted November 1, 2008 Posted November 1, 2008 Hi Iusedtobeabox and welcome. I am sure that if you feel your planning format is meeting your needs, you will be more successful in your delivery and in your teaching and with the observations made of you. Hopefully, it was nothing too serious and you are able to move on easily. There are lots of experienced people here who would be able to help if needed.
AnonyMouse_1195 Posted November 1, 2008 Posted November 1, 2008 Hello Iusedtobeabox and welcome to the Forum. Do ask if you need advice as there are so many on here who are happy to help out and share problems and ideas. We all have both! EYs is a wonderful place to work, but is very complex, and lots of people are feeling a bit insecure at the moment.
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