Planning And Assessment

[Helen]

That would be great, Amethyst Many thanks.

[AnonyMouse_2732]

Hey, have taken the sheets in to work, to discuss with the Manager - she thinks they're great!

 

Well done. We may use them as a basis for revamping ours, or at least ideas - everything has to go past Directors before it's accepted, but thanks for sharing.

 

Sue

[Guest]

Oh dear, I think I'm going to throw a spanner in the works here. I don't understand how you can break down the coomponents and work on them 'til all the children have got them - what about the differences i n the rates of development -what about the one that might never develop sufficiently, are the others going to be put on hold until the later developers catch up?

The advice we've been give has been described as 'retrospective planning' i.e. you plan good quality play and experiences for the children, and then identify the components being covered which sounds to me like what you were doing before. If it was, our trainer (who was involved in developing the Birth To 3 Matters packs) would say you were demonstrating good practice.

On the other hand I could have just misunderstood what you were saying, but it did rather sound as if you were treating the under 3s planning the same as FS planning with identifying small aspects to focus on.

I'm going to have to go away and think again! (that is supposed to look like a picture of me thinking!)

[Guest]

That was the way we addressed it on our recent training, Lyeska. Also the tutor encouraged us to talk about thinking for the under 3's rahter than planning per se.

[Guest]

Oh dear, I think I'm going to throw a spanner in the works here.  I don't understand how you can break down the coomponents and work on them 'til all the children have got them - what about the differences i n the rates of development -what about the one that might never develop sufficiently, are the others going to be put on hold until the later developers catch up?

The advice we've been give has been described as 'retrospective planning' i.e. you plan good quality play and experiences for the children, and then identify the components being covered which sounds to me like what you were doing before. If it was, our trainer (who was involved in developing the Birth To 3 Matters packs) would say you were demonstrating good practice.

On the other hand I could have just misunderstood what you were saying,  but it did rather sound as if you were treating the under 3s planning the same as FS planning with identifying small aspects to focus on.

I'm going to have to go away and think again!   (that is supposed to look like a picture of me thinking!)

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Hi. I can fully understand what you are saying. The idea of our planning is meant to be flexible to meet individual children's needs. Yes orignally we were planning play experiences and then looking at what we were covering but due to wide age and development range and the fact that we have many children starting and leaving the group as and when they turn 2 or reach 3 (my own group is 2-3's) we decided to work from the BTTM components outwards. Before we found that it was too easy to cover certain parts of the components but not other parts. This way we find we can offer a much wider range of activitieis and experiences and ensure we are covering all of the aspects. In my group at the moment we have 5 children that have just turned 2 and 4 more that are nearly 3 and ready for the pre school group. We also have 2 children with English as a second langauge in the group. When you actually brainstorm eahc aspect we found that there are endless activities and experineces we can offer the children, many overlapping more than one component, but this way of planning gives us something to focus on to observe and record each child's individual development. At the end of the day we fill in our activity sheets that evaluate the main aspect we were focusing on (without the children having a clue as they were just having fun), and then identify other aspects that are also being covered. I suppose we use the planning as a guidleine to help us focus better, but as I say, it is very flexible. If we plan for junk modelling but the children are happy playing outside and exploring or busy painting then so be it. As long as we record what the children did do at the end of the session then thats fine.

 

Oh dear.. Hope that didnt sound like I was getting on my high horse about the subject.

 

Eve

[Guest]

Do u do toy plans with the birth to three?

[Guest]

Welcome Sarah with your first post,

 

I'm not sure what you mean by "Toy" plans. Is this a plan of what resources (toys) you will provide for under 3's and when you will provide them?

 

Peggy

[AnonyMouse_64]

Hi Sarah,

 

Nice to hear from someone new. What sort of setting do you work in?

[Guest Tredworth]

Hi Amethyst,

 

I'm a new Head of Early Years in a setting where we have 2-5 year olds, split into 3 age based groups. I have limited experience of working with 2-3 year olds and I'd like to use the BTTM framework but the staff have been using FS Stepping Stones when planning for this group. Please could you send me a copy of your BTTM planning framework so that I don't have to completely re-invent the wheel before I talk to them!

 

Do I need to pm you? and what does it mean?

 

Please help, I have OFSTED coming in September and although I don't intend to change everything by them I'd like to be able to show the way we are moving.

 

Thanks!

 

Thirza

[Guest]

Hi Amethyst. I would also like to have copies of your BTTM paperwork as we also take 2 year olds and are trying to find the best way forward for them as a group which attend a session specifically for them, which then feeds into our 3 and overs.

Thank you in advance for anything you can offer.

[Guest]

Hi Amethyst,

 

Would you send me a copy of your fab plans as well. That would be great.

 

Angie

[Guest]

I work in a day nursery with children aged 2-3. The reason I ask if people do toy plans is because that is what we do & Ofsted said we should just let the children choose what they want to play with. But when we asked the parents they said they want to see what toys we are providing on each day & want us to give the children diff toys on diff days.

[Guest]

Would also like to see a copy of the BTT plans amethyst please. thanx

[Guest]

[Hi Amethyst

I would be interested in seeing your planning sheets for BTTM i am working in a playgroup and we have children 2years 9 months and have been told we have to plan for these using BTTM. help

Cynthia

[AnonyMouse_2732]

Hi sarah, and welcome! And cynthia, too!!

 

It's very hard in a day nursery, because we have to please EVERYONE!!

 

Just carry on doing what you're doing, only make a section in your planning entitled 'child-initiated play' or some such, and you can satisfy everyone!!

 

If you want to discuss further, please post, or you can always pm me

 

Sue

[AnonyMouse_2776]

Good morning!

 

Some time ago Amethyst sent me some documents. I am attaching them here and I will now copy/paste what she had written about this. I hope it is useful to you.

 

"I have enclosed attachemtns for you to look at and use if you want and there is an idea about an observation board on the forum . the this is me sheet is to put in the childs folder. They have a new one each time they pass through one of the developmental stages (the walkers, talkers, pretenders found on pg 14 of the BTTM book from the pack). The sheet has a space for a photo. The profile sheet attachment is an example of one to go in their folder too. In each box, write the 4 relevant statements, then next to these date it and then write a commentas to what the child was doing at the time, i.e helping to pur drink at snack time. I have sent one but obviously you'd have to do one for each of the Aspects. So they have a this is me sheet (or more if they pass through a stage while in your setting) and 4 profile sheets. I have sent a copy of the weekly plan we did a few weeks ago as an example copy. For each day we fill in one of the daily activity sheets. We only evaluate one of the acitivties which is marked as main on the weekly plan. Any other observations made during the day are done on an observation sheet or in the obs book, to be transferred to record at a later date. I did originally do an assessment sheet up, which I thought was relevant to the BTTM but was told I didn't need it if I used the above. All I needed if i wanted to, was to include a sheet that covered things such as number, shape, colour etc recognition so that the staff in the pre school gorup had an idea of where they were at when they move up. I have redone the long term plan which is a statement to go in the planning folder and on the wall. You can use ours as an example if you like, just readapt to your setting. Our medium term plan is in 2 bits. We have the pre school med term plan in the folder which has the themes/topics they are following. We try to cover the odd piece of topic type work, mainly for displays to 'keep in' with the current theme. We also have a med term plan just for the BTTM groups. As we are a day nursery with childrn joining and leaving (as we have a lot of parents on contract work in area), and moving up groups at different times of the year I have started a 12 weekly rolling plan. This is included as attachemnt. Each week we will be covering 2 of the aspects and over the 12 week will cover them fully. 1 aspect is covered over 3 weeks and the other aspect changes weekly.. best to look at plan. It is then further broken down so that each component is also covered over a rolling plan, but I have yet to type this up. Let me knwo if you are interested and when done I will send it you. Obviously you may want to do it another way, but I hope this is going to work for us. So far so good. Our short term plan is the weekly plan for wall. We were told to make sure we also put up the daily activity sheets on wall each day too. I hope I'm not confusing you here as this makes it sound like hard work typing it all out. If you want any further help, I will try to assist if I can. Just PM or email me. All this along with the observation display board and according to the person I saw from Surestart, we will be doing well and OFSTED will be happy!.

Good luck all.

Eve xx

P.S. Brain went bit mad there typing that lot out and so prob has loads of spelling mistakes... Sorry."

 

SEAHORSES_LONG_TERM_PLAN.doc

SEAHORSES_MEDIUM_TERM_PLAN.doc

25TH___29TH_APRIL.xls

Snaps_Activity_Sheet1.doc

this_is_me_sheets.doc

A_Strong_Child_profile_sheet.doc

BTTM_Observation_Board.doc

 

Have a nice summer !

Edited July 22, 2005 by SmileyPR

[Guest]

Thank u SmileyPR. That is exactly how I worked out to do my planning.

[Guest]

Hi Amethyst.

 

I am new to the forum and hope this works as I am not really computer literate, but I understand Birth to Three Matters even less! So i am interested in any help I can get and would be gratefull if you could send me any information regarding planning.

 

Thanks

Karen (user name KJH)

[AnonyMouse_2732]

Hi Karen!

 

Good to see you jumping in!

 

Enjoy!

 

Sue

[AnonyMouse_2732]

Hi Karen!

 

Good to see you jumping in!

 

Enjoy!

 

Sue

 

Oh dear!!

 

Got it wrong again!! Double post!!!

[Guest]

Hiya everyone

 

I have just got the book called 'Making birth to three matters work for you' by Helen Rowland. I would recommend everyone gets this book as it is excellent. It gives u examples of activities u can do with babies & children from 0-32 months & blank activity sheets u can photocopy. U can get this book from the following website: Qed

[Guest]

Thank you Sarah for the book information, but there is also a book called "Birth To Three Matters: Supporting The Framework Of effective Practice" by Lesley Abbot. Does anyone know which one is the best on to get? I really need advice on activities for babies and how to put BTTM into practice in the setting.

 

Karen

[Guest]

Forgot to mention before that I have also put together an assessment profile to go into the children's folders. These are based on original ones we were using and are based on the BTTM components. Each of the four components are broken down into development objectives. These are to date when the child reaches this stage of developmnet or learns a new skill. We were using a similar version before but this was based more on the ELG's. These are designed specifically for the 0-3's. When the child moves up to the 3-5's group they have a copy in their folders and a copy goes to the parents with keyworker and supervisor comments written on it, a bit like a report. The parents are then given the opportunity to come in and discuss their children progress and go through the sheets.

 

Also just incase anyone else is making the same mistake that we have been.. The Surestart profile books only have to be filled out when the child reaches three and moves to the 3-5 group. Not before. When they introduced the new ones with the BTTM column in it we presumed then that they had to be filled in for each child.. Wrong.  She was happy with the profile/record sheets I had designed and said they were plenty for the 0-3's. Well that was good news for me as our group now have less paperwork to do there. 

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[Guest]

Hi Amethyst. I Am an NQT teaching in a nursery school.children whose age range from 6mths to 41/2 years. I have attended several taster courses based on the 'Birth to Three' framework but none habe been able to offer me advice on how tyo plan effectively. Please could you send me a copy of your BTTM planning framework as a starting point. Thankyou!

Lorna

[AnonyMouse_73]

Just to inmterrupt for a minute and welcome in Lorna. Please make yourself at home here.

[AnonyMouse_1027]

Hello Lorna welcome to this fabulous site

[Guest]

I don't want to offend and some may say I'm wrong but please be careful when you use the term "planning" for these very young children.

 

I have a forboding feeling of "dejavue" that these childrens experiences and play will be confined to seperate boxes ( or should I say "components"to use the correct jargon). Just like the 6 areas of learning & stepping stones we have for the older ( but still very young) children. Learning is not and should not be compartmentalised.

 

Yes, plan experiences and resources but the posts about of publications that include "Activity Plans" scares me. If an adult takes time to "write" an Activity plan they will be compelled to "lead" it, to ensure it happens.

 

Let these young children "write" their own activity plans, all you need to do is "read" THEIR planned play as they participate in it, provide a safe, secure environment to do it in, with stimulating ( sensory) resources, including time. Observe and support their "natural" development.

 

 

Peggy

[Guest]

Thank goodness Peggy, I was starting to feel like I was going mad! I have Ofsted coming next week to inspect my husband and I as childminders and I was getting a bit twitchy over lack of any planning! I too feel they shouldn't have rigid plans to these target areas. I prefer to look back over each session and say 'Wow, little Fred achieved XYZ today' and log that and if there are glaring gaps in the BTTM frameworks I then put more activities based around that out. Does that make sense? Will Ofsted accept that as valid tho

[Guest]

I agree with you 100%, Peggy. On the course I did we were encouraged to ditch the term 'planning' and use 'thinking' instead. I found the freer terminology freed up my own approach to BTTM; it was quite releasing.

[AnonyMouse_1027]

I agree but dont the big O want tosee planning????????????