Teacher directed group activities?

[Guest]

I've been reading Alistair Bryce -Clegg books about taking focused learning into continuous provision in reception class. However I'm now questioning how I plan my day. Previously I've gathered the children for a short imput and then kept a group to work with me on an adult led task. The other children have continuous provision and an adult is available to interact with these children.

This week I've tried taking the planned numeracy objectives into the areas but hand on heart I've not really be able to teach what I needed to! So it's back to the drawing board and I would really appreciate if anyone would share how they organise their group activities.

Thanks

[Guest]

Did you know that you can send your question direct to Alistair Bryce-Clegg?

[AnonyMouse_16346]

I have recently incorporated this and it is working! I still do a small whole class input and then keep a group where the activity is more focussed. Once that group has finished I have an objective led plan where I am targeting other children and I go off into the areas to try and do it! For eg. I have some who can't count by pointing 1:1 so I focus on that. My TA has an objective led plan too where I have given her specific children to go to in the areas. It does not always work as it depends on the child and what they are engaged in at the time but we just carry the plan forward to the next day.

 

The thing I do like that I have changed (because of Alistair) is I no longer call groups to me after I have worked with my initial group I go to other childen. This way their play isn't stopped and they don't see the work I am going to do as something that is stopping them - if that makes sense. What I do sometimes if whilst I am working with a group there are some children hovering then I ask if they want to come and work with me and they usually do!

I have bought ABC's book on Continious Provision and used his planning formats in the back. So far so good!

Hope that helps.

Edited October 13, 2013 by BagelFace

[Guest]

I used to do it like BagelFace too. It made sure that I was feeling confident I had covered objectives I had set in my small group work and then if I became distracted by the children's objectives while in the provision it wasn't instead of mine but in addition to them, if that make sense.

[Guest]

I have done the same. I used to do an input followed by adults doing directed activities and swapping groups over, or one adult doing that and the other supporting play.

I tried last year to incorporate the objective led planning but found it really hard as I had some Y1s in my class and constantly felt pulled in 2 directions, despite treating them as a class not 2 year groups.

 

This year, with just Reception, I am finding it is working really well. The adult with a directed group joins in with supporting play once that activity has run its course. So, for example, tomorrow morning my TA is doing some adult led role-play in our shoe shop with two boys (whose next step is to use language in role play). She is actually then going to repeat the activity with 2 more boys at some point during the morning when it fits for them as I didn't want to have all 4 plus TA in there at the same time so that it can be quality time rather than squashed. While she does this and after wards I will be using my objective led plan where possible as the others choose. One of the activities I am planning to have out is various vehicles and bowls of paint with large paper. For some children I will (hopefully!) be able to focus on large arm movements reaching across and driving cars round, whereas for others I am going to try and get them to form some letters. Of course they'll probably end up doing something with it that negates my planned thoughts!! After my TA has done her groups, or between them, she will join me in provision areas.

[AnonyMouse_44055]

I'm in Nursery and we are working on a compromise between the two ideas.

We have an objective in mind which we are working on for example counting. I use my assessments to know where the children currently are and therefore what might help support them to move on.

The first day myself and my Nursery Nurses will discuss at the beginning of the day the main focus objective and then during that session will interact with the children joining in their play and supporting children by extending their CI play and aiming to introduce the skills we are working on to it.

Between the three of us we will often manage to get meaningful observations relative to our learning focus for about 2/3rds of the class in a session.

In the next session (or sessions depending on how long we are focusing on a specific skill) we will continue with the same approach having resourced the area to specifically provide opportunities for the skill based on the children we haven't yet worked with (i.e. if little Johnny loves the racing cars and has so far not really engaged with us in a counting activity then we might get those out ready for him to make an exciting race track and eventually us to encourage a bit of counting to see how many cars started the race, how many finished etc....)

We would then use adult directed tasks as a last option for those children who for whatever reason still needed that.

I like it, I feel like I am playing with the children more, it is more individual and the children are less interrupted by me calling them over. However it is nursery and we never did quite as many adult directed activities as Reception in the first place.

 

Mel

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[Guest]

I'm very interested to read this topic as I have also been looking at objective led planning after reading ABC's book on continuous provision. I like the idea that you take into the children's play their 'next steps' within a particular aspect. However, I'm not too sure with how this fits with they way we have been working,

Can I ask. are the next steps that you highlight on your objective led planning the only next steps you are working on that week? (I know you could have several objective led plans in a week so several next steps within different AOL) . We have previously observed children in play (not every child every week) and then create a suitable next step/s based on the observations for each child and then showed how we would support that on next weeks planning. So you might have 1 child working on fine motor dev another on giving meaning to marks. another on numeral recognition etc etc.

Do you all do this sort of individual next step planning/obs alongside the objective led planning or not?

I'm probably not making much sense but I've got myself in a muddle over thinking this so would be very glad of any clarity.

[Guest]

I do next steps for specific things for specific children and also linked to 'taught' things from the week or weeks before.

 

E.g. maths recognising numbers to 5 for one child as he stands out with this compared to the others, whereas others have next steps linked to what they could or couldn't do last week in focused activities.

[Guest]

Thanks to everyone for sharing how they organise group activities. I feel that I'm on the right track but need to think carefully and prioritise with focused activities. Trying to do too much too soon!

Any more suggestions?

Edited October 14, 2013 by Guest

[Guest]

Sorry, me again!

One thing the EY advisor told me was not to feel I had to fit too much in. It was reassuring to be reminded that not every child has to do every activity, which helped me focus more on next steps and how best to address those. So, for example, adult led activity of using language in role-play area today applied to 4 children. The rest where engaged in child led learning and those doing the adult led did child led afterwards, rather than an adult working through all the groups.

[AnonyMouse_4562]

Hi,

We do a similar thing in Nursery but on a more individual basis. So, during CI time (1.5 hours-ish) we have 2 targets per child to focus on - these can stay 'active' for a number of weeks as we feel next steps are not going to be 'achieved' within one or two weeks. So children may well make progress against them but we continue to focus on these targets until we feel the children have made a significant step forward. So, for example, the first 2 weeks may be more of the adults modelling and supporting and then in the 3rd week the child will begin to show more independence with whatever the target is. If children do make progress quickly, we simply add another suitable target. I sometimes have a named skill that I plan to focus on through-out the week through CI play with all the children. In addition to this we have weekly objectives which are covered through key group activities in small-group time towards the end of the session. The environment is enhanced accordingly to support and promote these objective where possible and necessary. Again, weekly objectives are linked to a medium-term aim so are often developed over a number of weeks to ensure progress has been made.

During CI time, all adults are available to support play and observe. We will support and extend all AOL and fit in the targets where appropriate without taking over children's play. Each week we take 3 to 4 children to really focus on, spending more time with them and setting up little focuses for them if necessary to take their learning forward. We do much more spontaneously now and have found the focus on targets has really made a difference.

As with many things in life (not just teaching!), I find that it's often a mixture of good ideas that give the best results!

Green Hippo x

[Guest]

I have recently incorporated this and it is working! I still do a small whole class input and then keep a group where the activity is more focussed. Once that group has finished I have an objective led plan where I am targeting other children and I go off into the areas to try and do it! For eg. I have some who can't count by pointing 1:1 so I focus on that. My TA has an objective led plan too where I have given her specific children to go to in the areas. It does not always work as it depends on the child and what they are engaged in at the time but we just carry the plan forward to the next day.

 

The thing I do like that I have changed (because of Alistair) is I no longer call groups to me after I have worked with my initial group I go to other childen. This way their play isn't stopped and they don't see the work I am going to do as something that is stopping them - if that makes sense. What I do sometimes if whilst I am working with a group there are some children hovering then I ask if they want to come and work with me and they usually do!

I have bought ABC's book on Continious Provision and used his planning formats in the back. So far so good!

Hope that helps.

Do you have acopy of your provision plan/ timetable as we are struggling?

[Guest]

Do you use a particular format for your next steps? Would it be possible to see an example of how you record them- as I am struggling to organise this visually.

Thanks

[AnonyMouse_4562]

Not sure if you're asking me (sorry ignore this if not me!).

For next steps, I have 1 A4 sheet per key group (up to 10 children) and have 5 columns with their names down the side. The columns read name, next step, AOLs, next step, AOLs, additional next step. All staff have a sheet and we jot down the date we have supported the child with the next step. We write an observation if we feel that the child have made significant progress against it and are demonstrating an ability to do it independently. The 'additional next step' box is there because some children have 3 and to add others as we go through the half-term. I keep considering whether we should be more systematic in our approach - e.g. targeting one key group per week etc, but when we have tried this before, we found that in our daily interactions we found ourselves interacting with a wide range of children and if we could support them in their target then and there then we would, so often children from other key groups would already have been targeted, if that makes sense. Would be interesting to hear how other's do it.

I have previously tried having more next steps but found that I spent ages writing these out and fitting them onto sheets, but then we couldn't practically manage to use them effectively. The staff know the children well and are aware of their stages of learning and development so the targets really area just that - reminders of key areas to target. Of course, we support and promote children in all areas of learning depending on what they are engaged in at the time.

I did go on a LA assessment course recently with mainly Reception teachers and nobody that I spoke to had next steps/targets for their children and if they did, they said they are written down but not really used?? On a slightly different note, I was quite surprised to hear how many people were coming away from CP and becoming much more formal for most of the day, offering 'free choice' in the last hour. A number of them said that they used the areas but directed them within these areas most of the time. It seems that some people are trying to move away from working in groups and targeting children through play, while others are going more formal?

Green Hippo x

[Guest]

Thanks Green Hippo!

 

I will definately try the A4 sheets, I have next steps in Learning Journeys and on the walls- but think it is easier to show progression if we adopted a system with the next steps as a working document with all adults aware of them.

I have a few adult helpers for my class and they are far more confident with an adult directed activity rather than supporting play and learning. So I end up spending my time ineffecutally policing behaviour, recording observations as well as challenging targeted children, during child led. I'll definately buy a copy of Alistair Bryce-Clegg's book!

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