Panicking!

[Guest]

hey everyone

 

This site has been soooo helpful!! But I think I have read so much that have feel helpless in my planning.

At the moment I am really working myself up with planning for next term .

I have taught reception for a term now and have loved the experience.

I am the only early years teaching so I am doing planning on my own. I did a long term plan just showing topics to be covered, but I havn't done a long term plan outlining early learning goals to be covered.

I am just really confused out the elg's. The long term plan indicates what elg to cover over the year, however I am covering all the elg over the term. when it comes to weekly planning how many elg do you cover in that week. How can you can you plan an elg e.g getting dressed /undressed, and the next term not at all.

I think this message is just as confusing as my planning is, so i hope you can uderstand this.

I am on the verge of panicking about all the planning.

[AnonyMouse_2732]

Hi!

 

First off - PLEASE DON'T PANIC!!!!!

 

Sit down, have a coffee or whatever and just forget it all for a bit. I suspect you are trying to do far too much.

 

My long term plan purely states the three-year rolling cycle of topics. I am working on a statement of ongoing elg etc, but only to take it out of the medium term planning, which is looking a bit crowded. I don't go into elgs etc to be covered - how do we know?? We don't know where or even, in some cases, who the children will be. I don't hit on elgs, stepping stones or whatever until medium term i.e. topic planning, and then just to provide structure to the plan. Your short term planning is really the place for detailed elg stuff, and then really on a week-week basis, as your children respond, develop and indicate in which direction they are needing to move. It really is all about responding to the children.

 

As for how many elgs in a week, as long as you are providing a balanced experience, across the six areas, I wouldn't worry too much, it usually balances out. I'm in a DN, so not sure how the Literacy and Numeracy stuff should be weighted, but someone will be able to help out there, I'm sure.

 

Sue

[AnonyMouse_1490]

Laura I am not a teacher but a pre-school leader but I feel happy with my planning. I have my continuous provision planning running along-side my weekly planning. The weekly planning changes but the continuous planning is there all the time. I personally focus on 2 learning goals a week that are adult directed. The other 4 are covered by child initiated learning. My continuous provision is my back up.

I have found that young children learn so much by natural routines when in a stimulating enviroment. Most children go through these steps easily but some stand still and have to be helped. This is when the stepping stones/ learning goals are useful to refer to. Please try not to panick as you need to be winding down to enjoy your Christmas.

[Guest]

Hi Laura,

I'd love to say forget the planning, it's christmas, but no doubt you would like it out the way before you feel you can relax. I wish I was so organised, but hey, I'm the spontaneous, crisis manager who leaves everything to the final hour.

 

Have you looked at the planning examples in the FSC guideance book?

 

For my long term plan, I personally focus on one of the six areas of learning per week/fortnight but link this learning area to the other areas of play in my setting, for example if the focus is Maths, Aspect 2 Calculating, I would plan some adult led activities for this focus ( 1 per day) for example in my maths area I would have a maths game that requires making simple sets and counting how many in each set / how many altogether- and in the other areas of play, these would be child initiated activities but equipment to promote this focus- role play area - shop, creative area - printing with various sizes of paper-how many potato prints on each size of paper? Physical area - throwing one, then two, then three bean bags into a container etc.

Sorry my son has just arrived for a visit, over the next few days I will attach an example long term plan.

Have a look at the "continuous provision" plans, they are brilliant, they take into account any activities that happen on a regular/daily basis.

 

Peggy

[Guest]

Hey there,

 

Thank you so much for replying! I guess I am just feeling really tired, and need a break from for a while. I get over conscientious and really want to do the best I can (like all of us!!). I think it will take time to really get to the style of planning I like the best and that covers all the early learning goals.

The Foundation Forum is such a great place, so supportive and reassuring place. Thank you

 

Have a great Christmas everyone!!!!!

[Guest]

a copy of your long term planning would be sooooo helpful Peggy

[AnonyMouse_79]

Laura, didnt get in yesterday so hoping you are feeling calmer now.

Planning is a very personal thing and what works for one person and in one situation may not work so well for another.

My long term plans really only showed the bones of what I was going to cover in terms of topics and the resources, if any, that I was going to use to enable this (schemes etc ). The detail was in the medium term plan and the detaled in the short term to respond to the children as Sue has said.

The foundation stage planning guidance suggests that we only need long and short term planning so I tended to think of my medium term as long and the long term as a guide or overview.

 

I understand what you are saying about the ELG coverage and you can show this within your medium term planning as activities/ experiences that are topic based and will lead to goal attainment and by spontaneous or continuous provision. Your topic provision will enable you to be broad and balanced and to make sure that over the year you are covering the curriculum while those everyday experiences are acknowledged and built in!

 

hope that makes sense.

But do remember that planning evolves, dont panic about it but keep adjusting and talking until you get something you are happy with.

[Guest]

Hi Susan and everyone,

 

Just want to say to all experienced members here, you do a wonderful thing in helping others in early years teaching, so keep it up.

 

Love Laura