AnonyMouse_19802 Posted January 3, 2016 Posted January 3, 2016 I use it with twos... all I know is that adult interaction at this age is key to their development and the children need to be free to do what they need to do...not what an adult thinks they should do - so being 'in the moment' is a necessity...to me Anna's planning approach seems perfectly suited for this age. Ooo going to use that trekker , if and when, I come up against someone 'questioning' our approach! Couldn't have put it better.... ............. onto the back of my hand!!!
AnonyMouse_4562 Posted January 3, 2016 Posted January 3, 2016 When I went on Anna's course she said that she wouldn't use her retrospective planning sheet with 2s as they operate as individuals not as groups. But she would use anything else! However, I use the sheet to record both individual and group 'in the moment' planning. Her setting is about to start taking 2s!
AnonyMouse_51737 Posted January 3, 2016 Posted January 3, 2016 Panic over thsnks That's it Megamum, that's been my issue looking at her way yet adapting it for constant children coming in at various parts of year, the fact we are in tapestry and children are on average only with us 15hrs per week. I have decided to do the focus sheets on A4 and these will go with the child's snapshot summaries that I print termley. If a staff member writes on focus sheet and it's not written on tapestry they write NOT (not on tap) at end,most should be in tapestry. I'm also continuing with what we currently do which is at end of each half term the KW does an obs called 'data input' in which they go through the seven areas and tick which DM's they know without a shadow of doubt the child can do, they know I may question them and have to give a good few examples of when/how they know. This helps me to ensure tapestry data is current. 1
AnonyMouse_8885 Posted January 7, 2016 Posted January 7, 2016 Can anyone clarify if she does progress reports? I don't remember reading about them, just she keeps cohorts of progress. It's a requirement of our funding! I'm keeping them very simple now though, as they are so time consuming and some parents spend 2 seconds reading them. Also, what about a transition to school report. Anna just showed a very simplistic page with a COEL paragraph, child's drawing and attendence at the end of the year for parents?
AnonyMouse_39602 Posted January 23, 2016 Posted January 23, 2016 So can I ask does anyone still plan with a theme in mind ? A general lose plan ie dinosaurs and is the cp centred around that ?
AnonyMouse_4562 Posted January 23, 2016 Posted January 23, 2016 We have a loose theme as required by my school. We do a mindmap with the children in the first week and follow their interests. However, it is light-touch so it is integrated where necessary and appropriate into CP but if the children are not engaging with the themed resources then they will go. All the normal provision remains only changing with needs and involvement if necessary. Green Hippo xxx 1
AnonyMouse_39602 Posted January 24, 2016 Posted January 24, 2016 Thanks green hippo , worried that our parents still like a theme as do the staff , maybe I could incorporate the focus sheets to focus staff as well . Just thinking how we can incorporate a loose theme by using the provision and using the children's interest 1
AnonyMouse_7120 Posted January 24, 2016 Posted January 24, 2016 (edited) Hi Lashes, we don't use themes anymore but each key person focuses on a couple of next steps over a half term (they will have picked them up from their key group tapestry summative assessment sheets) and this is what we share with the parents, giving them ideas to support at home, we don't plan small group activities for them individually anymore, staff have to find out what they want to know through engaging in what the children are showing an interest in, we do look at enhancing provision where groups of children are showing the same next steps ...does that make sense ? Edited January 24, 2016 by Mouseketeer 2
AnonyMouse_39602 Posted January 24, 2016 Posted January 24, 2016 Thanks Mouseketeer yes it does make sense not sure how we will implement that with staff and parents although I have always tried to do off the cuff following children's interest etc , which has not always been received by staff very well . I worry that without a theme they will lose direction or maybe it's exactly what they need . 2
Guest Posted May 15, 2016 Posted May 15, 2016 Hello everyone I know this is an older post but was hoping ypu might be able to help me. I am moving from F2 into F1 in September. I am really looking forward to it but think it is currently very structured. I am hoping to convince my headteacher to trial in the moment planning. I have read Anna's book and found it really inspiring. I know it will take time to embed this new way of Working. Just wondering how you have introduced this new way of Working? What planning do you currently do? How did you get other members of staff on board? Thank you in advance for any help xx
AnonyMouse_3139 Posted May 15, 2016 Posted May 15, 2016 (edited) When I've got more time I'm going to read all these ideas properly, they look fab. Our anager is on long term sick leave so, in place of anyone else wanting to lead, I've gotten a piece f wallpaper and divided it into weeks. Last week I wrote ideas for each day based on what we've observed and heard the week before. As its many years since I had to plan, I decided to leave off the focus, allowing staff to know their key children better than I do and to take to take what they need from each activity. Simple for me and not prescriptive for them. Edited May 15, 2016 by Rea 2
AnonyMouse_67184 Posted June 8, 2016 Posted June 8, 2016 I have been in childcare for such a long time and as a manager the thought of 'that inspection' would keep my mind reeling with all the constant updates and legislation which is being thrown at us all the time. But I feel I have now come full circle....What are my interests? who matters most to me? so we have come to the conclusion that the children and their families are our priority not what an inspector may say.....So we have decided as a team that this is who we want to be and if it means we lose our outstanding then so be it....or we may get a wonderful inspector who totally gets us but we feel we are ready to take the risk. I read a snippet of Anna Ephgrave's book, she really struck me as my kind of thinker. So i brought the book and couldn't put it down! We will be introducing the no forward planning system in January after our Christmas break and I am too am slightly dubious about a couple of my team who may use this as an excuse to have a little rest! My concern is whether we are well resourced enough, dont get me wrong, we have a lot of lovely equipment particularly loose play parts which build on the child's imagination and curiosity but are we ready to 'step back' and let the children lead the way? is there enough to ensure that their brains are working at a higher level function. It may not be a justified fear but its one i have nonetheless, we are so used to following child led activities so I dont know why I feel its such a big jump. I think my worry is having to chase the staff around, seeing big gaps where a child's development should have been recorded, as some staff need a little support with initiative or seeing the bigger picture, :blink: at least with our current planning it clearly shows what effort the staff are making to development and support their key children and as a manager, this helps me to track their understanding- with the no forward planning, I am worried that they may miss too many wonderful opportunities. I am thinking of using the weekly evaluation sheet as the development record for each child and one 'formal' observation on the online journal (starting after Christmas) all this information will then be collected add fed into their personal trackers. The online journals will mainly be for parent participation, to share ideas for home, what happening at home etc as paper forms dont seem to be returned as often as we would like and parent feedback is essential for our SEF etc. I am currently updating my SEF and thinking of putting our new planning concept in......do you think I should include it and explain my reasons why or wait until the day itself to show them in person how we are supporting the individual? I want to show we are a reflective practice but I'm not sure on including this one until we have had a good go at it. And also...random thought.... we unfortunately do not have free flow for indoor and outdoor play for our younger children....Do you think this means we can truly allow the child to develop interests as they think it? I would welcome your feedback guys...thank you for taking the time to read my ramblings! Hi Are you still using in the moment planning if so how is it going. We are based in Warwickshire and are thinking of planning this way from September. I have read the book and feel it is the way to go but would like to know how people have implemented it Thanks KCP 1
AnonyMouse_54282 Posted July 1, 2016 Posted July 1, 2016 Hi KCP We are indeed still using the in the moment planning and it is going really well. We were inspected in March and when we talked to the inspectors, they really got it and we were very happy with it. There are some hurdles that I keep an eye on, such as refreshing of areas, as I feel that an area should not be constructed but should be set out clearly so children can see what is available and everything is within east reach. Staff have generally taken to this very well, I have had to support alot on how they record the child's learning on observations ( the way we do it is that the child's input is highlighted in one colour and the encouragement or 'teaching' from a practitioner is highlighted in another) The parents absolutely love the input they have in the planning and always enjoy the mini reports we send home at the end of a focus week. When a child has a focus week, we also display their COEL to share with parents and remind staff about the best way perhaps to offer an experience. Are there any areas that you would like to ask me specifically about? happy to discuss how we do it our end! 1
AnonyMouse_42551 Posted November 23, 2016 Posted November 23, 2016 Hi All, Old topic but new for us, we are looking to move over in January but - we havent had any training on the subject so we are making it up as we go, can anyone put up examples of the sheets they are using? Also just started reading the book so totally not there yet but hey we are in the midst of setting up the room to support the childrens free choice and no set up but every area of learning with the areas quite naturally. We do have mixed ages from 2 to 4s. If you only concentrate on 10% per week some staff will not be focusing on their key children - is that right? Also with only 10% a child may not be focused on each half term - how do your parents deal with that? Im also struggling with how I use Tapestry to evidence our practice using In the moment? Our aim currently is to observe each child in each aspect by the end of each term so that I have evidence to back up the development bands they sit in and these areas are generally observed more than once so therefore I can see they are doing things independently and consistently if a child is considered secure in an area. Using In the moment do you achieve the same thing but in a week? How so you all track your progress - im rubbish on the analysis on Tapestry as it is! Sorry for the loads of questions but following a visit to best practice rooms are full of it and all on board to go for it (yes very lucky with our staff) but we need some guidance........xxxx
FSFRebecca Posted November 25, 2016 Posted November 25, 2016 Have you read our book review of Anna Ephgrave's 'The Nursery Year in Action' ? Also, I'm delighted to say that Anna is going to be writing for us in the new year about the planning/assessment/next steps issues that are raised when working with this method. So watch this space ... 3
AnonyMouse_19802 Posted November 25, 2016 Posted November 25, 2016 Hi All, Old topic but new for us, we are looking to move over in January but - we havent had any training on the subject so we are making it up as we go, can anyone put up examples of the sheets they are using? Also just started reading the book so totally not there yet but hey we are in the midst of setting up the room to support the childrens free choice and no set up but every area of learning with the areas quite naturally. We do have mixed ages from 2 to 4s. If you only concentrate on 10% per week some staff will not be focusing on their key children - is that right? Also with only 10% a child may not be focused on each half term - how do your parents deal with that? Im also struggling with how I use Tapestry to evidence our practice using In the moment? Our aim currently is to observe each child in each aspect by the end of each term so that I have evidence to back up the development bands they sit in and these areas are generally observed more than once so therefore I can see they are doing things independently and consistently if a child is considered secure in an area. Using In the moment do you achieve the same thing but in a week? How so you all track your progress - im rubbish on the analysis on Tapestry as it is! Sorry for the loads of questions but following a visit to best practice rooms are full of it and all on yboard to go for it (yes very lucky with our staff) but we need some guidance........xxxx Hi Keyup maybe I can give you a glimpse of our experience and modification of TITM to suit our setting... Firstly we are a totally different setting to the one in AE's book. We are packaway and with children attending 2 -5 sess pw 2-4yr olds. This I realised made a big difference to the 'flow' of TITM as presented in the book. When we began we did the 10% - sent camera home for Parents to contribute etc, however this didn't work for us. Parents were not all good at returning camera and obs sheet in time and everything became very complicated. Some were great at it and I must say I could see the parents input working well and was disappointed it didn't work for us. Onwards and upwards we modified...... So, now we do not do 10% for a focus week ( we found we could only do this once a half term) We each as keyperson choose a focus child of the Day. This allows us to rotate our children every 8 days and we get to spend more focused time with them over the term. We use the proforma sheet for focus child provided in the book and fill it in with our TITM over the term - at half term we evaluate it to see where the gaps in learning are and work on achieving learning in these areas for the second half of term. Tapestry - we put a modified version of focus child's learning/experience/achievements with a photo or two and Next Steps (I prefer possible lines of development) for Parents. This way they are informed and can contribute - if they so wish! Tracking Progress We too are rubbish at some of the fabulous analysis available....so we just do an end of term snapshot summary for the whole group - look for gaps in learning and achievement etc and prepare a cohort analysis to inform the following terms 'guidance'. Because we do not have such a wonderful environment as presented in the book and it appears these children are all 3/4yr olds and we have 2yr old (wreckers) we do find we have to create learning opportunities in a small room which are adult 'suggested' to enable the learning to take place. eg number action rhymes, Chatterboxes etc. Children are almost always keen to join them and it is 'their choice'. Though if we have a few reluctant ones too often we say 'ahh it's your turn"! - that gets them! : ) On the whole we prefer this method - we do a few lines of forward planning which is just adding too or tweaking our continuous provision. We evaluate the whole week the same way eg what went well, what didn't. Staff did feel they were doing everything twice i.e writing up focus child's TITM and then putting it on Tapestry but I pointed out that the focus child obs on paper demonstrates our TEACHING moments and we don't write yards on Tapestry! Hope you get the gist, it's a bit long winded and hope it helps! 1
AnonyMouse_42551 Posted November 25, 2016 Posted November 25, 2016 Have you read our book review of Anna Ephgrave's 'The Nursery Year in Action' ? Also, I'm delighted to say that Anna is going to be writing for us in the new year about the planning/assessment/next steps issues that are raised when working with this method. So watch this space ... We have the book and are some way through, what do you mean by writing for you? Will this affect the analysis and next steps side of Tapestry??x
AnonyMouse_42551 Posted November 25, 2016 Posted November 25, 2016 Hi Keyup maybe I can give you a glimpse of our experience and modification of TITM to suit our setting... Firstly we are a totally different setting to the one in AE's book. We are packaway and with children attending 2 -5 sess pw 2-4yr olds. This I realised made a big difference to the 'flow' of TITM as presented in the book. When we began we did the 10% - sent camera home for Parents to contribute etc, however this didn't work for us. Parents were not all good at returning camera and obs sheet in time and everything became very complicated. Some were great at it and I must say I could see the parents input working well and was disappointed it didn't work for us. Onwards and upwards we modified...... So, now we do not do 10% for a focus week ( we found we could only do this once a half term) We each as keyperson choose a focus child of the Day. This allows us to rotate our children every 8 days and we get to spend more focused time with them over the term. We use the proforma sheet for focus child provided in the book and fill it in with our TITM over the term - at half term we evaluate it to see where the gaps in learning are and work on achieving learning in these areas for the second half of term. Tapestry - we put a modified version of focus child's learning/experience/achievements with a photo or two and Next Steps (I prefer possible lines of development) for Parents. This way they are informed and can contribute - if they so wish! Tracking Progress We too are rubbish at some of the fabulous analysis available....so we just do an end of term snapshot summary for the whole group - look for gaps in learning and achievement etc and prepare a cohort analysis to inform the following terms 'guidance'. Because we do not have such a wonderful environment as presented in the book and it appears these children are all 3/4yr olds and we have 2yr old (wreckers) we do find we have to create learning opportunities in a small room which are adult 'suggested' to enable the learning to take place. eg number action rhymes, Chatterboxes etc. Children are almost always keen to join them and it is 'their choice'. Though if we have a few reluctant ones too often we say 'ahh it's your turn"! - that gets them! : ) On the whole we prefer this method - we do a few lines of forward planning which is just adding too or tweaking our continuous provision. We evaluate the whole week the same way eg what went well, what didn't. Staff did feel they were doing everything twice i.e writing up focus child's TITM and then putting it on Tapestry but I pointed out that the focus child obs on paper demonstrates our TEACHING moments and we don't write yards on Tapestry! Hope you get the gist, it's a bit long winded and hope it helps! Rafa ive been thinking along similar lines and trying to come up with a form for Tapestry but I suggested a "what we have been doing" type of ob that includes the teaching and modelling and extending so that we dont type it up twice just add to that ob throughout the week.......and yes a focus child per week per keyworker so that our two yr olds are treated the same, i then thought about having the acrylic menu board things dotted about for staff to write their resource requirements on, child a asked for x but its in the shed so need to bring in, that sort of thing? I dont like having paper, I want Tapestry to do it. So focus ob per week? I run the snapshots each half term per keyworker and one whole setting for me, but I want a basic percentage of setting on target below or above type thing? I export the data every term currently and manually examine development bands in each area from the previous term (very long winded) but interestingly has thrown up an anomaly in the tech area of obs with all staff so im now looking at this area in the setting. Currently we have a focus area per week so we know we can then cover all areas almost twice over a term, actually this desnt work too bad to be honest......... Still trying to work out the best method without paper.......x 1
AnonyMouse_7120 Posted November 26, 2016 Posted November 26, 2016 (edited) Like Rafa we have adapted it to work in our setting, we now have 1X A4 sheet a week just to add group activities (as this suits our routine) and the ITM sheets (but thinking of loosing them to scribble on dry wipe board - who is ever going to read them again?) Rather than focus chn for a week, we focus on 1or 2 Next Steps for each child a half term, we use tapestry to share this with parents at the start of the half term and add a couple of ideas to support learning at home and ask them to contribute, I then add an ob for each child, it doesn't get sent out but the keyperson (mainly) and any staff can add evidence/photos to that ob over the half term, this evidence is gained through their play mainly with the odd 'planned activity' being added if a key person really wants to target something they might not observe in free play (could be none or 2/3 a week) At the end of HT, staff update each aspect with band/refinement (we no longer tick any eyfs statements on observations), this is then added to journals, I print off cohort summative assessments and key groups for staff, at the end of half term, I go through and highlight each aspect that showed progress for each child, this E asily shows gaps in different groups or provision, we then look at our continuous provision to promote those areas, staff then highlight another colour their 1or 2 NSs for the following HT and the cycle begins again, we have a quick 15 minute a week get together at the planning board and that's it, Ofsted this week and happy with it, all parents spoken to said they loved tapestry and knew what their chn were learning :-D Edited November 26, 2016 by Mouseketeer 1
AnonyMouse_3307 Posted November 26, 2016 Posted November 26, 2016 Can anyone now demonstrate with their data that this approach makes a bigger difference than any other approach you have used to children's outcomes or your closing of any groups for disadvantaged children? (Given that all approaches to T+L are as valid as any other and no one has the monopoly on being right to the exclusion of others) It does strike me that there is very little in the way of an evidence based approach to this. I have always planned "in the moment" when working with children for years because isn't that what teachers are able to do? But I also recall 32 years ago when I started teaching in EYFS and we had no statutory anything, that children did fall through the gaps and did fail to develop the skills they needed without some kind of structure from the adults. Haven't strong teachers always planned "in the moment" whilst having a framework to work in? I don't see what this adds, apart from selling adults a paperwork promise?? Everyone is talking about how they do it, not what difference doing it is actually making! Cx
AnonyMouse_42551 Posted November 26, 2016 Posted November 26, 2016 Like Rafa we have adapted it to work in our setting, we now have 1X A4 sheet a week just to add group activities (as this suits our routine) and the ITM sheets (but thinking of loosing them to scribble on dry wipe board - who is ever going to read them again?) Rather than focus chn for a week, we focus on 1or 2 Next Steps for each child a half term, we use tapestry to share this with parents at the start of the half term and add a couple of ideas to support learning at home and ask them to contribute, I then add an ob for each child, it doesn't get sent out but the keyperson (mainly) and any staff can add evidence/photos to that ob over the half term, this evidence is gained through their play mainly with the odd 'planned activity' being added if a key person really wants to target something they might not observe in free play (could be none or 2/3 a week) At the end of HT, staff update each aspect with band/refinement (we no longer tick any eyfs statements on observations), this is then added to journals, I print off cohort summative assessments and key groups for staff, at the end of half term, I go through and highlight each aspect that showed progress for each child, this E asily shows gaps in different groups or provision, we then look at our continuous provision to promote those areas, staff then highlight another colour their 1or 2 NSs for the following HT and the cycle begins again, we have a quick 15 minute a week get together at the planning board and that's it, Ofsted this week and happy with it, all parents spoken to said they loved tapestry and knew what their chn were learning :-D Do you do the usual obs throughout the HT aswell though and just dont send the focus one out? Thats what I was thinking of doing and adding all of the teachable moments and any required provision to that ob, then the mgr can read it and edit it before its sent out make notes herself of what is required? It then means another sheet isnt needed, altho I wont have evidence of evaluation?.......any thoughts? Also mouseketeer are you using the summative assessment or earliest and latest age bands report?x
AnonyMouse_7120 Posted November 27, 2016 Posted November 27, 2016 Hi keyup, yes we still add other obs as they happen, it's only the evidence for our planned next steps that gets added to that ob and then added to the journal at the end of the half term, on this ob the KP also assesses each aspect, they will have either shown progress or not. I then use the latest snapshot as it picks up all the KP assessments. I can also see how your idea of adding teachable moments over the week would also work, I think it's about finding a way of using ITM and tying tapestry together that suits your setting.
FSFRebecca Posted November 28, 2016 Posted November 28, 2016 We have the book and are some way through, what do you mean by writing for you? Will this affect the analysis and next steps side of Tapestry??x No, Anna is going to write a teaching and learning article for the FSF, nothing to do with Tapestry!
AnonyMouse_42551 Posted January 11, 2017 Posted January 11, 2017 Hi keyup, yes we still add other obs as they happen, it's only the evidence for our planned next steps that gets added to that ob and then added to the journal at the end of the half term, on this ob the KP also assesses each aspect, they will have either shown progress or not. I then use the latest snapshot as it picks up all the KP assessments. I can also see how your idea of adding teachable moments over the week would also work, I think it's about finding a way of using ITM and tying tapestry together that suits your setting. Hi Mouseketeer one more question whats yr planning board??xx
AnonyMouse_7120 Posted January 11, 2017 Posted January 11, 2017 Hi Keyup, it's just the board where we have our end of half term summative assessments up (with highlighted NS for all for current half term) and our weekly group planning sheet, the meeting isn't long enough to sit down ;-p 1
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