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Workshop style environment


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After Easter I am intending to implement a new OAP system which revolves around the Anna Ephgrave style "in the moment" and workshop style environment. I have done plenty of reading to support my decision for doing this and intend to hold some staff training on it. Our environment at the moment is set up by us. Children can access their choice in certain resources and can always ask for anything else they want. So obviously this is going to be a big change for children and staff. I have ordered open access shelving and intend to use the Easter break to get this set up. In part anyway. I guess I would just love any advice or photo's of what you offer and how you present it.

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You're going to start taking Old Age Pensioners in!!!........ that's really rather sweet.. :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol:

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Ha ha, took me a moment to realise what you were going on about! Thank you for making me laugh out loud, I needed to smile.

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Thank you very much for that vote of confidence in us OAPs...we can be very helpful and think of the wealth of experience we have.. (there are many 'of an age' who still run settings!)

 

Back to in the moment workshop style setting..

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We used to use wheeled units with six places for boxes/resources/whatever we put in them (pack away setting so on wheels). We would then use interests of the children to put resources in for them to explore and enhance as we saw how they played. We also set loosely in areas so for example in the maths area we would perhaps put in wooden circular blocks in a basket with a number line and numbered pockets hanging for the children to post the blocks into. When the children rolled the blocks and also stacked them, we added in the hop scotch mat and a couple of tape measures. We were hoping to see number recognition, sorting and number matching, counting, measuring, introduce mathematical language, concepts etc, etc. when we further enhanced with a drainpipe for the children to roll the blocks down (some of the younger children struggled with rolling) it opened up all sorts of opportunities - the clip boards came out for the children to mark make whose turn was next, the whole conversation about whose block went the furthest and the many ways that we could measure from tape measures, to foot steps to children laying on the floor head to toe!

 

We then had a mark making area with all sorts of pens, pencils, chalks, various sizes of paper, things to drawer around, threading, pegging, scissors, tape, hole punches, staplers etc which the children could freely explore and then display their creations in our gallery.

 

There was a life experience area with all sorts of resources to support role play. In short all areas were freely accessed by the children who led their own play and discovery which were then enhanced through observations if that makes sense! We were in a huge village hall which allowed us to have a large area for physical development for those who loved to explore by movement with trampolines, slides perhaps or sometimes a huge pile of empty cardboard boxes.

 

It can get very untidy as the children transport from place to place, but it does allow the children to use the resources in ways that you hadn't even thought of. Yes they do bury the blocks in the sand, explore if they sink or float, if they fit in the shape sorter; they make fantastic stampers in the paint, are cool to draw round, sort of look like potatoes when playing supermarkets and even fit in my pocket to take outside and hide in the bug house for me to see if a bug is living under it the next day!!

 

In the moment teaching opportunities do reveal themselves as do the children's interests allowing staff to really get to know their key children and where they would naturally take them to next. It was our way of setting out but not setting out if you know what I mean! We had to put resources out as everything was stored in a Tardis like cupboard, but we tried to do it in a way that the children still had an element of free choice and weren't presenting with bricks on a mat or puzzles on a table!

 

Tidy up time could often take quite some time!!!

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Thank you very much for that vote of confidence in us OAPs...we can be very helpful and think of the wealth of experience we have.. (there are many 'of an age' who still run settings!)

 

Back to in the moment workshop style setting..

Absolutely - feeling quite insulted by the tone of this thread :o :lol: :lol: :lol:

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Absolutely - feeling quite insulted by the tone of this thread :o :lol: :lol: :lol:

Yeah me too and if it wasn't for the goal posts being moved..........I'd be sitting in my deckchair under the grey and cloudy midland skies reading my book!!! Instead of trying to be helpful with this thread! : )

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