Elfy Posted August 17, 2007 Share Posted August 17, 2007 Hi I am really keen on involving parents as much as possible in my settling, as I am sure lots of you are too. I have already introduced a few different ideas to the setting I work in the last year, but I am keen to develop this further, especially in the area of assessment. I thought that you all probably have lots of wonderful ideas about this area and wondered whether you would share them...? For example, the other day it was suggested to me that you could have the photos of the children on a slideshow on the computer/whiteboard each week to promote discussion with parents/children/practitioners. Elfy x Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HappyMaz Posted August 17, 2007 Share Posted August 17, 2007 Hi I am really keen on involving parents as much as possible in my settling, as I am sure lots of you are too. I have already introduced a few different ideas to the setting I work in the last year, but I am keen to develop this further, especially in the area of assessment. I thought that you all probably have lots of wonderful ideas about this area and wondered whether you would share them...? For example, the other day it was suggested to me that you could have the photos of the children on a slideshow on the computer/whiteboard each week to promote discussion with parents/children/practitioners. Elfy x We get them to fill in an initial 'all about me' profile which tells us about their abilities, likes and dislikes when they first start - and I think we should revisit this again after a set period (but don't, currently). We make heavy use of photographs in children's 'special books' which we annotate to give information about the child's thought process, what they did, what the results were etc. As part of this we talk to the parents to see if there are any emerging themes in their play etc. One instance was a set of photographs I took of a little boy who was taking a role of masking tape on a trip around the nursery. He gave one end of the tape to an older girl who was busily playing in a big cardboad box while he literally walked around and around taping chairs together, wrapping it round table legs (and willing children as they took part in other activities around the room!). At the end of the session I spoke to mum and told her what had happened and she said that they had found this a really useful way of 'keeping him occupied' as they were unpacking boxes during their recent move. So all this information was able to be added to the account of the child's day - and the parent was pleased to see her voice being added to her child's observations in this way. We also have a home/pre-school communication book which we both fill in with information. So we've found out that children have learned to ride their bike without stabilisers, have developed a fascination with spiders or whatever. In our brave new world of life without topics, we will be able to incorporate this in our planning, and in our assessment of children's learning. As usual I've gabbled on - not sure if its helpful or not but its useful to reflect on one's practice.... And there's also Mill Hill's excellent detailed description of how she involves parents in planning for children's learning in another thread... Maz Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted August 17, 2007 Share Posted August 17, 2007 we are very similar to Happymaz at the moment - we involve parents on entry by asking to fill in initial profile sheets but then don't do enough to follow this up. would definately recommend reading Millhill's information http://www.foundation-stage.info/forums/in...15&start=15 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
louby loo Posted August 17, 2007 Share Posted August 17, 2007 what we're trying to do at the moment is to 'educate' the parents more as to the importance of play. For example we got the parents actively invoved with making discovery bottles.. we made some leaflets with the learning benefits of them etc and website link on them. We found this really helped the parents to see there's more to learning than pencil skills!!! I should add I do work in a reasonably affluent area, and a lot - and I mean a LOT of pressure is put on many of our children to 'perform academically' so we are forever trying to promote learning through play. xx Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
louby loo Posted August 17, 2007 Share Posted August 17, 2007 HappyMaz- your story reminds me - many years ago my husband was 'sellotaped' to the chair by his infant school teacher to stop him getting up and walking around to much!!! xx Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Deb Posted August 17, 2007 Share Posted August 17, 2007 Very interested too in this post. Already some great ideas. Love the idea of asking parents to make discovery bottles as I think this is a great idea just don't seem to get round to doing them myself. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Elfy Posted August 17, 2007 Author Share Posted August 17, 2007 thanks for your ideas so far and yes the contirbutions millhill made to the EYSF discussion were very useful. We also have initial/get to know me profiles filled in by parents and similiar to other feel we could make better use of these. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted August 17, 2007 Share Posted August 17, 2007 This may sound silly but what is a " discovery bottle"?? You should definately read Millhills comments they are very helpful!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted August 17, 2007 Share Posted August 17, 2007 if you put discovery bottles in and do a search of old posts lots will come up, they are bascially bottles filled with glycerine/water and different items, we have made many in the past, kids love them....... people on the forum have some really good ideas for these!!!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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