Guest Posted August 18, 2008 Share Posted August 18, 2008 Hi I'm starting to panic a bit now that September is fast-approaching! I think I've got my head around the long-term planning using bits and pieces from all the wonderful Continuous Provision sheets I've found on here. I'm just a bit confused about the medium-term planning. I know it's difficult to plan ahead when we don't know what the children are interested in and therefore don't know what topics we will be doing. I'm just concerned about coverage of the six areas and all of the ELGs. I have an idea that the medium term plan will start off quite empty and fill up as the weeks go by. I know it's supposed to be a working document but would that be enough to satisfy OFSTED? I quite like the Medium term planning sheet on the Durham website but can't imagine what it would be like filled in! Has anybody found any good ideas? Sorry if there somewhere else and I have missed them which is very likely! Looking forward to seeing any ideas. I will post my planning sheets on here as soon as they are finished. Flutterby Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Katiebarr Posted August 18, 2008 Share Posted August 18, 2008 Hello Flutterby, Hi I am new to this forum, so I hope I am doing this ok! One idea I had for September was to introduce a mini theme called 'My favourite things' for the children. We are going to have so many new children starting and I thought it might be a starting point to help us find out about their individual interests. Activities include simple things like 'My favourite colour' (Golf ball painting choosing colours) or 'story' or 'food' etc. Thought it might provide us with some observations to build future activities upon. Katiebarr Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted August 19, 2008 Share Posted August 19, 2008 Hi katiebarr welcome i've only posted a couple of times your doing ok. I seem to read things want to say something then get sidetracked. I have been worried all summer about planning i'm in reception and have just come back from maternity. Then thought i've been teaching reception forever i love it have enthuiasm, the children enjoy school, we have great relationships with our parents it works well so why change. We are tweaking things like we need to go outside more, we are trying rolling snack, planning did get a little formal for us liek we were doing litreay and numeracy activities although we did do painting, KUW throughout the day and play so going back to how we worked before. From watching the children i am still going to use topics. How would my little girl know she would love minibeats (i certainly don't) if she hadn't looked at them at school with her friends. But like you thought i would start with Me and My favourite things as my first topic for the autumn term there is so much you can get out of it (what with settling in and christmas it shoud be ok) I am then going to do well was going to say growing but then thought maybe lving things as we look at animals (will ask children what animals tey would like to find out about - wild, farm,pet) then dinsoaurs as its just a great topic and great books, then plants and minibeasts agiain children can decide what minibeasts to find out about - we usually link our trip to this part as we have a nature reserve by us so silly to waste resources that are on our doorstep but these need to be planned and why go to a nature reserve and look at birds, plants and minibeasts if you are in the middle of learning about space in class chddlren will not see the connection and it will not enhance there learning of space!! . Then for the summer term thought about Our Environment/or The World around me haven't decided yet but this will be our homes, local area, buidlings, transport - we can get Space in here!, weather and we link this with going to our marina as we can walk to the water and have sand etc. I have used the Essex Long term plan (on essex grid for learning), i have adapted the continuous planning i have found which has been so kindly put on here by others. Medium term again adapted from other areas, going to do a web of ideas and then have a childrens mind map its a working document if we explore every idea thats fine, i like having a having a half term plan just to put main events in etc and also so i can get resources maybe find particlaur big books, buy resources if cooking Short term - having my coninuous provision sheet for in and outside adapted one i have used with another i saw on TES, then have my main plan which is the one from essex again but adapated and a timetable. The thing is we have worked from childrens interests if someone brings something in or it snows etc but you need to let the children explore other interests. In schools things happen like assemblies change time, TA may be taken away for something so free flo out and in is taken away. Sorry to go on hope its of help Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted August 19, 2008 Share Posted August 19, 2008 Like eggwomen, I am planning rough topics for each half term. All I have is a sheet with each of the 6 areas in a box. Then I just jot down possible ideas under each area. It doesn't mean I stick to them, they are just possible ideas and lines of enquiry, and wemight end up somewhere completely different to where we started. I intend to write on other ideas according to the interests of the children and posible ideas they develop as we go along. Not sure if that makes sense. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted August 19, 2008 Share Posted August 19, 2008 Hi only me again We are still doing topics each term and we list possible activities, enhancements etc to give our children different experiences and things to explore. We tend to repeat simple skills over and over though a topic approach - but obviously go with the children, or use toys and activities we know they like, enjoy and are interested in. Throughout every day the children come first, we learn through PLAY and most of all have lots of FUN. As most of you now know, my little ones are very special and have complex needs. But whatever, my philosophy is - "if you can't have fun when you are 4", something is wrong somewhere!!!! Good Luck to everyone out there who is in that paperwork panic mode like me. When there is paperwork on every floor, and you wonder if you will ever come up for air, just remember the smiling faces of our little ones for whom every moment is a learning opportunity. And, take pleasure from all the WOW moments, we have the privellege to share each day!!!!! Take Care x PS This is last terms medium plan we tried - nothing was set in stone and we diverted lots but we had a bit of structure too and ideas from the whole team and parents. Med_Term_SUN_SEA_SAND.doc Med_Term_SUN_SEA_SAND.doc Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted August 19, 2008 Share Posted August 19, 2008 Hi only me againWe are still doing topics each term and we list possible activities, enhancements etc to give our children different experiences and things to explore. We tend to repeat simple skills over and over though a topic approach - but obviously go with the children, or use toys and activities we know they like, enjoy and are interested in. Throughout every day the children come first, we learn through PLAY and most of all have lots of FUN. As most of you now know, my little ones are very special and have complex needs. But whatever, my philosophy is - "if you can't have fun when you are 4", something is wrong somewhere!!!! Good Luck to everyone out there who is in that paperwork panic mode like me. When there is paperwork on every floor, and you wonder if you will ever come up for air, just remember the smiling faces of our little ones for whom every moment is a learning opportunity. And, take pleasure from all the WOW moments, we have the privellege to share each day!!!!! Take Care x PS This is last terms medium plan we tried - nothing was set in stone and we diverted lots but we had a bit of structure too and ideas from the whole team and parents. Sorry pressed the attachment twice - both docs are the same!!!!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted August 19, 2008 Share Posted August 19, 2008 Looks great, thanks for sharing. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Susan Posted August 19, 2008 Share Posted August 19, 2008 You can go straight from LTP to STP. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Marion Posted August 19, 2008 Share Posted August 19, 2008 I'm with Susan we don't use MTP Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HappyMaz Posted August 19, 2008 Share Posted August 19, 2008 Welcome to the Forum, Katiebarr! Make yourself at home and keep posting - you'll be an expert before you know it! Maz Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted August 19, 2008 Share Posted August 19, 2008 Hi We are moving from medium term planning to creative development planning and incooperating Seal. It's all new to us a a primary school and so we have got i topic for whole school for 5 weeks- New beginnings- and most of us have made a web using the 6 areas of learning. I've done a rough overview to go with this. the first week back we've planned a week for lower and upper foundation. Have no idea if this is how it should be. anyone wanting to send email address and i'll send them. Think we are all in the same boat. Helen Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted August 20, 2008 Share Posted August 20, 2008 HiWe are moving from medium term planning to creative development planning and incooperating Seal. It's all new to us a a primary school and so we have got i topic for whole school for 5 weeks- New beginnings- and most of us have made a web using the 6 areas of learning. I've done a rough overview to go with this. the first week back we've planned a week for lower and upper foundation. Have no idea if this is how it should be. anyone wanting to send email address and i'll send them. Think we are all in the same boat. Helen hello, i am new to this, but finding everyones advice really useful. i was just wondering if you have any copies of the seal plans you are doing as we have taken this on in our school. thank you for your time and support. lisa Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted August 20, 2008 Share Posted August 20, 2008 Well, I've been doing lots of thinking about the medium term planning and have almost decided how i want it. Our first topic will be settling in/ourselves so will start of being adult directed but hopefully the children will take it where they want to. I saw a really good programme on Teachers TV where the staff had a planning meeting with the children and they decided what they wanted to do. Obviously it might need to be steered a bit to make sure everything is covered but the children had some ownership over the planning. So, I'm going to give them a few weeks to settle in and then choose a theme for the second half of the term. We'll have a meeting as a class where the children's ideas will be noted and this will form the basis of the plan. On the other side of the sheet I will have things which have to be covered in that half-term such as SEAL, Letters and Sounds and any festivals or school events. (I will also include a box showing possible parental involvement). Then each week as we do our short-term planning we can take activities straight from the MTP and highlight them to show coverage. This is all going to be very flexible as some topics may be a lot shorter than others and it might not work at all but it's worth a try! I'll attach a blank copy when I've got it how I want it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted August 20, 2008 Share Posted August 20, 2008 Well, I've been doing lots of thinking about the medium term planning and have almost decided how i want it. Our first topic will be settling in/ourselves so will start of being adult directed but hopefully the children will take it where they want to. I saw a really good programme on Teachers TV where the staff had a planning meeting with the children and they decided what they wanted to do. Obviously it might need to be steered a bit to make sure everything is covered but the children had some ownership over the planning. So, I'm going to give them a few weeks to settle in and then choose a theme for the second half of the term. We'll have a meeting as a class where the children's ideas will be noted and this will form the basis of the plan. On the other side of the sheet I will have things which have to be covered in that half-term such as SEAL, Letters and Sounds and any festivals or school events. (I will also include a box showing possible parental involvement). Then each week as we do our short-term planning we can take activities straight from the MTP and highlight them to show coverage. This is all going to be very flexible as some topics may be a lot shorter than others and it might not work at all but it's worth a try! I'll attach a blank copy when I've got it how I want it. Would love to see your blank plan when ready, always need new ideas and ways of doing things. Keeps the brain ticking over!!!!!! Thanks x Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted August 20, 2008 Share Posted August 20, 2008 Hi, we dont do medium term planning either. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted August 21, 2008 Share Posted August 21, 2008 I also was impressed by that programme on Teachers TV. I get PPA time with the other reception teacher where we plan out the following week and had thought I would try out a planning meeting with the children on the day before so we can incoproate some of their ideas. I also saw an article in Child ed where the teachers were sending home topic webs and asking parents if they had any ideas to add, so pondering that one as well. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted August 21, 2008 Share Posted August 21, 2008 This is my medium term plan. Well, this is the latest version-I keep changing it! I need to share it with the rest of my team and suggest that we try it out and we'll see if it works or not! medium_term_plan.doc Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted August 22, 2008 Share Posted August 22, 2008 This is my medium term plan. Well, this is the latest version-I keep changing it! I need to share it with the rest of my team and suggest that we try it out and we'll see if it works or not! medium_term_plan.doc Well done! I think this is a great format to record the ideas on. My head teacher isn't at all keen on me not using MTP so this would be a really good alternative. I may also send an ideas sheet home with the children so that the parents could contribute too. Thank you Flutterby Boogie x Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted August 29, 2008 Share Posted August 29, 2008 Hello Flutterby, Hi I am new to this forum, so I hope I am doing this ok! One idea I had for September was to introduce a mini theme called 'My favourite things' for the children. We are going to have so many new children starting and I thought it might be a starting point to help us find out about their individual interests. Activities include simple things like 'My favourite colour' (Golf ball painting choosing colours) or 'story' or 'food' etc. Thought it might provide us with some observations to build future activities upon. Katiebarr Hello Katiebarr, I'm new too, but you seem to be doing great. This is only my third attempt at using the forum! Your idea sounds similar to what i am hoping to do. My starting point for sept term will be My Favourite things. I would really apprecitate any ideas or examples of plannig that you have as i am struggling at the mo! Thank you in advance Cat x Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
emmajess Posted March 28, 2009 Share Posted March 28, 2009 I saw a really good programme on Teachers TV where the staff had a planning meeting with the children and they decided what they wanted to do. I've been looking on Teacher's TV for this and I couldn't see which programme it was - can anyone help? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
trekker Posted March 29, 2009 Share Posted March 29, 2009 Video - teachers Tv is it this one? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
emmajess Posted March 29, 2009 Share Posted March 29, 2009 Video - teachers Tv is it this one? Thank you - that's fantastic! I've got two teaching students in my class next term and I'm definitely going to show them this to give them a bit of an idea of the general ethos being summarised succinctly rather than me just passionately going off on one for hours at a time! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted March 30, 2009 Share Posted March 30, 2009 Wow what great ideas...this might sound a bit strange but can anyone tell me how your school terms work? ie how there spaced out and maybe how you fit your topics around the term times? I work in a day nursery and was wondering if i can use the term times in my planning xx Thanks xx Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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