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Guest alisonjayne
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Guest alisonjayne

I am starting my new job in a Nursery on the 6th of September and have planned for the first two weeks, I was wondering how other people plan, as the person who worked there before me took all her planning with her so I have nothing to go on. The planning was left to this one person so none of the other staff are really able to help me, I have looked at planning topics on the forum and these have helped but I think it's moral support and just to know I am going in the right direction before that Monday. :oxD Alison

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hi there, alison!

I'm sure you're going to be fine, but it must be a bit nerve-wracking having to go in there cold! You'll find everyone on here really helpful and supportive and more than ready to 'bounce ideas around'.

 

My setting (Day Nursery)uses topics over a half-termly period, with focus activities (2) in each of two 'sessions', morning and afternoon.There are plenty of other activities available, with ongoing Design and Make, Role play and Markmaking areas, as well as the usual - Book area, paints, dough.... We have Assessment sheets for the focus activities and monitoring sheets to ensure all the Areas of Learning are addressed over the two year cycle of our topics. We are currently revamping some aspects of planning, so will enjoy this topic!

 

Let us know how you get on!! :o

 

Sue :D

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Hi Alison and welcome.

 

Not really sure if I can help you.

Is this your first job? What have you done about planning in the past and in what capacity are you working?

I'm abit confused as to why no one else has any regard to the planning or perhaps Ive misunderstood you?

Helen, will be able to help, I think, when she resurfaces after her holiday, so hang on! There are also lots of other preschool peopke out there somewhere!!

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Hi Alison,

Which aspects of planning do you need support with? ie long, medium or short. Is this your first teaching post or are you just new to nursery? I'll try and help if I can, just let me know what you need advice with.

Kaybee

 

Ps I'm sure you'll love nursery, it's such a wonderful age group to work with!

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Hi Alison,

 

Welcome to the site. :) I think you'll find that it will be really useful to get the other staff members on board to help with planning too. The more the merrier so to speak!! :D Unfortunately planning is one of those things that evolves depending on your setting, numbers of children/staff, structure of day etc. There are a lot of examples of plans in the members articles somewhere (maybe will post link when my brain is in gear!) and also elsewhere on the net. I found it useful to look at everthing and take the parts which seemed to suit best. Sorry - probably not quite what you were looking for but I'm sure there will be plenty more advice and discussion to come. Planning is one of those sticky areas for many of us. :D

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Guest alisonjayne

Thanks for the welcome, this is my first Nursery post and can't wait to get started :D:D , I have previously been working as teaching assistant in a reception and year one class, but had taken a couple of years out and have been working towards an OU degree in Early Childhood Studies during that time working as a volunteer in Nursery and Playgroup. The role I have got now is as Nursery Leader,I will have two staff working with me each morning one new to the job, I don't think this has been finalised yet, and one who started working last year. I would like to get everyone involved with the planning as many heads are better than one,but just needed some advice and support. I was very involved with planning for reception and year one children, but not for Nursery. I think that my concern is that my planning could be biased towards my time in school :o

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Hi Alison,

 

As long as your planning is play based and flexible enough to take account of child initiated activities you shouldn't go far wrong. :) The one mistake I made at playgroup initially was in trying to plan too much and ended up feeling like a failure because I couldn't get everything done. I'm much more laid back about it now though and am more confident at going with the flow instead of sticking to a rigid plan. Be prepared to change the way that you plan many times before you find something that works well. :) If there is anything specific you want advice on there are plenty of people around willing to help. (And make sure your assistants visit the site too!! :D )

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Hi Alison,

Like the others, I think it's essential to get all the staff planning together at some point; do you have a weekly staff meeting ? You could make an outline of topics you'd like to cover, for example, and then get the other members of staff to chip in with their ideas. If your plans show what your learning intentions are, and what the activity comprises, and all the staff have had input, this will ensure that everyone knows what they are doing, and why they are doing it. :)

 

Your plans will also depend on how many children you'll have, and whether they all attend every morning, or whether some children come for two sessions, some for three, etc. What's the set up in your nursery?

 

Good luck; what an exciting time :D Enjoy getting to know the children through playing with them, and don't put yourself under too much pressure for the first few weeks of term. :D

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Guest alisonjayne

Thanks for all the advice, as far as planning goes all staff used to get together at the beginning of each term and talk about activities and ideas. It was then left for the Nursery teacher to go back and plan. I would very much like everyone to be involved in planning and like the idea of planning meeting each week, how does this work in practice as in theory it sounds great. I would be happy to meet each week but not sure if others would be prepared to. Has anyone had experience of setting up weekly planning meetings?

Alison

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When I worked in nursery we used to have a planning meeting every Thursday lunchtime. This worked well, as we could discuss the plans for the following week and agree who would find the various resources. We would also split the lesson plans to be written between the two teachers. Everyone also had an opportunity to evaluate the current week's activities and we made notes on the lesson plans to inform future planning.

Kaybee

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We also had weekly planning meetings in Nursery, we had a working lunch. I can't really see how you can really plan effectively without regular meetings, though we did also share lots of info during 'off the cuff' conversations etc.

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  • 2 weeks later...

We plan two weekly but have a very short planning meeting at the end of each day so that if we have observed a group of children interested in a particular theme then we can plan an adult intensive around this interest. Doing this means we do build on their child initiated activities. Also we dont over plan adult intensives from our medium plans. Hope this is clear

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I work in a state nursery school. We team teach and we work with all the children. The only times the children are in class groups is possibly at story time and even then we are very flexible and try to meet the needs of the children whether it be language, emotional or social. For example we had a little boy who didn't like any form of scary story whether it was Little Red Riding Hood or On the Wildside so if he was in story group and he thought it was going to be scary he would ask to go to another story group although on one occasion he was a bit stuck because we were all reading Little Red riding hood

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Hi Oscar, we've got a little boy at the moment who hates all animals, either in picture or toy form, and cries when he see's them. Based in one room it's difficult for us to have different story groups. Even from across the room all he say's is 'put it away'. Rather limits the flow of the session somewhat. :o

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  • 2 weeks later...

To nurseries and pre-schools.

Any daily planning proformas that you have are very welcome. I am in charge of a 26 place state nursery within the school. We have 18 on the books and 2 of us. My assistant is not qualified but is experienced. We take it in turns to be inside and outside and have a free-flow but i think she finds it difficult without a focus task. tends to start tidying up the store etc. I have emphasied that a focus task need not mean 'all the chidlren' and the 'whole session'. Please help with your ideas.

I do a weekly plan but not sure how best to do a daily plan. I find that i am chopping and changing my daily plan depending on how the previous day went etc. which is apparently good bec i am planning for the chidlren and being re-active (or pro-active) How different form the 'olden' days when we were told that we had to have everything planned out and written even before the term began.

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Leo I supervise a 26 place pre-school. I have 5 staff members each day plus a parent helper.Four staff members attend each day the other three attend on alternate days. I have a weekly plan which includes ideas we hope to cover during the week and activities to cover weaknesses or strengths that children have. I use the Q.C.A foundation resource as my long term plan.Each staff member that attends each day is responsible for recording each child's involvement at the same activity through out the week on a group record sheet. The staff who attend on alternate days share the same sheet. Sometimes the observation requires just a tick list or sometimes a brief comment. If any of us make another observation on a child we jot it down on a post it note and stick on the relevant child's folder. At the end of term half term each child's key worker reads through the record sheet and enters the information on each child's profile.

My staff prefer to know what they are doing during the week. Sometimes it is just as important to keep staff 'on task' as well as the children.

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Guest alisonjayne

Hi Bubblejack, do you have a copy of a typical weekly plan that you could post I also have some staff working daily and others one or two sessions, I have just completed my first three week of planning and I am not entirely happy with the way I have done them so would be keen to see plans that work

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Hello Alisonjayne,

I have the original at the pre-school but I can copy from the written copy I have at home.

PSED LEARNING OBJECTIVE Form good relationships,turn take.Follow instructions

 

ACTIVITY Play name game child calls another child's name, exchange a

greeting and swop places.

(circle time activity at registration)

 

 

CLL LEARNING OBJECTIVE To explore and experiment with sounds

To begin to associate sounds with syllables

To develop attentive listening

 

ACTIVITY Pass teddy everyone says that child's name

Introduce the idea of clapping each child's name

Listen carefully for different rhythm patterns.

(groups of 6 children in bookcorner) mumhelper.

 

 

MATHS L.O Using counting in real life context

 

ACTIVITY Using dough introduce halves and quarters

(J.L.,I.C., C.B., at dough table on your day) Observe and

mark sheet.

 

 

KUW LO Having confidence to use simple equipment

 

ACTIVITY Press on/off/record button to record their own

voice.

(A.F in music room record and mark sheet)

 

PHYSICAL LO Working with a partner

Gaining control of fine motor skills

ACTIVITY 2 children thread beads at each end of string

(C.S. observe and mark sheet)

 

CREATIVE LO Experiment using different tools and colors

 

ACTIVITY Individual pictures using paint, glue, scissors and

collage bits.

(M.M observe use of scissors)

 

J.S. SNACK TIME

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