Magenta Posted November 4, 2004 Author Share Posted November 4, 2004 I agree with the tidying up to sit on the carpet!! We changed our timetable yet again today so that afternoons aren't so disjointed! Another question!! During your activity sessions are children directed to different areas or do they have free choice? We have tried both methods - free-flow tended to be a bit chaotic with chn. moving between rooms more than actually working in them and we found that children tended to stay in their base rooms where they obviously felt more 'at home'. - directed was a lot calmer, but restricted the children too much. Is there a happy medium?? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted November 6, 2004 Share Posted November 6, 2004 Hi Magenta, Unless the children are talking part in an adult focused activity they have free choice in any of the areas. Last year I did direct the reception chn more towards the end of the year. I rotated activities that they had to do each morning with their parent/carer if possible. We also try to make the focused activity 'targeted' the next week so that who ever is 'managing' sets off a group of chn on a task which they did with an adult the week before, leaves them to it then comes back to check how they are getting on. This is the way our LEA say it should be done but I find it really difficult 1. because we might want to do another focused activity in that area-eg last week bonfire pictures, this week night time paintings so there's often not the space for targetted/independent as well 2. because when you're 'managing' 60+ kids there are other issues-eg accidents/behaviour. Back to free flow being chaotic-it can be especially when the weather's bad (we do have a sheltered area outside and try to use it but can only take 6 at a time out to use bikes really) and the younger chn do tend to 'mill around' but other days you could look around and see that everyone's on task and busy. However, this is MY point of view. Some of the other staff think there's not enough 'to do'. Our unit is the old nursery so the nusery staff refer back to 'the past' a lot. We had support off the LEA who advised us to get rid of LOADS of tables and chairs which I was happy with because I'm just as happy to sit on the floor/carpet area and do a jigsaw or thread beads. In 'the past' (!) these activities were on tbles set out so that whn parents arrived in the morning they could sit and settle the chn in by doing one of these tasks. Now, however, the children are encouraged to be more independent and to choose their own activity/get the resources ou themselves. It just takes time to 'train ' them... I'm feeling guilty now though as some members of staff/parents don't want to sit on the floor to do these things. What do you think? Do you have many tables? There is a lot more space without them! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Magenta Posted November 6, 2004 Author Share Posted November 6, 2004 We don't have many tables Zim, lots of activities are done on the floor, luckily all of are staff seem happy enough to do this, we wouldn't have enough floor space for circle time if we added more tables!! I see what you mean about making the focused activity targetted - we wouldn't have the space, or the time really to check up properly, its hard enough to get every child participating in focus activities as it is!! At the moment we are directing children to areas on a rota basis, this means they wisit each room once per day, but this isn't really child-initiated play is it! We have had no support from LEA at all - the early years advisor couldn't even tell me which schools in our borough work as units!! I've had to ask while on courses/ supply teachers etc!! We have lots of activites for the children to choose from, but they rarely get them out for themselves and so unless we put activities on the tables they are empty and the children are just 'milling around' or running around, they were much better when they were in the Nursery - probably because there were less children and more space. We can't wait to get into our refurbished rooms, I just hope that some of the problems are resloved. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted November 6, 2004 Share Posted November 6, 2004 This sounds a little familiar - I've just taken over the nursery and the staff do refer back to how 'we used to do it' but this is gradually beginning to stop. We have loads of tables and I want to remove some - but the reception teacher keeps saying we are not providing enough activities - i think 15 inside is plenty!! Our problem is the reception children who are in all day are becoming a little more bored with the activities that are out all day because we have morning and afternoon nursery children. I feel more like we're running a creche rather than a unit! How do you make sure all the children get equal amounts of time with your adults? We have tried to change things but Ofsted liked many of the things they saw but we're not and it is trying to find something that works for both the rec and nursery children! Also for how long do you run the same activity - do they change daily if so how do you enable all children to have go? We have very strong characters in our staff and one very dominate character holds a high up position within school and every thing has to be done their way! Beginning to wonder why i took the job!! Opps sorry for the rant! The theory behind forming the unit is sound but the shear number of children within the space and with the adult ratio we have it is hard to try to sort out! Plus our out door space is dis jointed and always requires 2 adults, as does indoors! We also have the added difficulty of a language barrier as many of our children are EAL! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Magenta Posted November 6, 2004 Author Share Posted November 6, 2004 I'm glad I'm not on my own Kavmar, we are really struggling to cater for both age groups, what works for one doesn't work for the other, at the moment we seem to be catering more for Reception, which is not too bad at the moment, but what about next September when those children are in Reception!! Everytime we make a change we tend to move further away from a Unit and back to Nursery and Reception!! I am very lucky that all staff are on board and working with me to get things right, but I still seem to be looking at the negative rather than the positive, we have after all only been running for eight weeks we can't get things right in such a short time!! We currently only have 1 focus activity - differentiated- per room in order to get through all of the children, the other member of staff works with children at their own plans, but as you say the rest easily get bored and so disruptive. I think the sheer numbers is the key, I think the units where it works have far less children. We too have 80% EAL, we do have some bi-lingual staff, but many of our children are asylum seekers - we have 30 different languages in our school - it is very difficult to deal with - I sympathise Kavmar with all of your problems. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted November 7, 2004 Share Posted November 7, 2004 We too only became a unit 8 weeks ago and keep changing things - we have access to a smaller room which is L shaped for most of the week but it is used for community groups like PEEPs and SEN meetings etc - I think things would run smoother if we could sort out how Reception could get time without the nursery chidren being there. Currently we use this L shaped room at the end of the nursery session so the children can go home without disturbing reception, and they can still access the main activities. Reception use this room at the beginning of the nursery sessions so we can use the main activities without disturbing them. However we have found that the Reception in the afternoon could do with stopping earlier than nursery to prevent them coming off task - but where do they go? If they go in the L shaped room in the afternoon it means we have to swap the nursery equipment over from one room to another at lunchtimes - it has got really silly now and we aren't working as i thought a unit would! But we haven't come up with an alternative! Wow read that through and it seems really petty and confusing - but the smallest things are niggling at us because we can't come up with a solution that works for both year groups! Sometimes I feel we are trying to cram a curriculum in forgetting about what is going to work for our children and within our space! Do you run language sessions for your EAL pupils? if so how often do you run them? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Magenta Posted November 7, 2004 Author Share Posted November 7, 2004 Hi Kavmar, We are lucky to have 3 rooms so that Nursery and Reception can work independently, I feel that both groups need to work independently and together, so we mingle only for Child Initiated play, even then many of the Nursery children stay in their base room where they feel more at home - this means that 1 room can become very crowded!! Every setting is different, so I suppose we'll have to come up with our own solutions to these problems, but having unsuitable accommodation is the biggest headache!! We don't currently run language sessions for E.A.L chn. - we did try to plan some, but as there are so many children we didn't think we could accommodate them all - at the moment support staff sit on the carpet at Circle Times next to targetted children so that the can give support - and translations when possible. We also target these chn. during Child Initiated Play where possible, but once you've listed chn. needing support for E.A.L./SEN and gifted and talented it doesn't leave many who don't need support, and yet again the Nursery children get left out!! We just need more staff and more space!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted November 9, 2004 Share Posted November 9, 2004 Hi Kavmar, In our unit we use the music room and the hall separately(in the main school building) for dance and music so this gives us some time on our own twice a week at least! It was SO much quiter today when the nursery chn were at dance! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted November 24, 2004 Share Posted November 24, 2004 hi really concious i havent put planning on i promise to do this but things are a little mad at the moment and i just havent had the chance. i havent even had the chance to check out all thats happening here for ages sorry promise promise promise i will do it Bex Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted November 25, 2004 Share Posted November 25, 2004 Hi everyone...have been really interested in your discussion, so much so that I've just signed up so that I can add my piece! Our unit was set up at the beginning of this school year, we have 50 nursery children (25 am and 25 pm) and 45 reception. It's good to hear that other settings have had similar teething problems as us! Staffing-wise there are 2 teachers, 2 nursery nurses and 3 LSAs. We operate in three large rooms (no doors!), two outdoor areas and a corridor. Nursery and Reception are completely integrated throughout the day in free-flow play and after tidy-up time we split into two smaller groups for singing and stories. We plan different activites for each room (Cafe room, Movement Play and Construction room and Art room). We have a very loose theme running throughout the unit and three different activities are planned for each room, each planned as a starting point and then developed into two further extension activities (in an attempt to differentiate sufficiently for the two age groups). The adult in the room will decide which activity to do that session and children are invited (not forced) to take part. The idea being that over the two weeks, all of the children will have had adult input whilst still being able to make their own choices. All the continuous provision stuff is always available if the children choose to use it. As far as Reception are concerned (and to keep the LEA off our backs!), myself and the other teacher take it in turns to take out small groups (of about 3-5 chn) to give them short bursts of CLL and MD input (each child receives about 10-15 mins per day). It sounds like a lot of paperwork, but we share the planning equally, have a weekly planning meeting with the rest of the staff and working on this fortnightly cycle helps to lessen the load! Compared to those first few tentative weeks in September, we all now feel like we're getting somewhere! But that's not to say that there won't be further hurdles down the line. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Steve Posted November 25, 2004 Share Posted November 25, 2004 Hi CurlyCarly - Welcome to the Forum and thanks very much for saying hello! It's great to get a snapshot of the way people are organising and planning their FSUs - hopefully you'll be able to take ideas away as well as bring them. Just for your information we have an article planned for early next year on Foundation Stage Units from someone with a huge amount of experience - this could well be the first of a number! You'll get notification in our newsletter when it appears. Please make yourself at home! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted November 25, 2004 Share Posted November 25, 2004 Hi, welcome to the site, It sounds as though your getting it sussed. Would be interested to see your timetable and planning if you don't mind. Its always interesting to see other points of views. We've had a rough couple of weeks sorting out issues in the unit but are getting there again now i feel. However, it still needs tweaking to continue heading in the right direction so help would be appreciated. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted November 25, 2004 Share Posted November 25, 2004 The templates for planning were 'designed' by the FS co-ordinator (unfortunately I can't claim them as my own handiwork!) - but I'm sure if I chat her up tomorrow she'll be more than willing to share her ideas. Watch this space! NB - We don't have a timetable as such, so can't really help you there! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Magenta Posted November 26, 2004 Author Share Posted November 26, 2004 Thanks for your input CurlyCarly - we are moving back into our refurbished unit next week!!! Can't wait!! After analysing where we have got to so far we feel that we have really been operating separate Nursery and Reception with an hour per session to mingle!! We now need to integrate much more and the move is an ideal time to change things. I have also been taking groups out - generally for phonics, but as it can be very noisy I take them to a quiet work room - I now seem to be out of the classroom for far too long!! How long are you out of the classroom? Do your children have complete choice during free-flow play? If so do you have problems with too many people being in one room, or shy chn. not being comfortable enough to explore? How do you operate snack time? Do you have a snack bar? Do staff have any breaks during the session? Sorry about lots of questions, we are just desperate to get it right!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Susan Posted November 28, 2004 Share Posted November 28, 2004 HI CurlyCarly and welcome aboard! Its great to hear what others are doing especially as I am directly involved at the moment. (I'm doing supply this term!) Hope your move goes well, Magenta and you can sort out those things you still want to fine tune but isnt that part of the teaching process to be forever reevaluating your own practise? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted November 28, 2004 Share Posted November 28, 2004 In answer to your questions Magenta...myself and the other teacher take it in turns to spend a whole day out in the quiet corridor where we take our groups of Reception children. We tried other options that just didn't work and have found that this way, the children each get a turn each day to do something a little more guided (we still try to make sure each of the activites planned is 'hands on' and sometimes even extend them into the main rooms depending on the resources we need!). There have been issues whereby the are a large number of children in one room and about 2 in another and we just remain flexible as far as the rota goes, so a member of staff might move into a different room - a bit supply and demand! We always try to have at least 2 staff in each room and outside - doesn't always work mind you. There have also been some children who don't cope particularly well at the beginning, but already we've seen that they've gained the confidence to move between rooms and because of the free flow nature of things they find where they are comfortable and sometimes settle there for the whole session. We run a cafe and offer continuous snack throughout the morning and afternoon. It's a bit do-it-yourself for the Reception children, they just select a piece of fruit and help themselves to milk or water. For Nursery we have an adult supervising and the children prepare the food themselves. It works quite well, we're even looking to extend it to include an outdoor snack area. We don't get breaks during the day, only during lunch from 11.30 - 12.30 - but someone will bring a steaming mug of tea or coffee around and the biscuit barrel to keep spirits up! Still not sure we've got EVERYTHING right! We have changed things so many times since the beginning of term that at one point none of us knew whether we were coming or going...but things have really started to click into place and we all feel a lot happier. We're very lucky to have a great team of staff who aren't afraid to try out new things or speak up if something's bothering them. I suppose the key is just to keep re-evaluating and not be afraid to try something new! By the way, I'll be posting our plans over the next couple of days hopefully! Would love to hear your comments on them and always interested to know how everybody else is doing things... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Magenta Posted November 29, 2004 Author Share Posted November 29, 2004 Thanks for answering those questions Curly Carly. Unfortunately we only have a very small room for quiet activites, but we may have to try to utilize this more. We used to have a snack bar, but found that lots of children didn't having anything unless we kept reminding them!! We have reverted to snack time, but now we have new carpet we might try the snack bar again in the wet areas!! We are really going to try to make the free-flow system work, as we'll have an additional member of staff in January this will be much easier as the extra person will be able to follow the larger groups of children. You and Susan are right about re-evaluating we have always done this, but are just making more significant changes at the moment until we get things working more how we want them to be. Look forward to seeing your plans, please keep in touch and let us know how things are progressing. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted November 29, 2004 Share Posted November 29, 2004 Good luck moving back into your new building Magenta Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Magenta Posted November 30, 2004 Author Share Posted November 30, 2004 Thanks Zim, We're still moving furniture and unpacking boxes!! The boss has also said we can have a refurbishment grant for new furniture etc.!! Can't wait to get the catalogues out!! While I'm on the subject - does anyone have a piece of furniture that they find indispensible?? What shape tables do you prefer? I like the look of circular ones, are they more/less practical? Are hexagonal ones better? Would love to hear other people's opinions - we've lots of money to spend!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted November 30, 2004 Share Posted November 30, 2004 Don't make me jealous! only kidding! I love the storage unit we have for our Creative Workshop. Its basically 2 low level shelves with deep containers for all craft materials. Will have to find out where it was from (?'community play things' is ringing a bell?) but its great coz it really encourages the chn to be independent and make choices. At the moment we've just got out shiny paper (old decorations ) pasta, card and string. The idea was that they could use the shapes stencils to draw around 2 trianges and make a hanging star (previously as adult focus) but instead we have had some lovely 'hand bags'!!! There's child initiated play for ya!! Enjoy spending! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Magenta Posted November 30, 2004 Author Share Posted November 30, 2004 'Handbags' - sounds wonderful Zim!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted December 1, 2004 Share Posted December 1, 2004 We've got a shop and will soon have a stage that have been specially made for us. The shop front is great because the children now use the shop properly to buy and sell instead of just collecting resources in the shopping baskets! Stages are great because they really encourage the children to move and match musical instruments to music. We also get some great kareoke sessions happening. its great though because its so spontaneous. Hexagonal and circular tables work great just stear clear of oblong tables we have loads left over from the old reception classes and they are awful . They don't fit the space we are trying to create at all. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Magenta Posted December 2, 2004 Author Share Posted December 2, 2004 Thanks Cazza, love the idea of a stage!! Will certainly look into getting hexagonal or circular tables, we have one of each at the moment and they can seat 6 children quite comfortably. I was a bit concerned about them fitting into spaces - its very difficult to imagine! - but will certainly take your advice. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted December 2, 2004 Share Posted December 2, 2004 If you've lots of cash then all of the community playthings range is excellent quality though I don't rate their dressing up racks as highly as their storage units but the panelling system works well. I would always go for hexagonal tables as they are much more flexible but community playthings have some nice rectangles which have the most easily height adjusting system you could wish for - if that is a factor for you. Its good to try and get as much of a uniform look as possible it can be really effective. At my last place we got a large Surestart grant and were able to restock the furniture throughout - i can highly recommend them - they will even help you design the space - just give them the dimensions go down and spend the day and they will make suggestions to fit your budget. Not cheap tho!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Magenta Posted December 2, 2004 Author Share Posted December 2, 2004 Thanks Androyd, will dig out a catalogue. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted December 3, 2004 Share Posted December 3, 2004 Magenta - have just read your reply to my last msg. Regarding 'running snack' and making sure all the children have the opportunity to eat! Each child in the unit has a name card - for Reception just their names (but on two different colours to make it easier for them to find theirs amongst the rest!) and for Nursery their name and picture (a different picture for each keyworker group). All the names are stuck on magnetic boards near the snack tables and as the child comes to snack they find their name, take it off the board and pop it in a basket nearby. That way the member of staff in the cafe can easily see who hasn't been and can go and round up the troops when they are about to close the cafe. Works for us - just a thought! Just about to attempt to put some planning sheets on here - bear with me! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted December 3, 2004 Share Posted December 3, 2004 OK, here goes! Here is the planning for our Reception groups to cover CLL and MD, it's linked to the activities taking place in the main areas. Would love to hear your feedback/ways we can improve it/ anything we've missed off! SA11_18_1_.10.04.doc Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted December 3, 2004 Share Posted December 3, 2004 And here's the planning for each of the three rooms - apologies that the two sets aren't for the same fortnight! 15_1_.11.04_22.11.04.doc Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted December 3, 2004 Share Posted December 3, 2004 Thanks for a copy of the plans. I am going to keep them safe for reference. We are working towards becoming a unit next year. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted December 4, 2004 Share Posted December 4, 2004 Hi CurlyCarly, Planning looks really good- the format reminds me a little of the NLS medium term planning. How do you organise your day- do you sit down for group/ circle time at all or do the children play all day? When do you fit in reception literacy and numeracy- are these done in small groups? and last of all! what do the children do when they are not completing adult focus activities in the three rooms and how do you record this? Sorry for all the questions but you appear to run your unit differently to us and i am very interested. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts