sharonash Posted September 3, 2008 Posted September 3, 2008 Can anyone share any planning formats, advice or suggestions for planning for under twos, something I havent had to do before and now I have been asked to implement planning for this age group, argh where do I start All staff are new in the unders twos unit and have come from other nurseries, great I thought I would have a starting point- WRONG- cant beleive it they never did planning just the odd craft activities, another one said she d never done an observation!!! Oh well suppose everyone has to start somewhere,Ive looked at the EYFS disc with them and staff are very negative lots of blank faces! Hands up its all new to me so ANYTHING you guys can heklp with would be great!
Guest Posted September 3, 2008 Posted September 3, 2008 I might be able to help a little, as I currently work in the baby room (upto about 14 months, or until they are walking) and have previously worked in the 1-2 yrs age group. The way we do our planning is pretty straight forward and seems to work well, although I'm not sure how it would work with older age groups. We have 3 planning sheets to fill in. The first one is a weekly over-view which has 6 boxes going round in a flow chart, 1 for each day and 1 titled 'Influences for next week'. These boxes are filled in daily, and are for current interest within the group. EG a parent comes to us on the monday and says 'Abi rolled over for the first time last night' or 'Alfie took 3 steps last night' then we would write this information in the box, so that we can plan for the individual child's needs. We also use the boxes for ideas for activities to expand or carry one, so if we notice that the children are showing a real interest in the sand, then we would write that down, with ideas to expand for the rest of the week. (I hope you're still following me!) The next sheet we fill out is basically a checklist that we fill out for the next day, which has spaces to fill out 3 planned activities for AM and PM sessions, the learning outcomes for the activities, materials needed and which member of staff is going to be doing each activity. I currently only plan 2 activities for each session as we only have 2 members of staff... This needs to be checked by our manager or education co-ordinator to ensure that the activities are good enough. Then the final planning sheet we fill out has 3 boxes, 1 to put the activities in with the learning outcomes, 1 to write in any observations of the activities, and 1 to evaluate, including a space to fill out next steps and plans for tomorrow. So it all follows on through the week, in theory meaning that the activities link together... Also, out of the 2 activities I plan for each session, 1 is an activity that is not everyday, eg, painting, cooking, water play, sand play, gloop, flour, heuristic play, soap flakes, shaving foam, collage etc, and the other activity is either planned around 'abi rolled over/ Alfie is starting to walk' or it's an activity such as teaching them to stack toys, mirror play, rolling a ball, empty tins/keys/materials/bells, musical instruments, empty boxes etc. Does that make sense? I'm not very good at explaining!
HappyMaz Posted September 3, 2008 Posted September 3, 2008 Welcome to the Forum, nicocacola! It does sound very comprehensive. I was really interested to see that your plans are checked by a manager to make sure they're up to scratch. How do you and your staff team feel about this - and does every member of staff have to do this no matter how well qualified they are? Perhaps it doesn't feel so harsh in practice but I don't think I'd like to feel so tightly managed/controlled (said as a self-confessed control freak!) Maz
Guest Posted September 4, 2008 Posted September 4, 2008 The plans have only had to be checked as of this week when the EYFS was fully implemented, and I think the reasoning behind this is because LEA are a bit behind in giving us training/pro formas in the EYFS, so some people are still a little unsure on what links in to where, so get help from the manager when it's being checked. There's also been a big staff change over recently, from nursery assistants right through to managers (we're on our 3rd this year now!) and the nursery also got bought by a chain on Monday, so I think it's just as much to ensure consistency throughout the rooms, and I'm assuming that it won't be a permanent thing. I'm not sure on whether every member of staff has to get their plans checked, we have a qualified teacher in the pre-school room and I'm assuming she doesn't have to have her plans checked.
Guest Wolfie Posted September 4, 2008 Posted September 4, 2008 As Maz says, that all sounds very comprehensive and completely in line with the EYFS principles. Any chance of sharing some blank copies of the paperwork you use? Oh, and a warm welcome to the forum!
Guest Posted September 4, 2008 Posted September 4, 2008 Thanks for the welcomes everyone! Yeah sure, I'll bring a copy home tomorrow and scan it in for everyone!
Guest Posted September 27, 2008 Posted September 27, 2008 Nicocacola, sorry to bother you. Have you scanned your copy yet?
Guest Wolfie Posted September 27, 2008 Posted September 27, 2008 Welcome to the forum mlmeds! Thanks for resurrecting this post, I'd forgotten all about it! Those sheets sound good don't they?
Guest Posted September 30, 2008 Posted September 30, 2008 Oooh sorry I forgot all about it! I've had a holiday and then started back at uni, so gone part time again now, I'm back in on Friday so I'll get a copy to scan!
Guest Posted October 1, 2008 Posted October 1, 2008 Nipped into work today to tell them what hours I can work next week, and picked up some copies of the planning to share. My scanner's playing up so I've quickly typed them up with an example of how the flow chart works, although it's pretty self explanatory so I've not filled in the daily plans. I hope I do it correctly! baby_room_planning.doc
beth1 Posted October 12, 2008 Posted October 12, 2008 Only just seen this topic as I am not normally in here. Welcome to the forum nicocacola. What comprehenise planning for children under 2 years old. I can really see what you are doing with the children in line with the EYFS. Beth
Recommended Posts