sharonash Posted October 9, 2008 Share Posted October 9, 2008 We are still being told conflicting things by our Early Years team and EYATS. Can you help pleae? We open 8am-6pm our 2-5's are together all the time.we used to stop for a circle time first thing and talk about weather sharing news etc, then the children were free to play inside and outside. We would then stop for group time just before lunch and do a specific learning activity chosen by the adult relating to festival/celebration or something skill based . Some say carry on doing this (as above) and think its important that we have seperate time for 2-3's and 3-5's which I can see as our 3yrs seem to like that time away from the little ones, and others say free flow all morning and do little adult led activities throughout the session ie staff start singing and dancing and the children will join in if they want to. When we try free flowing all morning its really hard and we dont seem to be getting anything done, we have 4 staff downstairs one in each room one outside and a floater, its hard enough trying to watch the children in each room let alone play and extend their learning! We havent done a focus activity for ages! Should we be trying to cover certain areas of learning - ie in a specific group time? we used to have a medium term plan and aim to cover certain areas per week/term this was done by focus activities but were told we didnt need this. We have been told the children will dictate their learning, again I agree but feel there is no adult input to their learning at all and that at the moment we are glorified babysitters! anyone else in this position and have or are trying to conquer this? There are lots of planning formats on this fantastic site but I am getting more and more confused and more bogged down each day, we really want to get it right but cant seem to get there! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mundia Posted October 9, 2008 Share Posted October 9, 2008 Hi Sharon, sorry you are feeling a bit overwhelmed at the moment. One of the reasons why you get so many different bits of advice is that there is no 'one size fits all' model of the EYFS delivery. It is so important that you do what feels right to you, but that you reflect on it (which you are doing) and build upon it in order to develop further. I think groups times are really important, yes I don't like them to be getting in the way of free play, but I do think a time for your keygroup to come together and share whatever it is (like a chat; snack; a story; a focussed activity etc etc) is not an unreasonable ask. I d think they should be fairly short. Persoanlly I would always end the session with some sort of group together time. Its all about balance isnt it? If you are feeling rushed off your feet, you might want to look at what your adults are doing during free flow time, and how many chidlren do you have? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted October 9, 2008 Share Posted October 9, 2008 Hi, we still run small group activities during each session. We all get together for snack and then run group activities for 10 minutes after snack. Children don't have to take part and we run the same activities all week to allow all children the chance to take part. We always finish our session with story and singing although no longer have everyone together. We decided to split into two groups and are finding that it works so much better. The rest of the session is free flow. Every day we (the staff) are wearing more and more clothes because the door is always open!!! I think someone should invent some sort of EYFS thermal suit for staff who, like me, are getting on a bit and are always cold. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Inge Posted October 9, 2008 Share Posted October 9, 2008 In our place it is the younger ones who are always complaining about the cold, they all wear 3 layers every day and add 2 to go outside..and we cannot have free flow so doors are shut! dread to think what will happen when weather actually does get colder.... Inge Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Alison Posted October 10, 2008 Share Posted October 10, 2008 your not alone sharon we're getting a bit bogged down with it too just as we thought we had the foundation stage worked out with planning obs and assessment they change the goal posts I would say that during the free flow although its child led/ initiated, the adults should still be playing along side the children modelling language and stimulating the ideas with questions ive noticed a big difference in the quality of the session when this is happening compared to when staff are just supervising the play, staff peer observations may be worth doing to see how your staff are managing activities. its so difficult to juggle all the learning with the day to day caring and chores that need to be done, and I think thats something that needs considering when "they" ask for all the paperwork on our planning and record keeping for the childrens development,"they" seem to forget that isnt our only task during the day. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts