Guest Posted November 22, 2008 Share Posted November 22, 2008 Hi could anyone clear up my confusion. Is themes and celebrations out. I was lead to believe that planning should be around the individual childrens interest and observations. However I believe some early years settings are still doing celebrations i. e. diwali, easter, christmas. Is this ok to do or not. Thanks Kiverpool18 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cait Posted November 22, 2008 Share Posted November 22, 2008 Well I'm still doing them, but they are sort of a sideline to the 'main' freeplay/continuous provision. A couple of adult led activities per week with plenty of scope for adding more if children's interest is piqued. Children can do, or not do the activities as they wish, there's no pressure. I do feel it's important that children are aware of other customs and celebrations, particularly here in west cumbria where we are culturally isolated to a large extent. We use visual artefacts to engage interest and stories and songs and well as food where we can. It's possible to still incorporate them into the schedule, and it's my firm belief that we still should - but we must be prepared to be led off at an unexpected tangent if that's where children want to go. I don't think we should 'throw the baby out with the bathwater' with some of our past practices, but we need to accept that EYFS is more child-led learning than we may have had in the past, and 'topics' need to be more relaxed, informal and flexible. Does this make sense? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hali Posted November 22, 2008 Share Posted November 22, 2008 we have stopped having themes as such but still incorperate celebrations where and when we can Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted November 22, 2008 Share Posted November 22, 2008 We are the same as Hali Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted November 22, 2008 Share Posted November 22, 2008 we still do celebrations but the actual activities are planned around the needs and interests of the individual child Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cait Posted November 22, 2008 Share Posted November 22, 2008 we still do celebrations but the actual activities are planned around the needs and interests of the individual child Absolutely - we find that we are able to plan these around individual children's learning styles and interests Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted November 22, 2008 Share Posted November 22, 2008 many thanks everyone for your replies. As I work for a children`s Centre I will speak to our manager to see which way she wants to go. Her main concern is that we can still show parents that we celebrate all the different cultures whether or not we have a child in the setting that celebrates diwali is still something I cannot get my head around, however cultures as diwali will still go ahead. Many thanks Kiverpool18 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted November 22, 2008 Share Posted November 22, 2008 Well I'm still doing them, but they are sort of a sideline to the 'main' freeplay/continuous provision. A couple of adult led activities per week with plenty of scope for adding more if children's interest is piqued. Children can do, or not do the activities as they wish, there's no pressure. I do feel it's important that children are aware of other customs and celebrations, particularly here in west cumbria where we are culturally isolated to a large extent. We use visual artefacts to engage interest and stories and songs and well as food where we can. It's possible to still incorporate them into the schedule, and it's my firm belief that we still should - but we must be prepared to be led off at an unexpected tangent if that's where children want to go. I don't think we should 'throw the baby out with the bathwater' with some of our past practices, but we need to accept that EYFS is more child-led learning than we may have had in the past, and 'topics' need to be more relaxed, informal and flexible. Does this make sense? Many thanks can see what you mean. Kiverpool18 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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