Guest Posted April 11, 2009 Share Posted April 11, 2009 Im not looking for answers here! but just wanted to see if anyone else is still feeling the same way as i am about planning? Even after all these months I still look at the weekly planning and think...'im not happy with that' yet dont know what else to do. Obviously, if someone has found something that works for them and would like to share then that would be great, but I know this has been covered and talked about for ages now In the meantime i will keep searching for that planning format that works and makes me happy Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
aliamch Posted April 11, 2009 Share Posted April 11, 2009 Know the feeling, just as we were happyish with ours and thought we'd nearly cracked it, one of our EYA's came in and told us 'it's all wrong, change it'. I asked her to show as a sample of what we should be doing and she came back with a re-hashed version of what we were doing anyway, just the layout had changed! Karrie Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rea Posted April 11, 2009 Share Posted April 11, 2009 I used to change mine all the time, but dont see it as a bad thing, you are obviously looking for ways to improve rather than just settling for what you've got. There are probably (and I havent looked for ages) many different examples in the resources library that might help you with ideas. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted April 11, 2009 Share Posted April 11, 2009 I don't do a lot of planing for the week, just really Monday mornings, and that's often talking about what we have done at the weekend. Although I do plan for literacy and numeracy, and obvious things like Mothering Sunday, Easter, St George's Day etc. I now tend to wait and see what the children fancy doing and plan as we go along. Seems to work well for us, it's just doing weekly planing bit by bit instead of on Sunday nights! Although my planning sheets look a little empty at times, but we have lots of continuous provissions. jackie. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dottyp Posted April 11, 2009 Share Posted April 11, 2009 I tend to agree with jmb. Gave up on' themes' after christmas and so far we always seem to end up with more ideas than we have time for, as we listen to the children and what interests them. I am introducing letters and sounds after Easter (sparklebox) has been a good starting point along with tips from the FSF. It seems to be working for us (and also saves hours of preparing activity sheets etc at home). We're happy, but no doubt someone will visit our setting soon and have a different opinion dottyp Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
blondie Posted April 11, 2009 Share Posted April 11, 2009 we dont plan any themes and havent since christmas - we follow rythmn of year planning which is split into seasons and go from there - if can find way to put onto here and anyone is interested - i will put need bit help from someone at home as only have it written on planning sheets Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hali Posted April 11, 2009 Share Posted April 11, 2009 took me 9 years to sort my planning - and now ive left!!! - will take it all with me though Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HappyMaz Posted April 11, 2009 Share Posted April 11, 2009 took me 9 years to sort my planning - and now ive left!!! - will take it all with me though shhhh! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
emmajess Posted April 11, 2009 Share Posted April 11, 2009 I don't do a lot of planing for the week, just really Monday mornings, and that's often talking about what we have done at the weekend. Although I do plan for literacy and numeracy, and obvious things like Mothering Sunday, Easter, St George's Day etc.I now tend to wait and see what the children fancy doing and plan as we go along. Seems to work well for us, it's just doing weekly planing bit by bit instead of on Sunday nights! Although my planning sheets look a little empty at times, but we have lots of continuous provissions. jackie. Are you teaching reception? Is your head ok with you planning so differently to KS1 and 2? I'm in the middle of lots of discussions with my head at the moment, so I'd be interested to hear how you sorted it in your school. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sarah09 Posted April 11, 2009 Share Posted April 11, 2009 hi all they state plan 4 every child, but how wen we have 10 to 12 children each, Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted April 11, 2009 Share Posted April 11, 2009 I agree I have 10 key child and try to cover their individual needs however we need to reflect this in our planning and need to draw something up to ensure all key persons are planning for their children. Not sure how yet but the forum is giving me lots of ideas so hopefully something will come along. samfrostie Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted April 11, 2009 Share Posted April 11, 2009 Hi emmajess, yes I teach reception and my head if fine with the way I plan. I have a great head of juniors who is very supportive and trusts how I do things. Our planning is completely different to KS1/2, I notice they tend to plan around topics more, although we all cover basic activities during the year. Our planning should be different to KS1/2 shouldn't it, so I hope you can persuade your head to let you plan as you would like to, jackie. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
blondie Posted April 12, 2009 Share Posted April 12, 2009 as i said before we dont have set planning and work using the rhythm of the year which seperates into the seasons aug - oct, nov - jan, feb - april and may july - can give you more details if you would like them. we all plan for our own keychildren - we look at where they are then look for next steps for each child - these are then incorporated into small group planning and observations/notes are made then. we decide if child has acheived the next step and then plan accordingly by either repeating or moving on. i usually work my small group planning on one area per week so cover all areas most terms. we also make very short notes throughout session which could cover one of next steps already planned and also have to do two five minute focussed obs per term which again could cover a next step but usually doesnt - does that make sense. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted April 12, 2009 Share Posted April 12, 2009 Yes that makes sense we do similar by doing a 10 minute observation a month plus all the other little post it note type observations which are all put in childrens learning journeys. We then do next steps and MOST of us look for activities to move them on. We have just got to make sure all the team are doing this and understand why We then need to do some type of sheet to make sure we are documenting the planning for OFSTED (we got told this by OFSTED just a few weeks ago!!) samfrostie Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
trekker Posted April 12, 2009 Share Posted April 12, 2009 Our plans are based on a specific area of learning each week and encourage the keyperson to consider how their children's interests could be used to encourage them to explore these aspects and how we can 'enhance' provision to make it more likely children will be able to do this eg a child who loves dinosaurs may explore ' Physical development' through pretending to be a dinosaur by walking on bucket stilts, exploring how different dinosaurs might move around in a music and movement activity, by 'going on a dinosaur hunt', painting a dinosaur, using tools to make a model dinosaur..etc Basically we are just drawing up a 'possibilities' plan to fall back on and actually they work quite well (even if we dont use the ideas in the week they are 'planned') We also have seasonal activities on offer. We dont do topics (much to the concern of the committee) I also tend to 'tweek' our plan sheets alot though it's not so much the planning as the recording aspect - having something to show for what we've done! We have continuous provision sheets but so far have not been recording the enhancements. I do simple activity plans to record adult led / group activities we do (often written after the event) which (miraculously) I am happy with. Key person planning is another challenge - my concern is that these plans are not always shared (everyone has access to them but dont always get a chance to look) so most weeks only the key person knows what is aimed at what child and why...and I'm not sure that all the children are being considered or supported as much as others. When it comes to progress reports and the comments "they are going to be the same as last time" is heard that worries me! We then do next steps and MOST of us look for activities to move them on. We have just got to make sure all the team are doing this and understand why samfrostie...this definitely struck a chord with me...planning can work great for those who develop it but it is getting all staff to plan consistently and to truly understand the thory behind it..after all if ofsted come and ask them 'how do you plan and why do you do it that way?" they need to be able to explain and even argue the case! So enhanced provision records and key person planning are my focus right now. Its actually nice to have time to tweek things though...our planning is so much simpler these days I am no longer spending all weekend on it. We do most of it in the setting on a day to day hour by hour basis! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted April 12, 2009 Share Posted April 12, 2009 (edited) Most of our staff are pretty good and planning but we do have some that are not qualified so takes a bit more work with them. Luckily we recently had OFSTED and the main planner got quizzed over everything and the only question she had was does everyone actively get involved with planning? Which at the time we had to chase them for information and still do!! We are having problems with staff at the moment and it was something we are aware of so next term is going to be focus on staff and their planning for their key children. Im sure it is going to be a challenge. As for planning we do that on a daily basis and it works much better working with the children's interests, it also isn't so time consuming. It is so good to hear that we are not the only ones who change planning approaches and ideas. samfrostie Edited April 12, 2009 by samfrostie Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
thumperrabbit Posted April 18, 2009 Share Posted April 18, 2009 as i said before we dont have set planning and work using the rhythm of the year which seperates into the seasons aug - oct, nov - jan, feb - april and may july - can give you more details if you would like them.we all plan for our own keychildren - we look at where they are then look for next steps for each child - these are then incorporated into small group planning and observations/notes are made then. we decide if child has acheived the next step and then plan accordingly by either repeating or moving on. i usually work my small group planning on one area per week so cover all areas most terms. we also make very short notes throughout session which could cover one of next steps already planned and also have to do two five minute focussed obs per term which again could cover a next step but usually doesnt - does that make sense. Can I ask you what kind of setting do you work at? I really like the sound of how you plan for each child. I work in a pre-school playgroup run in a village hall with only 1 room. We have 24 children per day aged between 2 - 4, so our keyworker groups are mixed aged and abilities and not all children attend everyday, we are still struggling to find a workable solution for us. Many Thanks Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted May 3, 2009 Share Posted May 3, 2009 I don't do a lot of planing for the week, just really Monday mornings, and that's often talking about what we have done at the weekend. Although I do plan for literacy and numeracy, and obvious things like Mothering Sunday, Easter, St George's Day etc.I now tend to wait and see what the children fancy doing and plan as we go along. Seems to work well for us, it's just doing weekly planing bit by bit instead of on Sunday nights! Although my planning sheets look a little empty at times, but we have lots of continuous provissions. jackie. Hi, I am finding planning a nightmare at the moment I keep changing it all each week despearately trying to fit everything in. Could you please tell me why we have to do a plan for continuous provissions if you are a Nursery/Reception class and the same things are out all the time.? Thanks Dawn Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Susan Posted May 3, 2009 Share Posted May 3, 2009 Hi and welcomes Butterflies/ Dawn. Assuming you are in a school and even if you are not you may find Catma's planning guidance helpful. here! There are also some threads on continuous provision in the planning area of the forum for Reception/ year 1 teachers if you look that might help. Good luck. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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