Guest Posted June 6, 2009 Share Posted June 6, 2009 does anyone use 'wow' cards to share children's achievements with parents? I have heard of these but would be interested to hear of anyone who uses them and what they think of them? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted June 6, 2009 Share Posted June 6, 2009 Have just started them. Gave 2 out to each child over half term break with letter explaining for parents - only had 3 children bring them back in since. Haven't worked according to plan but it's early days. Once children have brought them back they share them at circle time then we stick them on our wow wall for a day and then the wow vouchers go in their learning journeys. I hinted to parents not to put things which impress the parents more than the child like 'I can counted to 456'. Then most of the other children haven't a clue what the wow vouchers are which means that their parents didn't share them with them when they took them home. Early days! ppp Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Panders Posted June 6, 2009 Share Posted June 6, 2009 We do wow stickers. I make up a sheet of sticky labels on the computer which say, Wow! I.......... and put a small shiny sticker on it too to liven it up a bit! We write on what the child has done at nursery that caused us to say wow. We would also put a stick it note into their learning journey folders recording the wow. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cait Posted June 6, 2009 Share Posted June 6, 2009 We use them very successfully - we have a 'wow wall' and children all have 'wow' slips in their trays for Key Persons and Parents to write on. They go up and stay up until they are replaced by a newer one then are filed in the learning story. Everyone loves it and speak very highly of it. Children run in to tell us their 'wow' or out to tell their parents their 'wow'. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cait Posted June 6, 2009 Share Posted June 6, 2009 Oh and on the Parent's noticeboard we've got one for a Mum who had lost 13lbs! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted June 6, 2009 Share Posted June 6, 2009 We want to start that in september so am reading with great interest Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted June 6, 2009 Share Posted June 6, 2009 We have 'Super Me!' sheets - same idea and also go in to learning journals. We do find we have to encourage parents to use them - i.e. parents tell us something the child has been doing and we often have to suggest recording it on a sheet or asking if we can write it for them It does mean we have the parent's voice in the journal. Gruffalo2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Wolfie Posted June 7, 2009 Share Posted June 7, 2009 We also use WOW cards very successfully and the parents love it. We have a display with information about them up in the corridor and three WOW boxes for each of the three rooms. I've done some "sample" WOWs on the display, to stress that it's not all about what your child can do - sometimes it's a situation or experience that has made you go "WOW"! For example, watching your child snuggled up on the sofa with someone special, sharing a story, etc. The cards are put into each child's Learning Journey, alongside observations and photos from nursery, under the relevant area of learning and cross referenced to other areas as appropriate. Go for it - it's a great idea! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted June 7, 2009 Share Posted June 7, 2009 i love this idea and have never heard of it before. Is it the sort of thing which could be displayed in a reception for the whole nursery to join in? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cait Posted June 7, 2009 Share Posted June 7, 2009 (edited) oh absolutely! do you want some wows to get you started? Edited June 7, 2009 by Cait Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cait Posted June 7, 2009 Share Posted June 7, 2009 So here they are anyway if they are of any use to anyone. The wow wall one is the note we sent home to parents with a wow slip paperclipped to it, the others are paperclipped together and live in the children's trays wow_wall.doc wow.doc Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted June 7, 2009 Share Posted June 7, 2009 Very interested in the 'wow' cards and would like to get it up and running in September but being a bit thick, could someome explain what they are, how they work etc, is there any site i could go on and have a look, oh and has anyone got any examples they wouldnt mind sharing, sorry it is Sunday morning and attended a birthday party last night and think brain is not what it should be today. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cait Posted June 7, 2009 Share Posted June 7, 2009 have posted some plus explanation in the post above yours lilliejos Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted June 7, 2009 Share Posted June 7, 2009 oh great Cait thanks, we do something similiar with parents, whereby we ask them to let us know of any achievements, interests, up and coming events from home etc, but only a few have replied which we then add to learning journey folder and discuss at 'circle time'. Perhaps if we could come up with something similiar to these wow cards we may get more interest (well heres hoping anyway). Does anyone know if ofsted 'approve' of these wow cards? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cait Posted June 7, 2009 Share Posted June 7, 2009 (edited) Why wouldn't they! It's engaging the parents in their child's learning and showing you value parental contributions and demonstrating your commitment to working with parents! We have diaries for communicating too and they all work really well together Edited June 7, 2009 by Cait Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted June 7, 2009 Share Posted June 7, 2009 didnt mean to sound as if i was against the idea i think it is very good for all the reasons you quoted in your post Cait, it is just i am up against a lot of resistants from staff members whenever i try to introduce anything new, dont think they trust me very much and seem to want proof that anything i introduce is approved of or recommended from some sort of governing body e.g. Ofsted etc. Thanks for your input though and will bring up at next meeting hopefully armed with examples and feedback from the lovely people on this site Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cait Posted June 7, 2009 Share Posted June 7, 2009 I wish you luck then. Staff resistance to change is a hard one, and there are loads of posts on here from people saying the same thing. I do feel that the Wows are really useful. Is there some way you could possibly make it their idea? er, 'I've been thinking about what you said at the last meeting about asking parents to help with the learning stories as there's a lot of work involved, well how about something like this?' Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted June 7, 2009 Share Posted June 7, 2009 not to sound corny but 'wow' what a bloody brilliant idea. my mum comes in to do display stuff for me this week so im gonnan get a wow wall too. it sounds so exciting Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cait Posted June 7, 2009 Share Posted June 7, 2009 Above the top of the WOWs I have written 'Celebrating Diversity - we are all different and we are all special' Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted June 8, 2009 Share Posted June 8, 2009 Hi all, I also have 'Wow' moments in my class. Every Monday the children have a 'Wow' moment ticket each to take home for the week- they can also ask for more if they need to. Each morning and evening I put out a real Reception post box that the children then can post their 'wow' moments into and then on a Friday we sit and have a 'wow' moment circle time and celebrate all the wow things they have achieved that week. They get so excited and they are very protective of their post box and won't let any other class go near it as it is 'special'! When they have read out their wow moments these go up on the wow display outside the classroom with anything else to go with it like maybe a photo and when they have a new wow moment this one is taken down and put into their learning journal. hope this helps. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted June 8, 2009 Share Posted June 8, 2009 Sounds like a great way to do it wilkinson 252 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
emmajess Posted June 8, 2009 Share Posted June 8, 2009 oh great Cait thanks, we do something similiar with parents, whereby we ask them to let us know of any achievements, interests, up and coming events from home etc, but only a few have replied which we then add to learning journey folder and discuss at 'circle time'. Perhaps if we could come up with something similiar to these wow cards we may get more interest (well heres hoping anyway). Does anyone know if ofsted 'approve' of these wow cards? Ofsted praised our use of WOW vouchers in our OFSTED. They are also real feel-good things for you to read, too! Ours are bright yellow slips of A5 paper with a shooting star border and a big WOW! at the top. We have a golden postbox for them to be posted in. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted June 8, 2009 Share Posted June 8, 2009 Thanks for all the fantastic replies - I'll get started on this then. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
berrybabe Posted June 9, 2009 Share Posted June 9, 2009 This is great - Thanks Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted June 9, 2009 Share Posted June 9, 2009 What a great idea - can i just ask - in the settings where 'wow' cards are used - how was this introduced to parents?? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted June 9, 2009 Share Posted June 9, 2009 (edited) I sent home a letter with 2 wow vouchers. The letter had small examples of what to put on vouchers and letter also explained that these wow vouchers celebrate their child's achievements at home and is something they can share with us. Also a keep sake and also said something along the lines of 'These Wow vouchers will help to support and extend your child’s learning, bringing their home life together with their development at Playgroup and promoting the Parents as Partners aspect of the Early Years Foundation Stage framework.' Hope that helps, ppp Edited June 9, 2009 by Guest Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted June 9, 2009 Share Posted June 9, 2009 We simply sent a letter and attached a couple of cards to it. Oh, the letter had a couple of examples, so parents got the idea that it could be simple things, not Einstein moments!! Gruffalo2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted June 9, 2009 Share Posted June 9, 2009 Thanks for those fast responses - love the idea and am going to put it in motion! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted June 9, 2009 Share Posted June 9, 2009 Good stuff fluffy! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted June 9, 2009 Share Posted June 9, 2009 Hope if goes well fluffy Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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