Help Ratios Ai:ci In Yr1- Are There Any?

[Guest]

Hi there,

 

I have not contributed for such along time to this forum!!! I'm quite nervous actually!!!

 

I have been given the task of supporting the YR1 team to help with transition.

 

They are going to use our Foundation method of teaching and going to go total freeflow!!Yippeee!!

Im trying to convince them of the benefits of continuous provision and CI ativites indoors and out as well as all the other fantastic things that go on in F1 and F2

 

We use the 80:20 ratio in FS and I was just wondering if anyone could help with information about YR1 children- I appreciate that a lot of the children will still be working within the EYFS requirements- but what about the other children? I need some ammo to back up my argument against using formal didactic teaching which is happening at the moment.

 

Has anyone got any advice that I could use for them in terms of planning- do others still use the topic based approach?

 

Thanks in advance- I know that someone out there will help me!!!

[JacquieL]

Hello there it's good to see you here. Hopefully someone will come along to help you soon. Have you got the 'Continuing the Learning Journey' Training materials, as there may be something in there to help you, although that was pre EYFS. Some of the stuff could be useful? What you are going to do sounds fantastic and I hope it all goes well.

[Guest LornaW]

There was a great article in the EYE magazine a few months ago on transition but there are no recommended time ratios as schools can decide on their own. What we recommend is that the Y1 children who are ready are given a set amount of challenges to do in the week and when it is CI time the children know they can work on these challenges. The adult may then also chose to work with a focussed group of Y1 children on challenges while the others are working independently. It works really well and then there is no need to do all the whole class teaching where only a few children are engaged and learning.

 

Does that make sense? I know I know what I mean so get back to me if you need clarification!!!!

 

Lorna

Edited June 19, 2009 by LornaW

[Guest]

Hi

 

Following the discussion with interest as we too are about to take our FS practise into YR 1. At present in FS we run large and small group time. I am currrently the FS teacher and will be doing YR 1 in Sept I need to establish a routine to structure the day. In FS it is the structure of my day and the assocsiated routines that make the free flow work so well. If any one has a daily YR structure they would like to share, would love to see it.

 

Thanks

 

Jay

[Guest]

Hi

 

Ops that should of course say a daily YR 1 structure to share!!!

[Guest]

There was a great article in the EYE magazine a few months ago on transition but there are no recommended time ratios as schools can decide on their own. What we recommend is that the Y1 children who are ready are given a set amount of challenges to do in the week and when it is CI time the children know they can work on these challenges. The adult may then also chose to work with a focussed group of Y1 children on challenges while the others are working independently. It works really well and then there is no need to do all the whole class teaching where only a few children are engaged and learning.

 

Does that make sense? I know I know what I mean so get back to me if you need clarification!!!!

 

Lorna

 

Lorna,

I'd love to know a bit more detail about the challenges- linked to the topic/theme?, differentiated/ open ended, across all areas of curriculum?, recording who has completed / not? It sounds like a way of working I would like to go doen with my mixed R/Y1 in September.

[Susan]

Why cant you use the daily structure that you already have in place? If its working in yrR will it not work in yr1?

[catma]

It sounds very positive to be able to look at Yr1 in this way! I would try not to focus on it being a "continuation" of EYFS - as such, after all I would expect many children will be getting good levels of attainment and be working within the early learning goals and are at national expectations so should continue into the Yr 1 programmes of study. It's more about the pedagogy of curriculum delivery - the content doesn't matter it's how you get it across to children in an interactive, hands on activity based way that is the main focus of change in yr1 I think. How will you challenge children? What will the progression be in the provision you make that will extend their thinking etc within the YR1 expectations rather than just replication of resources they've had for several years for instance.

 

PS re 80/20 ratio for CI/AI - I understood the description in the EYFS doc for CI/AI as "a balance" ie more 50/50 coming from the EPPE research - near even balance of CI/AI and then, in that mix, sustained shared activity. *

 

As I understand it, 80/20 is the ratio for the quantities of collected evidence from AI activities (20% of it) and the collected evidence from CI activities (80% of it) for the EYFSP which is a different thing.

 

*I've attached a picture of how I explain it!

 

Cx

adult_and_child_time.doc

[Susan]

Thanks for that Catma. I'm really hoping to get an L|S|A next year who will understand how I want to "run" with this one in year 1. Then all Ive got to do is convince my colleague!

[Guest LornaW]

Catma I love your diagram can I use it please in some of my training? Also agree with you entirely that it is about pedagogy delivery and what we found when we went down this route, when I was in school, was that children needed those challenges to enable them to stretch their thinking. We looked at the daily routine as a way of delivering the curriculum and came up with something like the following

 

Suggested daily routine for Y1 class as a rough guide!!!!

 

8.45am Doors of classrooms open and parents bring children into class and can help them settle at a table top or floor

activity. Children can self register at this time meaning that at 8.55 you can we gave a given signal to ask any

remaining parents to leave.

 

9.00am Assembly

 

9.20 am Phonics in at least 2 groups - each class had a TA

 

9.40 am Plan / do / review ( in the term 1 of 6 of Y1 this was exactly the same as it was in reception) In term 2of 6 we

introduced the challenges. We made up many of our own but as said previously Sally Featherstone now has

some excellent books called Carrying on in Y1 so much of the work is done for you. These challenges are open

ended and differenitated by outcome as they would be acitivies the children could work on mostly unaided. By

term 3 of 6 in a putre Y1 class all children were working on challenges and as they did so the class teacher would work

with focussed groups of up to six children. There was time then to work with two groups for 30 minutes or three for 20

minutes. The TA could support the children on independent activities scaffolding and extending the learning.

 

10.40 am Tidy up time

 

10.35 am Review time - focussed children can feedback on the work they were doing. Many children gained information for the

challenges from this and inproved their preformance on the challenge from the experiences of the reviewers!

 

10.45am Snacktime

 

11.00am Small group time using both adults if available (such as guided reading, maths input, shared writing, shared reading etc.

This can be split into smaller groups with half working with the teacher and half doing a teacher initiated task)

 

11.35am Large group time such as Write Dance / PE / Circle Time etc.

 

11.55am Get ready for lunch.

 

Lunchtime

 

1.15pm Small group time – Adult input

 

1.45pm Plan / do / review ( Challenge time as in the morning)

 

2.45pm Tidy up time

 

2.50pm Review time ( again with focussed children )

 

3.00pm Story time

 

3.15pm Parents collect children from the classroom. Adults can catch parents etc if needed and parents can see the learning that

has been going on tin the classroom

 

By the end of the week all children will have planned and reviewed and you as the teacher can have covered all areas of learning you need and in focussed groups.

 

We need to remember that keeping parents involved in the child's learning is very important and being able to come into the classroom at the beginning and end of the day is for may crucial. I want to build up relationships with parents and gleen infomration from them as well as give it to them. I have always felt very privilidged to have parent's children for 6 hours a day and want to share as much as I can. Seeing them little and often makes it so much easier.

 

Marie children would know what challenges they had to do (and yes they were across all areas of learning) and would mark off on their own chart which challenges they had undertkaen and completed. We also encouraged them to reflect on how they had done on the challenge so had they enjoyed it and kept at it or had they just done it as quickly as possible to get it out of the way. One of the focussed group times can be with children to discuss their work and how they feel they are doing.

 

Children had a challenge book if they needed to record or they used paper, painted, made a model and took a photograph etc. It was the process more oftern than not that was the key rather than the product.

[green hippo]

Thanks for the diagram and explanation, Catma - very helpful. Does sustain shared thinking always start from a child-initiated activity which an adult would then become involved in or would the adult sometime initiate the activity which the children would then take in their own direction with the support of the adult?

 

Very interesting

Thanks

Green Hippo xx

[Guest]

Lorna,

Thanks so much for putting your explanation of how your day works - my mind is already ticking as to how I could take this on board further with my YR/1/2 class in September. We're nearly there, but your breakdown of your day has given me more ideas for working with Y2 in this way, too.

Tracy

[catma]

From EYFS -

Sustained shared thinking

 

* In the most effective settings practitioners support and challenge children's thinking by getting involved in the thinking process with them.

* Sustained shared thinking involves the adult being aware of the children's interests and understandings and the adult and children working together to develop an idea or skill.

* Sustained shared thinking can only happen when there are responsive trusting relationships between adults and children.

* The adult shows genuine interest, offers encouragement, clarifies ideas and asks open questions. This supports and extends the children's thinking and helps children to make connections in learning.

 

Give children time to explore and develop their initiatives. Encourage them to discuss what they are

doing and what they want to achieve.

Build on children’s ideas as you help them to see new possibilities in their play.

Listen to and discuss children’s ideas; offer suggestions and pose questions that extend their thinking

 

I think in practice though it could start with adults making suggestions - in the Marion Dowling video clips re SST the children are working with resources provided by an adult but they then work on their ideas together and with adults giving their thoughts as they go along. Card 4.3 has a little box about it and there's an "in depth sheet on the web eyfs too

 

CX

 

ps use the diagram if you wish

[Marion]

HOW MUCH TIME TO PLAY?

 

Sue Ellis of the National Strategies is keen to dispel the myth that children must now spend 80 per cent of their time playing.

 

The idea arose from the EYFS assessment document, which states that evidence should come 80 per cent from child-initiated and 20 per cent from adult-led activities. But there is no such rule. Basically, one-third of the day should be spent on adult-initiated and two-thirds on child- initiated activities, half of which is spent playing alongside adults.

[catma]

Thanks Marion - that's exactly what I thought. My input came from Ruth Pimental and Iram Siraj- Blatchford.

Cx

[emmajess]

Excellent diagram, Catma, thank you! And Lorna, thanks for the great, detailed description of your day. When I was in Y1 a few years ago, I used to run it very similarly to this, I moved to reception and a new Y1 teacher had a different approach, so the continuation of the pedagogy was lost. Next year we've got an NQT in Y1 and as her line manager / KS1 leader it will be really helpful to show her your post, if that's ok, to give her a picture of good practice inY1, rather than just me burbling on!

 

Catma, it's interesting that you mention about not replicating resources in Y1 as I feel at this point in the year the children are so familiar with the resources that they are beginning to feel that they've exhausted their potential - they are not immediately excited by them as they were earlier in the year. Various teachers / teachig assistants keep telling me 'they're ready for more structure' (ie less C.I, less free flow....so patronising and dismissive of Early Years practice) but I want to scream! They're just in need of some fresh resources! It seems to me that the fundamental pedagogy of EYFS, as long as the content changes and it is delivered in an age appropriate way, is the way to learn all through life - not just FS, Ks1 or even KS2!

Whew... off my chest, sorry!

[Guest]

Many thanks for all your replies!!

I was really interested in what Marion, and Catma, had to say about the 80% - our LEA adviser has insisted that the children should spend 80% of their time on CI activities. We used to do "thirds' but we were told that this is wrong. Mmmm interesting!!!

 

Has anyone used the Featherstone/ Bailey YR1 Teachers Survival Pack please? I just wondered if it was relevant now as it came out in 2007?

Thanks so much for all you valuable information.