Daily Report / Diary / Record Form

[Guest]

Good Morning

 

My Manager has asked me to come up with a daily record form to inform parents what our preschool children have been up to...

 

I need to come up with something that is informative to parents but not hugely time consuming...

 

Does anyone use anything like this for preschoolers in sessional care...

 

 

I have searched the forum at length but can't find anything

 

Thank you in anticipation x

 

Carla

[chasrosam]

Hi Carla, no cant say we do this, we just feedback personally and also have a message board where we put a copy of the planning, current photos and short notes about what the children have been doing. It would be very time consuming to complete forms for all children ??

 

SUe

[Guest]

We have an A3 white board headed what happened today. Even that is sometimes too much to get done. Ideally it would be jotted on all morning but in practise it is done in the last 10 minutes while the children are in the other room.

[sunnyday]

Hi Carla

 

We have a 'daily contact book' .....is that the sort of thing you are looking for?

 

So....each child has a small 'excercise book' - key person writes a comment daily - this is sent home with child - returned at next session and (hopefully) has a comment from parents..........

 

Not sure this is what you mean.........pm me if you would like more details......

 

Sunnyday

[Susan]

A form seems very complicated, even the simplest form can be difficult to fill in if you are in a hurry so perhaps some guidelines for daily reports would be easier?

[denisse]

We have a little red home book for each child in their book bags. We have an introduction to it at the front that explains it is not a daily book but a book to log key events and a way that parents can communicate with us about things at home. We check it every day but do not write in it every day except if this is the preferred method of communication by parents. Some parents do not use it at all and some particularly those who do not drop off/pick up and those that EAL is an issue use it all the time and helps us lots.

 

Dx

[dublinbay]

We used to use a little red book too in which we wrote about what children did during their week with us. I loved writing in it initially when I had 6/7 key children but when it came to 14/15 children it just got too much.

 

Not every parent commented on what we wrote and we were never sure whether they read them at all. We eventually stopped using the books and since then it is the one thing that parents keep asking for when we send out questionnaires (mainly the parents who had children with us previously).

 

Now we just tell the parents and of course record it in the children's learning journeys........its not the same. I'd have loved to know what my own children got up to in their preschool. I don't even have any photos of them then.

[denisse]

Agree with you Dublinbay. One of the reasons we keep at it as well is that there is simply not enough time at the end of the session to talk to all the parents especially with lunch club children to supervise and tidying up to do.

We also have a book bag and encourage the children to change books each day, this along with having a supernumerary member of staff makes it manageable, but just about.

Dx

[Guest]

Hi gang, thanks so much for the feedback... I agree it is such a time consuming thing to do...

 

I've made this... as my manager requested a form.. but I will feed back all your comments

 

thanx

 

Carla

[Guest]

oops better attach it

 

'my preschool day' I suppose the reason I put so much on is to point out that the children hopefully will play in all these areas every week and if all parents looked at the plans they would see what opportunities are available.

 

(I'm exhausted reading it he he!)

my_day.doc

[Guest]

maybe we could use something like this, one copy for parents, one for learning journey

[Guest]

I definately like the idea of the book, but I'm unsure if many parents would write in it....

[fizzy]

We grab a piece of A4 and very quickly jot down a few of the things we have done during the morning, what toys thechildren have had out, what snack they had, what programs they played with on the computer and the story and songs we enjoyed. Takes about 2 minutes, but allows the parents to chat about what there childs been up to. we pin this to the parents message board.

[sunnyday]

I definately like the idea of the book, but I'm unsure if many parents would write in it....

I know that is always an issue..........but I really like the books as it does allow a two-way dialogue with parents....... we don't find them too time consuming to keep up and once (it took a while!) parents got used to using them they enjoy them too.......

 

I may be wrong but I think Ofsted want to see this daily flow of communication between parents and child's key person..........Partnership with Parents and all that!

 

I have quite a few children who are 'delivered/collected' by childminders/other carers - the books are great for communicating with parents who you might not 'see' very often............oh should have said - I encourage the childminders/carers to write in them too!

 

Sometimes a line like - 'Harry really enjoyed parachute games - ask him about it' can be useful....equally a parent might write something like 'we went to the zoo yesterday' - which of course means that you can have a conversation with the child about that!

 

You can tell I like my Daily Contact Books

 

Sunnyday

[Cait]

Oh me too! Parents feedback that they like them too! We also have whiteboard that we jot things down on too - but not every day - it's more for reminders about things - like can you help your child find a spider this weekend to look at?

[sunnyday]

Oh me too! Parents feedback that they like them too!

Most of my parents really like them........I have 3 parents who are, or were teachers - they use them to the max.!

 

I had one parent last year who said to me "I really don't like these books, I always talk to you anyway" - I said "oh that's fine - I won't do one for you then"!

 

Just one other parent didn't like them - her son had some behaviour 'issues' - I was always very 'gentle' in what I wrote - just giving a brief explanation of what had happened and how I had dealt with it and was always very careful to end on a positive note about all the wonderful things he had done throughout the session.......but she said "I'm fed up with reading about his bad behaviour" (please note - bad behaviour - her words not mine!) however she persevered with the book and after a while she began to say how useful it was!

[denisse]

I think it's important to respect parents wish to communicate verbally as well as there may be some issues with reading and writing.

 

We also use a white board that is used to say what we are doing in the sessions as well as to remind parents of things to bring in or events and have our planning on the parent noticeboard.

 

If you are using them to say what is happening every session then this may be duplicating what you are doing for their learning journeys, that is why we keep ours to key events, questions and to support toilet training etc. Our learning journeys are also available for parent's to look at any time and formally at parent evenings/meetings.

 

Finally a lesson learnt by one member of staff is if there was an issue with behaviour it is also important that this is discussed verbally so that the written word is not taken the wrong way and made into something huge.

 

Dx

[sunnyday]

I think it's important to respect parents wish to communicate verbally as well as there may be some issues with reading and writing.

 

We also use a white board that is used to say what we are doing in the sessions as well as to remind parents of things to bring in or events and have our planning on the parent noticeboard.

 

If you are using them to say what is happening every session then this may be duplicating what you are doing for their learning journeys, that is why we keep ours to key events, questions and to support toilet training etc. Our learning journeys are also available for parent's to look at any time and formally at parent evenings/meetings.

 

Finally a lesson learnt by one member of staff is if there was an issue with behaviour it is also important that this is discussed verbally so that the written word is not taken the wrong way and made into something huge.

 

Dx

I feel like I have been 'told off'!

 

Of course - would always respect any parents wishes if they didn't want to use these books - that was what I said! (No probs. with reading/writing in this case though!)

 

We do not repeat info. we write just a few brief lines in these books - such as - Jonny had a good morning - spent a long time exploring magnets or whatever, whatever.

 

Would always discuss behaviour 'issues' - but if the books are an account of the morning - I am not going to write 'Jonny had a good morning' - if he didn't!!!

[denisse]

I think I need to learn the lesson of my staff and to read things through before sending. Rubbish at posting and trying to sound helpful not patronising (need to add that as a target for self reflection) that's why I don't post very often.

 

I write as I think things up and meant for general lessons learnt and considerations, certainly not a direct response to your post. Will go and write 100 lines "must not offend fellow members of FSF". Forgiven????

[sunnyday]

I think I need to learn the lesson of my staff and to read things through before sending. Rubbish at posting and trying to sound helpful not patronising (need to add that as a target for self reflection) that's why I don't post very often.

 

I write as I think things up and meant for general lessons learnt and considerations, certainly not a direct response to your post. Will go and write 100 lines "must not offend fellow members of FSF". Forgiven????

Bless you - I'm not all offended absolutely nothing to apologise for!!!

 

Don't write any lines!!! Perhaps I should write some - something like 'make your points clearly and don't be over-sensitive'!

 

Friends?!

Edited August 24, 2009 by sunnyday

[dublinbay]

Further to my previous post about parents writing or not in the little red book is that those who never wrote in the books said that they did indeed read them but never felt the need to comment!!! It did frustrate me when I had spent hours doing all the books to think that they weren't even been read. (Note to self.....must not prejudge parents!!).

 

Must admit that I did love doing them but the work-load just got too heavy.

[dublinbay]

Good girls...........kiss and make up!

[Guest]

We have to do a daily sheet for each of our kids. It has boxes to tick what activites the kids have done, boxes to write how much food they've eaten and a bigger box to write a summary of what that child has done. We have about 13 kids in our room each day and one member of staff has to spend about 20 minutes in the morning and then afternoon writing them out. I think they're a total waste of time an doesn't encourage the staff to chat to the parents, instead they just read out the sheet which I'm sure the parents chuck in the bin as soon as they get home. Personally I'd be happier with a tick sheet to tick what activites the kids have done and use that as a promt to use when talking to the parents like human beings, not administrators

[Phoebe123]

Hi everyone,

 

We started having contact books a year ago and they have been great, although quite time consuming. They replaced paper forms/slips and so on we had done before. We also chat to parents on a daily basis and have explained that it is not always possible to write in books every day, but we aim to write something at least once or twice a week. As has been said, sometimes you think parents have not been reading it and then a little comment will appear and you are thrilled! The best thing for me was a parent whose child left for school in the summer and she said she will treasure the book and bring it out for her son to look at in the future. What a lovely thought!

It really is a living record of exchanges over a long period and separate forms would not have achieved this.

 

Hope this helps.

 

Lesley

[Guest]

hello there

we used to use a contact book but found it to time consuming to write in it for every child, then parents would forget to hey were the ones return it! We thought it would be goo din partivular for those parents who did not come regulary to collect their child but wrong they were the ones that used it the least.

 

we still offer a contact book and use it if parents request it

but we have boards in our lobby informing parents of what the children had for snack, planning is clearly available on a magnetic board, but the biggest form of comminucation is the little chat as they go home at the end of the session.

For parents who work and we dont see (not many) i send a text to

 

then there are the usual newletters email web site photo board etc

[SmileyPR]

We have a diary where we glue the adult-lead activities we will be having that week. This goes on the left hand side of the diary and on the right hand side we have 3 rows with 5 columns. The top row has the 5 working days, the 2nd one is for us to tick the amount of documents sent home that day. We have had to do this because some parents had the 'magic' of loosing anything that we sent home. Now they keep an eye to it. In my diary, I write which was the document(s). Under this column, on the bottom row, they have to sign their initials. Beneath all of this, which is most of the page, are lots of lines so that the we can communicate back and forth about any important incidents during the child's day. We don't do so daily because it would be time consuming and each teacher is alone with her class. If it is something more serious, we always ask the parent if we can have a chat. Then we keep record of it on our diary.

 

I have attached 2 examples of what I glue on the left hand page.

Nov._17___21_The_Gingerbread_Man_1_Parents.doc

March_9___13_The_Sea_1_Parents.doc

 

The parents like to know what their children do and then they can also ask them, especially with those who don't take the initiative to speak or who are too young. We also make a comment if it was something special during his/her CIP.

[mps09]

HI,

 

We don't use this routinely for all the children but for SEN and for new children this is quite a quick check as a start.

 

You can put as much or as little info in as you feel necessary, or even get the children to colour in the items they have enjoyed....

 

I just put it together with clipart pictures so you could add or change as much as necessary to provide for all experiences.

 

Hope this gives you an idea....

 

 

New_Starter_or_SEN_diary.doc

[sunnyday]

HI,

 

We don't use this routinely for all the children but for SEN and for new children this is quite a quick check as a start.

 

You can put as much or as little info in as you feel necessary, or even get the children to colour in the items they have enjoyed....

 

I just put it together with clipart pictures so you could add or change as much as necessary to provide for all experiences.

 

Hope this gives you an idea....

 

 

New_Starter_or_SEN_diary.doc

That's lovely - thank you for sharing!

 

Oh and welcome to the forum!

[louby loo]

HI,

 

We don't use this routinely for all the children but for SEN and for new children this is quite a quick check as a start.

 

You can put as much or as little info in as you feel necessary, or even get the children to colour in the items they have enjoyed....

 

I just put it together with clipart pictures so you could add or change as much as necessary to provide for all experiences.

 

Hope this gives you an idea....

 

 

New_Starter_or_SEN_diary.doc

 

 

I love this idea for the new starters.

 

xxx

[Guest]

that is a lovely idea x