Afternoons In Reception

[Guest]

After a lengthly discussion amongst our reception staff about the structure of the day we have decided that whilst our mornings have a good structure our afternoons often seem to be a bit wishy washy and I was just wondering what people find works best for them, any advice would be greatly appreciated

[Guest]

I am feeling the same at the moment.

I have PE and ICT time 4 mornings a week so have moved my numbertime to the first session after lunch on those days but then feel that i am so busy catching up hearing readers etc on an afternoon that the whole struture of an afternoon session goes out the window! So I would also like to hear what others do.

 

Sarah

[Guest]

We have a whole school policy of quiet reading for the first 15-20 mins after lunch. During this time I have 2 children sharing the listening post, 2 children sharing the computer using Talking Books, a small group reading game (bingo/lotto/cvc dice game etc), a small group writing cvc words and the rest "reading" books, while I try and hear individual readers. My TA will either support the reading game or, if it is self-correcting, she will hear readers. After this initial session the children have a range of activities to do, depending on how the morning went! There is usually an art activity and a focused maths/English catch-up activity and free flow indoor/outdoor with the other Recpetion class. We have one afternoon PE session each week and I usually do a whole class lesson at least one afternoon a week as well - K&U or music or PSED. At the end of the afternoon (about 2.30) we tidy up and the children have their free fruit while I read them a story. I know what you mean about the afternoons disappearing, Sarah!

[Guest]

We have 2 afternoons where we usually have some form of K&U session. A short input eg on Nocturnal animals and activities linked to this eg sorting pictures of animals into day/night, painting animals etc. The other class will do eg a history aspect - light in the past looking at candles, with some linked activities. The next day we swap rooms and 'subject'.

 

There are still free activities available and 2 groups go into our shared area and have choice from all areas of learning including our main role play area.

On 2 more afternoons we have ICT in the suite for part of the afternoon or PE and then swap the next day.

 

Fridays is taken up with celebration assembly then free choice . Most afternoons groups will go out with a teacher or TA on the outdoor play Equipment. We don't have enough staff for free outdoor access.

[Guest]

We had an advisory teacher come to visit and she said that the afternoons should have the same structure as the morning. Previously we had done more formal activities in the morning and made the afternoons freer. She said that this prioritised our "work" over the children's "play" and so sent out the message that adult led stuff was more important. We now have a mixture of adult-led activivites and child-initiated play going on all the time and the mornings and afternoons are structured in the same way.

What structure do you have in the mornings ladybug?

[Magenta]

We do the same as you Swordfish, p.m. virtually the same as a.m. and a mixture of large and small group adult led activities as well as CI play.

[Guest]

We have a 'lesson' 1.15-2.00 with activities dictated by me (may be group work, may be choosing from a small selection of appropriate resources to the general theme (Eg CD, MD) and then Plan-do-review 2-2.45, then story & hometime. It's a real squash but works better than anything I've done before. I prioritise the 1st session of the day for child initiated learning so I had to get lots into the afternoon as a result!

 

Dianne

[Guest]

We have 2 sessions which are timetabled as literacy and numeracy although we are not operating the 'lessons' yet. (Less carpet time longer play sessions)

 

Afternoon is 1hr 15min playtime and then 1hr which is really frustrating as the kids get into all the play stuff and then its tidy up time. After play is then an hour long again but it's difficult knowing what to do really

[Guest]

Hi everyone,

This is an interesting conversation. I too feel my pm's disappear. They are generally much more CI than the am which I know is not good. But I feel that I need to do lit/num activities in the am as children are usually less tired in the am. However I have a hall time everyday which is in the am because Junior feel R is not as important so that they can have their hall time in the pm. Great hey! So I try and mix the hall time and have maths activities and some PD first. I feel I am continually juggling and not getting it right however hard I try. I have been here R teacher for 12 years and it just does'nt get any easier.

Sorrry for the moan.

Abi

[Guest]

Hi all.

 

Our afternoons are forever busy as it seems to be the time we have to try and cram everything other than the Literacy and numeracy based activities into!

 

We have 60 children, so we divide them into three groups of 20 for what we call 'Topic Time' - which is a culmination of KUW and CD really. At planning we plan three topic time jobs, one might be baking biscuits, one might be collaborative painint, and another... hmm I think last week it was something about family trees.

 

Then each afternoon for Monday, Tueasday and Wednesday we send group of 20 to each activity. Whereby, they rotate around all three over the course of the three days and cover them all.

 

That sounds totally confusing , and I don't know whether I'm coming or going some afternnons, but the children always seem to know where they should be and keep me in check. So in conclusion, we use our afternoons for a lot of the KUW and creative, and I find that works well.

[Susan]

hi paulparkie & welcome!

 

Thanks for making your first post. sounds like a profitable way to spend your afternoons. What are the children doing when they are not involved in these activities and what do you do on the other 2?

[Guest]

We're actually lucky enough to have 3 rooms in our reception... hence the 3 topic time jobs. So to make it more manageable, and so we can keep track of who is where, and who has done what, we say that when they have done their topic time job in that room, then they have to stay in that room - but we always make sure there's plenty for them to do i.e. computers, independent activtites, we have a role play in each room too.

 

We actually only end up having just over an hour for the whole session anyway before play, so by the time they've all got to their right rooms and got settled and been told what they'll be able to be do in that room that day tehere isn't much time to play with at the end, especially with the messier jobs like feet painting or making fruit smoothies... mmm mmm mmm

 

On Thursday we have hall time and the ICT suite, so one class has P.E. whilst the other has ICT then we swap half way through... on Fridays we have independent learning all day, where it's all entirely child initiated. The TA's allow the children to guide them in helping them model making and with construction, and I usually just go with the flow of whatever the children want to do, or use the time for observations... I like Fridays... they're fun!

[Sue R]

Hi Paul!

 

Sounds good to me!!

 

Sue