Nursery Planning

[Guest]

We are reviewing our planning documents. We are aware that our short term planning sheets do not reflect all the child initiated work that goes on in a day and with the best will in the world adding them to a weekly plan at the end of each day does not always happen.Any suggestions would be carefully considered as well as knowing others are in asimilar situation!!

[Helen]

Hi Oscar,

Has anyone told you that you have to record all the child-initiated play? We don't! We record significant learning through our observation cycle, and these notes get copied up into each child's individual "special book", or record of achievement

as some settings call them.

I can't think of a useful reason why we should write these up on the planning sheets, too, but maybe you have been advised to do by Ofsted, or your LEA?

What do other people do?

[Beau]

Like you Helen I would only make a note of anything I thought was significant. I have a small column on my short term planning sheets for evalution and I might write something in here that will help me with my planning for the following week. I think to try and write up everything would be a mammoth task and more paperwork which would be just filed and never looked at again.

[Susan]

Oscar, haven't worked and planned in nursery but in Reception we indicated on our medium term plans all that learning that might take place throughout the day and within all activities--I called this spontaneous and continuous learning. Other learning was planned and topic related and would also appear within the short term plans.

You can't plan for child initiated learning except perhaps within the rotation of activities and experiences can you? If its planned, isnt it adult initiated although you can support and extend this learning through the provision of other materials etc? You can plan this provision and extension and indicate what you are planning through your evaluation and subsequent short term planning.

 

Perhaps within your planning and in your setting areas you would find it useful to break down the learning opportunities that are possible. You might find this makes you feel that you have acknowledged the learning that can take place?

 

Does that make sense?

[Guest]

There is a an attachment somewhere from someone with a list of all the "natural" play learning that can take place which is quite extensive - sorry I don't know how to do a link, hopefully someone else will see this and link you to it.

 

I use my digital camara quite a lot to evidence childrens achievements, I then stick these in my planning book with a write up to justify the photo. ie: Sara poured own drink for the first time.

 

Peggy

[Guest]

Here is an example today of child initiated play. A child self selected a ball, called some friends together, organised them to sit in a circle and they all joined in at rolling the ball to each other as they called each others names.

 

Many learning outcomes the main one being team work.