Please Help!

[Guest]

Hi everyone,

 

I was wondering if anyone else is still experienceing children flitting from activity to activity in PDR and not really gaining anything from what they are choosing to do?

 

I have come to the conclusion that PDR is simply to unstructured for some of my cohort and need some ideas to ensure these children are learning through what they are doing. I still have children that aways choose to play with barbies and cars and just build in the construction area.

 

I would be eternally grateful to hear what others are doing.

 

I would also been interested to hear if anyone changes PDR the closer to the end of the year you get to aid transition to year 1.

 

Thanks for reading and please give your views, as I am starting to feel quite desperate!

 

XXX

[catma]

Pdr??? Not sure what you mean by this acronym!

Edited March 27, 2010 by catma

[Guest]

PDR - Plan Do Review

[Susan]

If you are using the plan, do, review process successfully, the flitting you describe should not really occur as the children will be fully engaged doing what they have planned and reviewing it later or explaining what else they did.

 

I think you recently, posted about this elsewhere and I suggest you should rethink your approach to make it work for you and your children. Sorry if that is not very helpful but its difficult to advise from afar. The Highscope PDR process is a skilled not adhoc approach.

 

Good luck.

[Guest]

Hi Punto can't really help we don't do pdr as such but I have the same problem during CIA as do a great many of my colleagues in reception classes I have spoken to. I find that no matter what I've planned for and provided, the children ignore this and return to their own unstructured activities.

[Guest]

We do not have a plan do review model, but I teach Reception and have fairly long periods of 'child initiated play'. We add resources to areas, but the idea is to provide extra things to stimulate children's play, rather than to 'get them to do something'. For example, we provided paper from a shredder machine as a collage resource along with other things. I didn't feel things had gone wrong when two children stuck down a few peices then fetched water colour paints and explored the way they looked on coloured paper and white shreddings.If children take our provision and creatively make it into something alse then we should celebrate.

[Guest Cathryn1974]

HI

Don't know if this is helpful.

We have long periods of CIA as well. We observe the children and see what their interests are we may then enhance this interest with what we make available to them or simply scaffold and support them in their play. We allow them to take it whereever they want (within the realms of safety) Alongside this CIA we have focus activities that have also come from the children's next steps needs and also two formal yet playful carpet sessions a day. The CIA may appear unstrcutured and sometime boisterous but once we really tune in we can see how meaningful it is really.

 

Hope this helps.

 

Cathryn

[Susan]

In the High Scope PDR model, children would be recording their planning and their reviewing. Initially, the plan and review would be verbal and later it would be more formal with teacher support so that there is a record of what each child has planned, what they did and what they learnt.

 

In the High scope nursery setting that I observed, the children displayed high levels of independence but were taught how to access materials and equipment for at least half an hour a session to enable this. Everything was easily and readily available to the children so a child wishing to paint would access the powder, pots, brushes, paper and mix the colours they required and paint! However, in the planning session that had taken place the teacher would know that child x wished to paint and would be around to support that activity.

 

The teacher and NN supported their key group for planning and reviewing, for the taught session to access different areas or teach key skills in them, and the teacher had a story session with the whole group.

[Guest]

Thanks for everyones replies.

 

I have been following the Highscope model but think the problem is the planning and reviewing now needs to be more formal, so that the children actually do what it is they have planned to do. The children could draw a picture of what they plan to do and add some labels, write sentences...

 

Any other ideas??

[Guest]

I do not think PDR should be changed to aid transition, but that it should be continued into Year 1....

More formal planning would make them focus more on what they were doing as well.

 

There is lots you could do with Barbies, cars and bricks to get meaningful play that the children are interested in and learning from - though I am sure you have thought of these things before. What about challenges such as designing and making an outfit/home for Barbie, writing her a story, a garage for the cars, ramps and slope exploration, plus recording outcomes, a particular construction. they have drawn first or working from each other's plans? What about photographing the play at different stages and scribing children's comments as they play, then getting them to write stories based on this.

Hope this helps.

[Guest]

I posted about PDR under a different section 2 weeks ago and got no replies from people using it . I have found this thread by accident and would love to hear any other comments about using it in Reception class. I am not using it myself at the moment.