Childrens Journeys

[Guest]

Can some one help please = profiles:

 

I am trying to make a profile in which children, staff and parents have access to....on a weekly / monthly basis

 

I have bought A4 excerecise books I have 40 piles of children work and photos now need some inspiration can some help PLEASE

 

I keep a files of observations and targets I work on, on a weekly basis, and track on line children's progress, plan according to needs etc etc.

 

please help

 

Thanks

Edited April 2, 2010 by Guest

[Guest]

please give me your comments they are valuable

[Guest Spiral]

Maybe have a look at the items you can download on this website - I think there are a few examples - also use the DCSF website - though my post has a question about that too.

 

Interesting that we're on a similar thought path!

 

Spiral

[HappyMaz]

please give me your comments they are valuable

Unfortunately many of us need a little more time to think, phoneme!

 

Each child has a Special Book - an A4 display book with a clear cover so the title page can be seen through it. We then insert photographs into the plastic wallets, along with examples of things they've done etc. I print them out so that we don't have to cut out photographs and stick them down etc. Children have access to them all the time and can decide what goes in them too so they have ownership. We don't put observations in here, although we do annotate photographs with the relevant development matters statements so we use this as evidence too.

 

Our observations are kept separately, and get filed away in the back of each child's observation tracker where we keep a note of the dates when children were observed, and the development matters statement the activity covered. This way the child's special book is a great keepsake for the children and their families, and their observations/trackers can be passed onto school if the parents so wish.

 

We keep reviewing our special books and how we make them so that we can see if we need to make changes. It can be difficult to strike the balance between providing something meaningful and useful as part of our observation and assessment procedures, and not being completely overwhelmed by the process itself. Ultimately it has to be 'doable' within the context of your own setting, and what works for us might not work for you!

 

Maz

[Guest]

This is what I am looking for,

Do you organise them into areas of learning eg 6 main areas etc.??

 

I also thought it is a good idea for parents to add comments too do you have this too

[HappyMaz]

Do you organise them into areas of learning eg 6 main areas etc.??

No, because photographs often evidence more than one area of learning. We much prefer the journey to be a chronological one, so you can see the child growing in the pages of their books towards the end. We couldn't achieve that if they were split up into the six areas of learning.

 

Our parents take the books home frequently to share with other family members and we encourage them to provide things to put in their child's special books, but up until now we haven't asked them to comment in the books. However from next term we're going to make it a more formal process - key carer will write a little message to the child telling them what they like about their special book, and encourage the family to do the same. Then the child will have a chance to say what they like about their book to complete the process of reflection.

 

Will be interesting to see how that goes.

 

Maz

[Guest]

Sounds good Maz, I have just had a look at the sample from DSCF - wonderful if you are a forest school beautifully laid out.

 

Do you do one per year?

[Cait]

When we look through our children's files with them, or their parents sit and look through them, we make little notes about what is said about each article and stick those in alongside the piece. So a feather found in the garden might end up with quite a few comments, such as "It was really windy, wasn't it Mrs xxx? It blew about and I had to chase it", and "It's really soft, feel this bit at the bottom where it's fluffy and the top bit is really shiny" etc

 

 

..................................

 

Quick edit to say, yes, we do one per year

Edited April 2, 2010 by Cait

[HappyMaz]

Do you do one per year?

No, it starts the day they join and ends the day they leave. We've never had to start a second book yet, even for those children who come in at two and stay til they go to school.

 

Maz

[Cait]

Here's mine. This forms the start of the children's file and we stick loads of annotated photos and things that children want in there too

[Guest]

thanks for sharing

I want to use an excercise book though

[SmileyPR]

The children have their "Star of the Day" activity at the beginning of the school year. We give this Star_of_the_Day_documents.doc to the parents as part of this special moment. Later on, throughout the year, we add other things, e.g. photos with comments and worksheets that would not be bound together as a booklet.

[Guest]

thank you so much for your help it is good to share ideas I will put mine up on the site soon.

[sunflower12]

thank you so much for your help it is good to share ideas I will put mine up on the site soon.

Hi. I have just logged on to this site, and have found myself overwhelmed by what is on it.... We have been doing learning journeys for a year now, and the parents love them. However I do have a problem with staff on how many observations we should do a month on each child. I have one member of staff who will do absolutely loads compared with other embers of staff who find it difficult to do 4 observations a month, especially if they have 8 - 10 key children. Obviously the staff are not happy and causes lots of concerns. I don't know if anyone can tell me if there is a cetain liit or have any advise on keeping the staff happy!!!! I know its quality and not quantity, and catching those moments which are special. Would appreiate any help

 

Thanks

 

Ann

[Panders]

In common with many this is a tricky one!! Your member of staff who makes a lot of observations - are these very short post it note type things or are they long detailed narrative types? What does this staff member do with the observations, is she assessing them and using them to plan next steps, or just sticking them into the learning journey? Is she gathering similar info every time? There is little point in doing that, if one is satisfied that a child understands a point in the development matters column.

 

I make 10 min obs on children once per term, sometimes twice depending upon the info I have gathered. I assess it against the development matters statements, decide on next steps and make some plans accordingly. Alongside these if I note anything else I DIDN'T ALREADY KNOW then I would perhaps do a small post it and put that in the learning journey.

 

The amount of observations in some respect is irrelevant - it's what you do with that evidence that matters, if she is merely gathering info she already knows there is little point to it.

[mundia]

Hi sunflower, welcome to the forum and good to see you getting stuck in straight away.

 

I agree with panders, it really isn't about 'how many'..there is no set 'magic number', its about what do the observations you do tell you about the chidlren, their interests, what they are learning and where they need to go next. A good starting point is do I know my children well in all areas?

 

If you have wild discrepancies amongst your staff, then a staff meeting on this might be the right opportunity for everyone to share their thinking and unpick some of the difficulties. This can also be brought out in supervisions. Managing the whole observations-assessment-planning cycle isn't easy for everyone and doesn't come automatically and it may be that some of your staff need some support with this? If this is the case, then you can either buddy up your team, or look for additional training from your LA.

 

There are lots of threads on here yo can take a look at so you will see that its a perennial question, and there are many many different answers.

 

Good luck with it