klc106 Posted September 14, 2011 Share Posted September 14, 2011 Hi, I've just opened my playgroup and have not had much experience of learning journey's before as been in a school that didn't use them. Has any one got any advice to help me get them right? Also, how do you keep track of things you have observed to avoid observing the same thing over and over and to make sure you cover everything! Hope this makes sense. I am looking forward to your answers! Thanks Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hali Posted September 14, 2011 Share Posted September 14, 2011 Learning journeys are basically the story of a childs time with you. So there should be info at the front from home about the child (likes dislikes etc) then lots of pictures, post its, observations etc and then every 6 weeks or so you need to do a review of thier 6 areas of learning (thats where you will keep track of what the child has done/achieved and next steps) also you need to make space to pt parents comments in there Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
klc106 Posted September 14, 2011 Author Share Posted September 14, 2011 Do you have to link all photo's and pictures etc. to the eyfs and provide next steps or is it just the observations that you do that for? Sorry to sound stupid but not done them before and am expecting ofsted in november so want to get them right! Thanks Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Steve Posted September 14, 2011 Share Posted September 14, 2011 Can't help with any advice myself - except to say that I don't think learning journeys are particularly prescriptive - ie there's no formal rules and regulations about them. However, you might find something useful in this long topic from last year about them. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hali Posted September 14, 2011 Share Posted September 14, 2011 some of my settings do others dont as long as pics and post its are dated so you can refer to them thats fine. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
enuffsenuf Posted September 15, 2011 Share Posted September 15, 2011 not silly question...if you dont know something you should always ask what's silly is worrying about things and NOT asking....we use learning journeys all the time....think og them as a mat with all the areas of a child's life woven in together. In our area we are only asked to do one or two QUALITY obs each half term (those that show progression etc)...but we take pictures each week when we spot a child accessing different areas of learning, chatting with other children...in fact anything that we think tells a story about who the child is and what they like doing or can do etc. At the end of each week we send a slip home to parents (it has a smiley face; a sad face; and another smiley face on it) which asks them to ask the child; whet they have liked playing with this week, what they havent liked playing with and what they would like to play with next week. I change the colour of these slips each week. Underneath theres a box for the parent to include things the child has been doing/playing /asking etc at home. these are then returned and used in the planning and then get filed into the learning journeys because sometimes what they do at home and/or in setting maybe quite different. We also ask the parents to send in pictures which they have taken of the child when they have visited places or people etc..again this helps build a picture of the whole child and also makes the journey interesting for the child to look at....afetr all most children like looking at pictures of themselves. We print off our photos onto bits of paper which are pasted into the learning journey and a comment might be written alongside....for example last year we had some baby chicks in and photos of all the children handling the birds were placed in the journeys with; We looked at baby chicks and felt how soft they were. We listened to the noise they made and talked about what they liked to eat and how we had to be gentle with them. If a specific child had made a comment this was noted and then that would have been linked to EYFS. If you have your EYFS pack on the disc there are some spider grams....every six weeks we look at what we have in our collection for each child and plot it onto the spider..this helps us identify if an area is not being accessed. We then ask.....is this because the child never goes to that area? Is it because we are just not observing the child in that area? Is it because we are not providing sufficient interest in that area to induce the child over? etc. The learning journeys come from a combination of reggio and also The whariki (not sure if Ive spelled those right) so if you want to know more have a google on those. Otherwise what you end up with is a stagnent document which only shows what the child is doing in one tiny area of their life...not reflecting their home culture or those things that our wonderful (cough cough) system, which only cherishes academic achievement, would not see as important enough to include and yet actually maketh the man! child_questionnaire.doc EYFS_spidergrams.pdf Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
klc106 Posted September 15, 2011 Author Share Posted September 15, 2011 Thank you for your replies. Really helpful. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sunnyday Posted September 15, 2011 Share Posted September 15, 2011 enuffsenuf - I absolutely LOVE your child's questionnaire - thank you for sharing! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
louby loo Posted September 15, 2011 Share Posted September 15, 2011 enuffsenuf - I absolutely LOVE your child's questionnaire - thank you for sharing! ...and I'll second that!!!!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
enuffsenuf Posted September 15, 2011 Share Posted September 15, 2011 anytime mes amigos! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.
Note: Your post will require moderator approval before it will be visible.