How Do You Plan From Childrens Interests

[Guest]

In my class i have 45 children with 1 full time TA and 1 full time HLTA

With so many children i a struggling with planning to childrens interests as i think there is no way i can plan to each childs individual interest all of the time! What im thinking is that if for example a child shows an interest in dinosaurs we put out the dinisaurs, books maybe some dinosaur foot prints and binoculars etc.. and see where they take it. However my concern is this is just one childs interest so how do i cater for them all?

[Fredbear]

Yes but surely there will be more than one child that could show an interest in dinosaurs say and then take it from there. At the beginning with 66 children next term we provide our core provision as a starting point, so sand, water, role-play, book, area mark-making, small world then sit and watch where they gravitate too.Then we would add enhancements and see where it leads us. We have often listened to children's thoughts at circle or sharing time and used that too.

[Guest]

Thanks fredbear. I'm going back after a year off on maternity leave and I seem to have lost my confidence do u have loose topics in mind u ate going to cover or is it all purely childrens interest? X

[Fredbear]

Well last year for instance on our first week back we had our core provision out. At circle time one of our little boys was avidly telling us of his trip to Legoland, after his chat lots of other children told us they had been to Legoland too, so we decided to get construction bricks out to explore with small world enhancements. We then explored different types of buildings, homes etc, made a large house out of a huge carboard box with paint, glue, tape etc. This then led on to animals habitats. The children will guide you by their enthusiasm. I think the biggest skill for us as practitioners is tapping into this and eureka off we go. I also think we get a little scared by not having a plan initially, but for us our big plan certainly for the first half-term is to settle our existing children back, and welcoming all our new ones. have fun.

[Fredbear]

Sorry meant to say the only thing we do decide is a country we will be exploring too. So say for instance it is going to be Africa this half term we will taste foods, listen to music, have books, artefacts, posters, animals, homes and we cook too. We try to go around the world over the year so children can have an awareness of how others may live. It works well for us. Crumbs when you write it all down we are busy little bees.

[catma]

Isn't it more that we have to think about teaching skills which children need through their interests - if a child never showed an interest in dinosaurs it wouldn't really matter, but if they didn't learn the basics of reading or writing we wouldn't be doing our duty as educators.

Planning for me is what I want the children to be able to do better - then I use their interests as a context for that learning rather than just being all about "doing" this or that.

Cx

[Rafa]

Thanks fredbear. I'm going back after a year off on maternity leave and I seem to have lost my confidence do u have loose topics in mind u ate going to cover or is it all purely childrens interest? X

Good ideas and advice from Fredbear. Just to add...it can be daunting, the start of a new school year, but funnily enough after the first few weeks it all starts happening! We operate in a similar way to Fredbear, starting with our core provision, chatting and listening! We also introduce a 'topic' of our own based on the World around Us, and generally start by getting the children to colour wash a large board for a background - lots of involvement, giving ownership - and then source ideas or what we could add!

for instance havent touched on Space for awhile so will be providing an array of colour for the background, then whilst thats happening talk about what we know, see, might find in space?? Hopefully they will all be full of their usually inspiring ideas!!! Then if its popular we can move into other areas with it......if not....nothing lost, we've been creative and active, working together, sharing language....and now we'll go somewhere else! ?

[Fredbear]

Absolutely Catma, by having a wealth of experiences for our very young children,enriched by a wide range of resources and appropriate adult interaction will lead to the reading and writing later.