directing children in provision

[Guest]

I would welcome advice on a few queries about continuous provision...

 

Should children in a reception class be directed to a specific area and challenge?

 

Is it a big issue if a few children ignore the beautiful enhancement you have put in and get out their favourite construction toy?

 

If a quiet child is watching -taking things in - but not fully engaging, should they always be directed?

 

How long would you expect a child to concentrate at an activity, and at what point would they be considered "flitting"?

 

My colleague and I don't see eye to eye on these matters and I wondered what other people thought?

[garrison]

We dont direct children to a particular activity

No its not a big issue of they ignore an enhancement - this just means its not an enhancement that fits their interests

If a child is watching , let them do so for a while but gently try and encourage involvement if it seems they arent ever going to do so themselves (maybe when its quieter)

Concentration generally depends on age and the child - I have observed 2 year olds painting for 20 mins but 4 year olds only for 30 secs.

 

All of the above depends on the individual child - if you are observing and know your key children you will know what is right for them and what their next steps should be

[Guest]

I never know if I'm doing right but I do sometimes direct some of my children into an activity (Reception). This is generally when I have planned an activity for them to explore or an adult led activity which meets their next steps or extends something they generally choose to do. I feel that with the staff levels I have currently I need to do this as otherwise the child is simply retreading old ground. Had I more staff available I might do otherwise, such as having a member of staff scaffolding within their chosen area of play. But at present I don't know how else to manage it.

[Guest]

Toward the end of the year I encourage children to certain areas of the provision with challenges that I have put there. I don't generally direct children to an activity but there are certain children in my class who never seem to achieve anything of their own accord and I tend to support these children much more in ci time by talking through activities with them to encourage participation. If not many children are accessing the enhancements I would suggest planning closely from children's interests, we have a weekly planning meeting with the children and our enhancements are based upon this. If I have an activity that I want children to participate in I simply put an adult there and find it is never long before the children flock to participate.

 

Deb

[Guest]

I have dedicated one afternoon a week where myself and my TA target individual chn who are not accessing certain areas of provision or need that little bit extra in relation to an area of the eyfs, especially psed or cl. We would do this through the children's interests. E.g. Last week we focused on a child who only accessed ict, reading and jigsaws. We knew he had a love of octonauts so my ta's job was to work with this child in the creative area making something linked to the octonauts. They ended up making an octopod. The outcome was that the child went back to the creative area the following day adding to his pod, therefore, we had extended this child's interests and education. Other targetted children include children who don't mix with more than one child, boys not accessing the writing area, girls not using the computer. It works really well and is a way of showing the children how to use the other areas in the classroom and it takes them slightly out of their comfort zone taking those risks but with adult support. The children seem to have this light bulb moment and think, hey, this is actually ok and I am good at this! There have been a few children who have resorted back to their old comforts but as practitioners we are aware of this and keep giving them that nudge by reminding them of how successful they were when they played with this and that.