Shape of the day/ planning for carpet time, snack time, etc

[Guest]

I am currently about to enter my third term as a Nursery teacher and am still experimenting with the shape of the day - when we have snack, carpet time, etc. At the moment it looks like this:

8:45 - children arrive, self register, free play

9 - carpet time, singing, calendar, weather, what activities are we doing today, etc

9:20ish - free play, one adult supervising free-flow play outside, one adult starts a focus activity or facilitates child-led play, one adult prepares snack

9:45 - snack opens, one adult supervises this and children come when they are hungry

11- tidy up time

11:10 - Key worker group time

11:30 - lunch time

 

Possible new shape of the morning:

 

8:45 – ch come in and free play, self register, etc

9 – carpet time, 10 mins

9:10 – morning activities

9:55 – carpet time, Nursery officers have a break/ prepare snack

10:15 – snack opens, children begin free play again

11 – tidy up time

11:10 - Key worker time

11:30 - lunch

 

My questions are:

1 - I feel at the moment we are dedicating too much adult time to preparing/ supervising snack and was wondering how do other nurseries go about implementing self-service snack?

2 - I am considering having another carpet time in the middle of the morning as I feel the children need more whole class learning times now we are in the Summer term - who thinks this is a good idea and what time would you put this?

3 - I am aware that my Nursery Officers don't get a morning break like the rest of the school and was wondering how other settings fit this in. Possibly this could happen while I take the class for the mid-morning carpet session. This would be a good time for them to do any bits of snack prep so...

4 - ...would after the mid-morning carpet time be the best time to start snack, or would this make it too close to our 11:30 lunch?

 

I would be grateful for ANY advice, especially from anyone who also starts lunch at 11:30 and can outline what their morning looks like!

Thanks all

Louise

[Thumper]

Hi Louise

 

We open our snack at 9.15. We prepare this before the session starts so that a member of staff is not removed during the session. A staff member doesn't stay at snack but checks that children are ok and replenish as needed. Snack finishes at 10.40.

 

Rather than 2 circle times we have one at the begining of the session and then about 11am we split the children in to small groups, these groups use target activities for the groups stage.

 

Hope that makes sence.

[Mouseketeer]

I am always interested to know how people do 'key worker group times' , we always struggle with this as one kw may have 2 children on a given day, another 6 or 7, not all staff in everyday so some days children don't have their kw in and the the childrens ages range from 2 yrs to some pushing 5 yrs towards end of summer term.

[finleysmaid]

I am always interested to know how people do 'key worker group times' , we always struggle with this as one kw may have 2 children on a given day, another 6 or 7, not all staff in everyday so some days children don't have their kw in and the the childrens ages range from 2 yrs to some pushing 5 yrs towards end of summer term.

That'll be why i've given up on it then!! The keyworkers now go to the children not bring the children to them!

[apple]

Like Chellandrews, we too prepare snack at the start of the session to avoid an adult being away from the children.

[Thumper]

I am always interested to know how people do 'key worker group times' , we always struggle with this as one kw may have 2 children on a given day, another 6 or 7, not all staff in everyday so some days children don't have their kw in and the the childrens ages range from 2 yrs to some pushing 5 yrs towards end of summer term.

We split the children for their ages and stages, rather than their key persons. It just allows children to play in smaller focus groups. The activities chosen are those the key person has witnessed one or more of their group doing that morning/previous session and trying to buld on the activity without lots of interruptions from others who 'take over' the activity.

 

We may have a group doing 'PALS' another group building on PSED, friendships, sharing, confidence etc.

 

We also have 2 yr olds - they tend to have their group time outside, a tirn taking game or a puppet storytime.

 

When the activity is finished it's left out for either the children who had already been playing with it to continue or others to join in.

Edited April 14, 2013 by Chellandrews

[Guest]

we prepare snack with the children, snack starts at 10 ish and is out for about 45 mins to an hour, we have inside and out, often both as children want to eat outside.

i think one carpet time of 10 mins a morning is enough.

we do not k. work in large group , my staff have a set day to key work and they plan individually for their children

other days they are on a rota for different things and would do the odd incidental ob

[Guest]

We prepare snack with the children and our snack starts at 10.15 until 11.20ish,

children self register at 9am and children led activities until 10am

free flow outside time from 10 to 11 (do you prepare snack outside too Suer - how do you manage this? we sometimes do this in the summer months can not think to manage this in the winter and muddy days)

 

Tidy together at 11.25ish

 

We have whole group news and circle time at about 11.35ish. Trying to manage this is a little tricky as we have a large group - any ideas? We use one large hall.

This is followed with key worker group time - planning for individual children etc.

Followed by story and home.

[Guest]

in winter we have snack in but if children waant to take it outside, they can. hey come in help themselves and take their plate and cup out.

 

we do have two snacks on the go sometimes out and in depending on what the children want, and yes children were chopping fruit yesterday outside,

it is muddy but its only mud

i take it out on a tray

we free flow from 9.40 until 11.30 when we tidy up. Sometimes we have out ays and don't set up inside at all (packaway) and then everything is outside.

[Ladybirdclass]

Hi Louise (and everyone else who has beaten me to replying!!)

 

Great to see how everyone else runs snack bar - it HAS to work for your setting though as we are all very individual with different children and staff!

 

We re-looked at the way we did it about 3 years ago and have not needed to change it since as it seems to work for us a treat! The children arrive at 08.30, self register and then it's child initiated until about 10.15 when we tidy for a quick 10 minute 'welcome' session. During child intiated the children decide where to play - either inside or outside (come rain or shine!) and also decide where and when to have snack. Snack bar is basically a table set out and children decided when they want it and what they want - so no prepping other than getting food on table! One member of staff then sits with the children to help (if needed) but mainly join in the social aspect. Children cut, spread and then munch! Children who go outside register what they want for snack on a pictorial list and then that is prepped inside, put in named snack boxes and delivered outside to them - although having seen the other posts I may try prepping it outside with the children! We then sit and have a picnic together when they are ready. Simples! This just seems to work for the children - giving them enough choice on where, what and with whom they play and have snack with.

 

As for KW groups - we run adult led activities from about 11.15 - 11.45 where we aim them at ages and stages and offer a mixture of different things to cover a range of development areas. These then lead to planned next steps for the next day. We also set out a range of other activities for children to self choose. Again - this works a treat for our cohort - and on those days we feel that children would not benefit from the planned adult led activities (and we all have days where the children need to break from routine!!) then we simply carry on free flow. We also mix in a good dose of Forest School on site once a week! Phew - and we wonder why we are exhausted at the end of a day (is there ever an end to the day - why otherwise would I be typing this at 9.30pm!!).

[sharonash]

Can I ask

Do you do a different keyperson activity a day/ session if you operate am and pm?

Do you have a written plan for this?

Do they tend to be sit down activities or creative or?

 

Only a new kp hs started with us she suggests each kperson writes a plan for each activity they do, so if they are doing 1 am and a different one pm they would potentially be writing 10 plans each a week?

 

can you advise how you record your kp time pls

oh and is your kp time in addition to a focus activity for the day?

[Ladybirdclass]

Hi Sharonash,

 

Ooh - only just seen your request - apologies for late response! I'll try and answer your questions...but we are quite a unique setting, in that we are part of a school and run very much as part of the infant block, sharing resources, assistants, playground and extensive school grounds (hence Forest School!) plus music teacher and P.E teacher - so we have SO much going on in one week it's almost unbelievable!

 

Due to having P.E and Music and Dance with a specialist teacher twice a week we don't have time for a different key person activity a day - we only get time for these on Mondays, Tuesdays and Fridays. Most of our children attend mornings with only some staying for full days - so we run our keyperson activities in the morning. Buy the time lunch in the school is finished and children have gone home it onlty really leaves us with an hour and a half in the afternoon - and sometimes we simply go and play with the reception class across the playground (fab transition here!).

 

Yes - I have my own plan which is in a folder for all to see. As the teacher I have repsonsibility to plan for all the children using observations and discussions with other staff working in the Nursery. As for the type of activity - it's a mixture of active outside exploratory, cooking, mark making, construciton, parachute, gardening, mathematical games, musical games, art/design - or whatever they need/want! I certainly don't have time to write a formal plan for each activity - it's written in my planning folder with a box next to each activity for the KP to write next steps/extensions from what took place. We evaluate them to ensure we record what worked well and how we would change it - but this is all hand written in my planning folder - nothing fancier than that I'm afraid!

 

As for KP time - yes - this is in addition to our focussed group intro - we run topics (oh - I can hear some of you groan!!) - but it works really well for us. We usually come up with a topic idea and then simply brain storm it with the children. Thier ideas always amaze me and then the topic goes wherever it goes - our current topic 'splish, splash, splaosh was started at the beginning of the year (yes - really!!) and the children have been so engaged! We've worked on solids and liquids (that came from the ICE COLD weatehr at the start of the year and the chidlren's fascinations with ice outside). We've looked at rain and weather - rainbows - water cycle - uses for water at home - growing plants - cooking - ponds - tadploes (currently growing nicely!!) and are currently 'under the sea'. The children are simply amazing at taking it in all sorts of directions and certainly keep me planning into the early hours sometimes! So - getting back to your question - we have a short 'lead in' group discussion about the topic before heading off to KP groups (which may or not be related to the topic).

 

Not sure this will help you - as I said, we are a bit unique (but then aren't we all?) and what works for me probably won't work for you. You have to find what works for your setting and, more importantly, your children - and be flexible - it may not work every day - just 'go with the flow' and make sure everyone is happy and engaged!

[Guest]

Sorry if this is far too late, only just joined!

This is the way our sessions work (maintained nursery with 2 adults to 26 children)

 

Nursery Timetable AM

8:50-9:00 - Snack (Milk and Toast) and book time - 10 mins

9:00-9:15 - Carpet time OR Letters and Sounds (Phase 1) - 15 mins in KW/L&S groups (intro to topic and activity modelling etc)

9:15-11:10 - In and out ChIL - some days all children will be out, with a short time in near the end of the session, sometime all in with a short time out and other days free flow between the two. As we have only 2 members of staff we only have a 'focus' activity when we are all out or all in so one adult can work on the focus and the other can ELF.

11:10-11:20 - Tidy up (we do tidy outside or inside earlier to give us time to swap areas - does thatmake sense?)

11:20-11:35 - Carpet time OR Letters and Sounds (Phase 1) - 15 mins in KW/L&S groups

11:35-11:50 Story/Songs/ Rhymes and prep for home time.

We have a PE and a Library session on Fridays so they look a little different - also sometimes have to go to assembly - yawn!

PM looks almost identical but with snack at the end of the day. Fruit and any 'spare' toast is put on a table for children to access freely (inside or outside depending on where our main focus is that day) from about 9:30-10:30 - this seems to work fine for us - this is prepared by a member of staff who works 1:1 with a child in our class.

 

We have been advised by the LA EYFS team NOT to have a carpet time/group snack time in the middle of the session as it breaks the flow of the children's play. It does feel like you're constantly stopping and tidying up this way too. The only issue I have with our current system is organising children into L&S groups and then swapping to KW groups - it's a bit time consuming but we're at that point where we really do need to group them to meet their needs so we just have to cope.

 

Hope this helps.

S.

[Guest]

hello,

 

i have recently joined a room where we have 24 children on the busiest day and on the quietest day we can end up with 12 in the afternoon. we have 3 key people at the moment, one has 15 (majority of other older children), one has 5 and one has 4. this is the current routine. (we are still getting to know the the abilities of children.)

 

free flow up until 11pm- morning register with all the children with days, date, weather etc. should not be longer than 10 mins. we then later have a group time before tea where children are split into key groups but the problem is one key person ends up with 15 which is alot for a group time.

 

it has also been suggested that we spilt the morning register into two groups because we have the older children who can focus and the younger ones who cant sit still.

 

we have 3 members of staff at the moment.

 

any ideas or suggestions on how to manage this.should i split the morning register? how many children is a large group?

[Fredbear]

We have 30 children each session.

9.00am all children arrive, self register and free play.

9.30am sharing time with letters and sounds phase 1, days of the week, months of the year, sound of the week, weather etc.

Free play from 9.45/9.50 and snack running from this time until 11.30am. With activities both in or outside.

11.30am tidy up time.

11.40 am story and song time.

If it's a lunch club day the lunch clubbers normally our older children go through with me for story, songs, music & movement time in to another room.12.00pm children either go home or stay for lunch.

Works for us with our current cohort.

3 years and over anything over 8 I would class as a large group.

Saying that I currently have 12/15 children for my story session that are staying for lunch club, staff are within hearing so if I needed support it's there.

Edited June 5, 2015 by Fredbear

[Guest]

thanks for your reply. so u are able to do a story session with 12 children?

 

would it make sense to perhaps split that key persons group of 15 in half and have one group doing something with her and have another activity set up on a table for the other group?

[Fredbear]

I often take the story session for the whole 30 children too.

Give me any excuse to come out of my cupboard, oops I mean office and be with the children instead of the paperwork is heaven to me.:)

By splitting that group of 15 though does that mean only half would get a story.

Could you consider having a selection of books for those to explore whilst reading and sharing a story with those that would like too.

Or having a construction type activity as well as your story time