Guest Posted September 28, 2005 Share Posted September 28, 2005 Hi Again I've just been reading some more posts and thought I'd ask another question. How do you all keep records of your childrens' progress through the stepping stones? The council I am under request stepping stones booklets are passed on to the schools, but I find these a little bit basic and certainly not suitable for parents as they are too full of 'jargon' plus the staff get a little confused with keeping them up to date. SO what I came up with was an evidence record for each child, where their pictures, drawings, paintings, observations and photographs are catalouged under which area of development they contributed to. Then on the index sheet (there is one for each area) a description of the item and an explanation are written for the parents understanding and the polypocket which the item is in has a sticker with the full official stepping stone on it. This way parents get a lovely keepsake to take away, its clear to them how their child has progressed. and the staff can then link this up to the official stepping stones book for the school. What do you think? Do any of you do anything similar? I'm in the process of creating each child two folders, their usual art one and another one where their evidence record info is kept. Y'know sometimes I get stressed and wonder if I couldn't just simplyfy everything. Do you know what I mean? Yet another ramble, lol Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted September 28, 2005 Share Posted September 28, 2005 Hi, I think your idea of linking formal progress records with pieces of work, photos etc. is great. At our last staff meeting we were talking about doing this using scrapbooks. At the moment we use formal stepping stone booklets and informal post-it observations. The only worry is time - how long do we take filling all stuff like this in? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Andreamay Posted September 28, 2005 Share Posted September 28, 2005 I think that is a lovely idea too but think the staff would revolt where would you find the time to do both profile doc and these books Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hali Posted September 29, 2005 Share Posted September 29, 2005 we produce a booklet with stepping stones in and observe so many each week and stick them in thier IPPs. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted September 29, 2005 Share Posted September 29, 2005 I think that is a lovely idea too but think the staff would revolt where would you find the time to do both profile doc and these books 39048[/snapback] Our Staff focus on the children's profiles (the one's that go home) and when these have been done they then transfer that info into the stepping stones booklets at a later date. They are given time to do this, so as they are not doing too much at the one time. That is the only issue its obviously twice the work but one really does help the other. Nic x Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted September 29, 2005 Share Posted September 29, 2005 Hi, We have "Record of achievement" books for each child with BTTM and FSC Aspects ( 2 Aspects per A4 page), the stepping stones are listed under each aspect, then a space for comments, photo's, post-its, etc. These are accesible throughout the session and I encourage staff to write straight into the books when they "see" an achievement. Photo's are added later onto the appropriatte page and any other obs results ie: from activity plan evaluations, or our daily diary are added to the book at the end of each week. I would like to add though that the emphasis is on the "Aspect" and not the "stepping stone", children do not have to go through each "stepping stone" in order to achieve an aspect. I tell my staff that they are just guidelines to what "may" be seen within an Aspect of an area of development. I hope that makes sense. Somewhere in this forum there was a lovely A4 format which had a space in the centre for a photo, and six blank boxes ( for the six area of learning) where you could write what learning, across the curriculum,was being depicted in the one photo, I can't remember what it was called, ( something story) hopefully someone will be able to link to it. Peggy peggy Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest dawn.a. Posted October 2, 2005 Share Posted October 2, 2005 Hi, we start our children on the b23 matters and then progress onto the stepping stones profiles for that same child. We use booklets for each child in which we can write notes against the steeping stones we have observed and also any pictures they have drawn or photographs that we have taken and the famous sticky post it notes, all of this collected over the two years makes quite a file which is given to the parents when the children leave us, the only thing that gets passed onto the school is the transitional form stating where we think a child is likely to be. It does take some time and effort staff work really hard making sure they are kept up to date. So we do all this hard work and no one really wants it and some parents don't want it either will it end up in the bin who knows. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted October 2, 2005 Share Posted October 2, 2005 Hi,we start our children on the b23 matters and then progress onto the stepping stones profiles for that same child. We use booklets for each child in which we can write notes against the steeping stones we have observed and also any pictures they have drawn or photographs that we have taken and the famous sticky post it notes, all of this collected over the two years makes quite a file which is given to the parents when the children leave us, the only thing that gets passed onto the school is the transitional form stating where we think a child is likely to be. It does take some time and effort staff work really hard making sure they are kept up to date. So we do all this hard work and no one really wants it and some parents don't want it either will it end up in the bin who knows. 39351[/snapback] Hi dawn, You've described what we do but much more succinctly than I did. Just like to say that your staffs hard work is worth the effort, even to see for themselves, thus motivational to them, that the children have achieved many, many successes during their time with you. I also share the books with the children, it amazes me sometimes how clearly they remember an activity that they did a long time ago, just by being reminded with a picture or piece of work ( ie: weaving card) that they see in their "achievement" book. I have decided however to give achievement books out at the beginning of the childs last term( instead of the end) because by the end of the term parents are already "moving on" to big school, and are thinking about uniforms, what class, etc etc rather than their childs (recent) past. This will also give me more time to get some reflective feedback from parents of their childs preschool life. Keep at it and don't get too disallusioned ( excuse spelling) peggy Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Smiles Posted October 2, 2005 Share Posted October 2, 2005 Hi, Is everyone using the aspects and not the stepping stones for their plannning. Sue Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted October 4, 2005 Share Posted October 4, 2005 Hi, Is everyone using the aspects and not the stepping stones for their plannning. Sue 39369[/snapback] What are the aspects? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Deb Posted October 4, 2005 Share Posted October 4, 2005 Hi,We have "Record of achievement" books for each child with BTTM and FSC Aspects ( 2 Aspects per A4 page), the stepping stones are listed under each aspect, then a space for comments, photo's, post-its, etc. These are accesible throughout the session and I encourage staff to write straight into the books when they "see" an achievement. Photo's are added later onto the appropriatte page and any other obs results ie: from activity plan evaluations, or our daily diary are added to the book at the end of each week. I would like to add though that the emphasis is on the "Aspect" and not the "stepping stone", children do not have to go through each "stepping stone" in order to achieve an aspect. I tell my staff that they are just guidelines to what "may" be seen within an Aspect of an area of development. I hope that makes sense. Somewhere in this forum there was a lovely A4 format which had a space in the centre for a photo, and six blank boxes ( for the six area of learning) where you could write what learning, across the curriculum,was being depicted in the one photo, I can't remember what it was called, ( something story) hopefully someone will be able to link to it. Peggy peggy 39072[/snapback] I would be very interested if anybody could direct me to the above mentioned A4 template with space for a photo and the 6 areas of learning. We too are trying to find an easy, logical, method of recording our findings and we are using more and more photos which speak a thousand words! Hope you can help. Many thanks Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted October 4, 2005 Share Posted October 4, 2005 Aspects are: PERSONAL SOCIAL EMOTIONAL 1/ Disposition and Attitude 2/ self confidence and self esteem 3/ making relationships 4/behaviour and self control 5/ self care 6/ sense of community COMMUNICATION LANGUAGE AND LITERACY 1/ language for communication ( I've broke these down to the following; Interaction pg 48-49, Listening and responding pg 50-51, Vocabulary pg 52-53, Speaking pg 54-55) 2/ Language for thinking 3/ linking sounds and letters 4/Reading 5/ Writing 6/ Handwriting ( in preschool this starts with gross motor movement, lines and circles etc, before letter formation) MATHS DEVELOPMENT 1/ numbers as labels for counting 2/ calculating 3/ Shape, space and measure KNOWLEDGE AND UNDERSTANDING OF THE WORLD 1/ Exploration and investigation 2/Designing and making skills 3/ Information and communication technology (ITC- programable toys, watches, clocks, old camera's, and computors etc) 4/A sense of Time ( History) 5/ A sense of place ( Geography) 6/ Cultures and beliefs PHYSICAL DEVELOPMENT 1/ Movement 2/ A sense of space 3/ Health and bodily awareness 4/ Using equipment 5/ Using tools and materials CREATIVE DEVELOPMENT 1/Exploring media and materials 2/ Music 3/ Imagination ( drama/ role play) 4/ Responding to experiences and expressing and communicating ideas ( not necessarily verbally) All these are written in the grey area, bottom left hand corner of the Curriculum guidance for the Foundation Stage. Peggy Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hali Posted October 4, 2005 Share Posted October 4, 2005 we use the stepping stones... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted October 4, 2005 Share Posted October 4, 2005 Hi deb, Couldn't find it myself so have made another, think this is what it looked like. Write comments in box ie if it is a picture of child washing her hands PSE: Is independent in self care practise CLL: Told friend " you should wash hands before drinks" MATHS: Could leave empty or "Look the sink is getting full" ( if plug is in) KUW: could leave empty or " Mum gets sore hands, she's a nurse and always washes them" PHY: Good hygiene practise, knows why she should wash hands, germs. CRE: could leave blank Each photo, as you say will give a different story, and different examples of learning across all or just some of the areas. You could also make another one for BTTM four aspects. Hope this is useful. peggy p.s. this was not my idea so credit to someone else. Learning_story.doc Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted October 4, 2005 Share Posted October 4, 2005 We write just the Aspects on our weekly/ daily planning sheet ie: DOUGH - MD-Aspect 2, but refer to stepping stones in our adult led activity plans ie: S.S. Compare two groups of objects saying when they have the same number whilst making dough balls. and in our prompt cards for child initiated areas of play. Home Corner: S.S. Compare objects......, How many cups? How many saucers do you need? Has everyone got a cup of tea? This is because a group of children accessing an activity would be at different "stepping stone" levels, and we "teach" to consolidate the level shown by the individual child at the time of interaction, or extend the level shown by the individual child at the time of interaction. if that makes sense. peggy Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Posy Posted October 4, 2005 Share Posted October 4, 2005 Peggy, Thank you for the 'Learning Story' sheet. Even though you say it is not your idea, you bothered to redo it for the rest of us and for that I for one am grateful! Barb P.S. Made sense to me. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Deb Posted October 4, 2005 Share Posted October 4, 2005 Hi deb,Couldn't find it myself so have made another, think this is what it looked like. Write comments in box ie if it is a picture of child washing her hands PSE: Is independent in self care practise CLL: Told friend " you should wash hands before drinks" MATHS: Could leave empty or "Look the sink is getting full" ( if plug is in) KUW: could leave empty or " Mum gets sore hands, she's a nurse and always washes them" PHY: Good hygiene practise, knows why she should wash hands, germs. CRE: could leave blank Each photo, as you say will give a different story, and different examples of learning across all or just some of the areas. You could also make another one for BTTM four aspects. Hope this is useful. peggy p.s. this was not my idea so credit to someone else. Many thanks for taking the trouble to recreate this sheet, it certainly seems more logical than ours. Will take it back to our team to see if we can use it, then post it back here if we make any additions. How often do you complete these? Do you use one for every photo you take? We currently update the stepping stones booklet on a weekly basis with the stepping stones we had planned to observe and any others that we happened to note. Now we have started to use a separate sheet to accompany the photos to create a snapshot of our key children, in theory once a half term but with our new digital camera we could end up with quite a few! Many thanks for your help. Debbie 39459[/snapback] Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted October 5, 2005 Share Posted October 5, 2005 Hi , We have a similar way of recording childrens progress through individual child portfolios which we call 'Busy Books' the portfolio's include pictures of the children engaged in the various activities at preschool ,snapshot obseravtions and bits and bobs of stuff they have done during their time in the setting. We catalogue under the 6 areas of learning even though a picture may show several things at once ,but thereabouts, to show parents the variety of ways that children learn and enjoy the setting. All the pictures are anecdoted with a little comment to show parents what their child was doing in the picture. We have found parents very appreciative of the Busy Books and they provide a lovely souvenir of their childs time at the setting. Hi Again I've just been reading some more posts and thought I'd ask another question. How do you all keep records of your childrens' progress through the stepping stones? The council I am under request stepping stones booklets are passed on to the schools, but I find these a little bit basic and certainly not suitable for parents as they are too full of 'jargon' plus the staff get a little confused with keeping them up to date. SO what I came up with was an evidence record for each child, where their pictures, drawings, paintings, observations and photographs are catalouged under which area of development they contributed to. Then on the index sheet (there is one for each area) a description of the item and an explanation are written for the parents understanding and the polypocket which the item is in has a sticker with the full official stepping stone on it. This way parents get a lovely keepsake to take away, its clear to them how their child has progressed. and the staff can then link this up to the official stepping stones book for the school. What do you think? Do any of you do anything similar? I'm in the process of creating each child two folders, their usual art one and another one where their evidence record info is kept. Y'know sometimes I get stressed and wonder if I couldn't just simplyfy everything. Do you know what I mean? Yet another ramble, lol 38935[/snapback] Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Deb Posted October 5, 2005 Share Posted October 5, 2005 Dear Peggy Many thanks for taking the trouble to recreate this sheet, it certainly seems more logical than ours. Will take it back to our team to see if we can use it, then post it back here if we make any additions. How often do you complete these? Do you use one for every photo you take? We currently update the stepping stones booklet on a weekly basis with the stepping stones we had planned to observe and any others that we happened to note. Now we have started to use a separate sheet to accompany the photos to create a snapshot of our key children, in theory once a half term but with our new digital camera we could end up with quite a few! Many thanks for your help. Debbie Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted October 6, 2005 Share Posted October 6, 2005 Hi Deb, New digital camera? you'll need a new hard drive just to store the pictures ( well, I did ) How often do we do the learning stories? How long is a piece of string? Each setting will plan their assessment schedule differently, depending on resources ( people and time) and work load ( the number of children to assess). The important thing is that it has to be manageable and the information gained needs to be used ( otherwise why do it). Planning observation time, when and what photo's to take, time for recording and time to review the information gained and put into future planning is therefore essential, and individual to each setting. These systems are ongoing and do change and develop and are affected by staffing issues, staffs knowledge/abilities etc. My system is still evolving. I am currently doing the Kitemark quality assurance scheme and this is proving to be really valuable in looking at how systems work (or not). We are just going to introduce home/preschool books to aid assessment, we will aim to put information about one area of learning into a childs book, send it home and ask for parent comment on our assessment of their child and parent comment on ways their child have developed this area of development at home, this will be a rolling programme of 2 children per week, to eventually cover each child in each area of development. We also have a rolling programme for the learning stories assessment method to ensure all children are covered. These are just 2 ways to assess achievements, and they complement the other methods such as formal observations, anecdotes/informal notes etc. We then want to include children in their own assessment which we will be looking at next term. Peggy Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Deb Posted October 6, 2005 Share Posted October 6, 2005 Thanks Peggy - you're not wrong about the digital camera, there's so much to record. We also bought a photo printer which is great because we can print 4 little pictures into the size of a normal photo. I'm just blown away by all that you do! Our planning and assessment is still very much evolving. I'm not really sure we know what purpose it serves apart from showing Ofsted we know what the stepping stones mean, and of course the photos help show parents what they mean. If only there were a set of logical procedures for us all to follow, I wouldn't mind all the effort if I felt it had a purpose! I like the idea of the learning story and busy books mentioned elsewhere which I will certainly take back to our team. Thanks again. Debbie Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted October 7, 2005 Share Posted October 7, 2005 Hi Deb, "A logical procedure"...what a good idea. I think I have ( from my tutoring days many moons ago) an assessment cycle, I will try and find it. Mind you, I don't think it will be time wasted if I just wrote a bullet point list of the process. Yet another thing to do, but if it is out my head and on paper, can't be a bad thing....I'll get back to you when it's done. Peggy Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Deb Posted October 7, 2005 Share Posted October 7, 2005 That would be very useful, thank you Peggy! Debbie Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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