Weekly Plan

[Guest]

hi this may seem daft to some but im a bit stuck.

 

what should we actually be putting on a weekly plan. i put the activites and learning intention etc but do i need to put the stepping stones and elgs i hope to achieve that week on there too.

cheers

[Guest]

Hi Clare

We too have been wondering about this - have we got enough information or not? What exactly constitutes 'good' planning? We include all the activities for each day, plus a heading with the ELG and appropriate S/Stones, but the print is getting ever smaller to enable us to fit it all on the A4 paper!! especially if we are meant to keep the planning as a 'working document' to write follow up steps on. Do you have daily plans? If so, in what type of format? I am thinking about introducing daily planning sheets, but am concerned about the amount of extra work load this will be. We are a Pre School Group in a rented church hall and all our admin etc. is unpaid work done in the staff free time at home - so am concerned that by introducing additional sheets of planning, this might lower morale. Any ideas from anyone would be gratefully received.

[Guest]

Hi clk7,

Your question isn't daft, and it is difficult to answer because the more people you ask the more different answers you will get. In terms of meeting Inspection requirements, there is no laid down set proforma / method as explained in the FSC guidance, we will all do it differently.

 

I do feel that we are required to write "an idiots guide" in terms of quantity of information within a plan.

 

I can write a weeks plan that all my staff would understand and be able to follow without having to, for example include "extension learning objectives" I know my staff would know this ( and what to "teach" "enable" or "stand back from" if the children took the planned learning in a different direction). But it seems that some people require me to write this all down.

 

Some people think a plan should include enough information to be clear and consice enough for any person unfamiliar with the setting to be able to look at and follow. ( ie: an ofsted inspector)

 

The definition of a plan is that it includes consideration of the;

Preperation - the grounding or research , in the case of a weekly plan, this would be that you know what you have covered so far from your LTP ( this shouldn't need to be written on the weekly plan but should be known so the same areas are not repeated). Preparation research is primarily your child observations because your weekly/ daily plans should be informed by these (not because I said so but because that is how we meet the childrens developmental needs).

Aim, - what you propose to do, anticipate will do, have in mind to do.

Objectives The purpose, the goals the intent or point of the plan.

Scheme as in scheme of work, the method to achieve the aim and objective.

 

The main aim of the FS is to provide a broad and balanced curriculum, however we are told our methods must include child initiated and structured activity.

 

Your weekly plan IS ONLY A SMALL PART of your overall plans to meet this aim, therefore you need to show that you have enabled children to work toward achievement of the early learning goals by the time they reach the end of reception year.

 

our LTP - this shows what aspects of learning will be focused on and when over a one year period. (ie: AUT wk 1 Maths aspect 2, Aut wk 2 Maths aspect 3) we plan to focus on 2 wks PSE 2 wks, CLL, 2 wks MATHS , 2 wks KUW, 2 wks PHy, 2 wks CRE then repeat this sequence for a total 39 weeks.

eg; Aut Term 1, wk 1, PSE aspect 2 -self confidence- to fit in with settling in,

Aut Term 1, week 2, PSE aspect 4 behaviour to fit in with learning rules and routines.

Aut Term 1, wk 3, CLL aspect 1 - communicating, getting to know each other, learning names etc.

 

This planning sequence is done for the whole year, starting September and ensures that all aspects in all areas are covered within the year, to July.

 

Our weekly plans are informed by our LTP ie; This week our focus is on MATHS aspect 3 shape ( measuring and space is covered at a different time). Our plans show how this focus is enabled in all play areas of the setting,

for example in the art area we have planned to provide activities which enable children to explore 3Dshapes of boxes and materials cut into different shapes, the adult role is to use "shape" language, describe and encourage children to recognise the features such as corner, edge etc, enable the children to see what they can do with the different shapes.

PLOD - recognise and describe features of shapes.

In the construction /small world area instead of say farm / cars we would ensure bricks and building resources were available ( to link with the concept of shapes). PLODS - build towers of different shapes or sets of the same shape.

 

These activities would also have other learning/skills potential such as art use tools media to construct or with the blocks fine motor hand/eye co-ordination skills.

 

This is how we provide an holistic approach to the FSC, the same learning intention in every "play" area of the setting. The concept of shape is explored in a variety of contexts. Other learning will happen through our "continuous provision" and childrens independence to self select their own choice of resources and own learning intentions.

 

So on our weekly plan we would detail learning intention ( I actually call it PLODS- Possible learning or developing skills) these are based on the stepping stones.

 

Our weekly plans are also informed by child observations for example even though the focus is maths A3, Tom may have shown a real interest in mark making recently, we would plan to involve him in producing a series of shape posters, sponge print a shape and encourage him to "write" the label, or be involved in marking graphs of how many square blocks, how many rectangle blocks etc. If a few children were showing a keen interest in something completely different ie: insects ( because jim found a ladybird) we would swap the focus from maths to KUW and change activity ideas.

 

Sorry for such a long reply, but you did ask the un-answerable question

didn't mean to tell you how to suck eggs where I have explained activities in detail, I just write how I think- not very consicely I don't think you need to include ELG on planning sheets as the children will not be introduced these concepts/skills/attitudes until end of reception so they are not necessary in preschool. Concentrate on what they are learning for today, but plan to cover all areas of develoment and skills over the period of time you have the children. Don't forget that you need to "track" which aspects have been covered ( and I mean learnt/accessed by most children)well and which ones may need re-visiting over the year.

 

peggy

[Rea]

When I was in a church hall my weekly plan included the equipment to be used that week, which activities were focused and the ELG, those were written up seperatley. Everything else was on the medium term plan when I had one, but that was something I didnt always do. I didnt see how it helped when my weekly plan was supposed to be based on my observations, it kind of felt redundant a lot of the time if that said one thing but the childrens interests pointed elsewhere.

[Susan]

Hi Clare,

In reception I think you should be planning towards ELGs--afterall this is what you hope most children will achieve by the end of the year.

Stepping stones, as I understand it, were never intended to be planned against but were a route that childrens learning might take towards the goal attainment.

I always indicated by number the ELG that I was working towards so ICT was KUW7. I numbered the goals in the order that they appeared in the FSG document and had them listed in my planning folder and on the wall alongside my planning.

My activities were detailed and differentiated with a learning intention that might relate to stepping stones but I did not use that language within my planning as it took too long!

So KUW7- to develop mouse skills, hand eye coordination--use paint program, exploring colour changes.

 

Hope that helps.