Guest Posted February 10, 2007 Share Posted February 10, 2007 Hello I am in my second practice of training in a Reception Class. The teacher uses a system called OPAL - Organised Play and Learning. Activities are available during the week, whcih the children are allowed to do once each in OPAL sessions. They put their name on the board to indicate their choice, go away to do that activity and then the next one. After this they mark on their sheets what activities they have done. I was wondering if anyone else uses/has experienced this approach to early years education. I have never come across it and would like to find out more about it. It has been quite difficult to understand considering the training I have had so far. Thanks Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted February 10, 2007 Share Posted February 10, 2007 Welcome to the forum. I haven't heard of it but will be watching your post with keen eyes. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Susan Posted February 11, 2007 Share Posted February 11, 2007 Hi and welcome. I am not aware of anything by that name either although I have heard of similar organisation where children sign up or indicate where they are playing/ working within a task board system. Could it be that? Not sure how child initiated it is if children choose from a selection of adult initiated activities? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted February 11, 2007 Share Posted February 11, 2007 Just wanted to welcome you to the forum GCurtis. What an interesting first post. Peggy Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest flutter Posted February 11, 2007 Share Posted February 11, 2007 Hi GCurtis I have not heard of this either. How long does the OPAL session last and is it every day? Is it a carousel of activities/ task board - I have seen that before. What type of activities do the children have to choose from? Tell us more.... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted February 12, 2007 Share Posted February 12, 2007 Hi, thank you for the warm welcome and the interest. OPAL occurs once a day, twice on MOndays. Each OPAL session lasts for about an hour. This involves children choosing 2 activities from a choice of 12. 15 mins on first activity, tidy up then 15 mins on next. After this children colour in pictures on their OPAL sheets to indicate which activites they have done. They then need to do different activites next time. There are a lot of adult led activities. Activities cover all 6 areas and are both indoors and outdoors. I like most of the activities but am unsure about the structure and heavy weighting of adult led activities. I was just interested to see if anyone else had heard of/seen this approach. Two other students on my course are also in settings where OPAl is used. Maybe it is just something peculiar to my county!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sue R Posted February 12, 2007 Share Posted February 12, 2007 Hmm - your county is? And a warm welcome here, too!! Sue Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted February 13, 2007 Share Posted February 13, 2007 How do the children respond to this method? Peggy Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted February 21, 2007 Share Posted February 21, 2007 The children seem to like it. They choose 'opal' as their favourite thing to do at school. They behave very responsibly during the opal sessions and are keen to go to their activities. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hali Posted February 21, 2007 Share Posted February 21, 2007 hello and welcome Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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