Displaying Targets In Class

[Guest]

Hi all

 

Throughout school every class has the targets for thier children displayed e.g numeracy and literacy levels to aim for and what to do to reach these levels. The head would like to see these displayed in all classes including reception. I cannot justify to myself a wall/board dedicated to targets that are meaningless to children not yet reading, and have no idea of how to go about trying to make a pictoral representation of the early learnign goals.

 

Does anyone in a reception class have targets displayed and how do they go about it in a way that is usefull for the children?

 

looking forward to your help

 

Julie

[Marion]

You might find these useful http://eduwight.iow.gov.uk/curriculum/core...sh/agrestandwr/

[tuffspot]

Just wondering if I'm going to miss all these little "Head Teacher Directives" that have about as much application in a EY classroom as a teachers desk.

 

Anyway, this is how I do it, if it helps.

 

For the first term it is oral and directed at individual children eg " Sam, I'd like you to try and NOT hit Joe when you he asks you for the cube". and The HTD can bloody spend hours drawing pictures and writing meaningless targets if she so wishes.

The second term is a mixture of oral and modelled, so when I do an adult led activity I show "good" examples and "bad" examples and we decide which we are going to "try" to achieve.

Third term, I have a section of the board marked off in it I draw very basic steps for the task so it might be a pencil, scissors and glue, book and tick- (I allow them to tick their own work- they are quite honest with themselves and they decide whether they think it needs a big tick or a little tick). This serves as a reminder of the task as they work more independently and the target is get the bloody thing finished.

 

As for some of the PSE and KUW targets I point out to my head that some of my colleagues could do with these targets scattered around the staffroom and once she's made them I'll photocopy them.

[Guest]

Nice one tuffspot!

[SmileyPR]

You might find these useful http://eduwight.iow.gov.uk/curriculum/core...sh/agrestandwr/

 

Thanks for the web link, Marion !

[Guest tinkerbell]

Sparklebox has really lovely target ideas.

I use the honeycomb shapes,laminate put a photo of the child on it and write their target eg I would like to get better at skipping.that the child says. These can be put together on the back of a door or a group clumped on the side of a shelving unit. They can be changed each term getting more curriculum focused as the year goes by if that is what is required.

Tinkerbellx

[Guest]

Our school is on the Intensive support prog so in each class we have target walls. On my wall for the reading targets each child has a hot air balloon with their photo/name on it they are heading to the clouds which have the reading targets on them. As the child makes progress we move their balloon towards the cloud. For the writing each child has a bus with their name/ photo on and they are heading towards bus stops with targets. There are three bus stops/clouds with targets on. We have done a similar thing with a ladder and snakes for numeracy. I was a bit sceptical but the children like their photo on the wall and like moving towards the target.

Hope this is some help and makes sense!

[Guest]

I am very sceptical as we have to have a target wall and are given three Maths targets per child, one Science and one or two Literacy. They have usually borne no relation to the ELGs but are from lists the co-ordinators have!! For instance a target for multiplication and division!! My targets are there with their names in different colours but I don't bother the children with the board yet. Rather I give them their differentiated target for an activity which does relate to the ELGs, I tell them about it and we talk about it and at the end of the activity they rate their progress with traffic lights fans. Meanwhile we work on the co-ordinators and are gradually getting things changed so hopefully by next year it will be a meaningful relevant target and then I can try out the lovely hot air balloon ideas!! Talking of waste of board space, we also have to have a corporate board filled with text of size 12 same as every class in school , with in excess of 20 A4 sheets!!! re marking policy etc Catriona

[Guest]

It sounds like you are an ISP school like us Catriona. In the autumn term I went on Target training for Reception and nursery specific. There is guidance out now and some schools in Herts piloted it that says FS classes should be writing their own targets based upon the ELG, profiles, stepping stones etc. We get the topic from the co-ordinators and the year1 and 2 targets and then write our own. My head is completely behind it and this term she came with me on further training to get the message across again and review how it was going for everyone. I have attached an example of our targets.

We used to have the targets displayed on a board with the childrens photos which we moved as they progressed. (as y1-y3 do) but the head and I have decided that it is really not worth it basically as the children cannot read the targets and we now have a smaller board in use where the targets are displayed for staff, parents and classroom visitors.

mental_maths___fractions.doc

[Guest]

hi, we have to display curricular targets as well for Reading, Writing and Maths. We have dedicated sessions to curricular targets each week. During these sessions we focus on specific skills to move the children's photo pegs up/ or down the layered targets. Here are some of the photos of our boards. I made them on felt so that they could be brought down to the childrens level rather than high up on a wall. Hope it helps. Jo

[Susan]

Wow, those look super.

Where do the children start though? ie what happens to their picture if they are not doing any of that?

[Guest]

Each board has 5 or 6 targets, each layered in order of how they should achieve them. So for example, on the rocket board, the first planet is to say numbers to 10, the second is to recognise the number to 10, and so on. The children are placed on the chart depending on their ability. Their target is the planet that they want to get to next. A special sticker is given to them in assembly if they achieved one step and this then goes home to place of their target tracker at home. Parents come in, talk to their child about their targets and talk to the staff about what they have to do next to achieve their next target. When a child has achieved all the age related targets and got the the large rocket at the top, they are given a special certificate. New, whole school targets are set each term by the co-odinators, and then it all starts again. Don't get me wrong, the children are really motivated and excitied about what they have to do next to improve, and parents feel really involved but it just takes a lot of organising and explaining when we first set in up. You also have to take into acount the targets are often just one little strand of the curriculumn, often deemed as greatest importance in improving the year six SATs. I find that often a weekness in year 6 does not dilute down to a weekness in the foundation stage. Hope this helps!!! JO

[Beau]

Sorry to be a killjoy but as a parent I have real concerns about these 'public' displays. What about the child who is struggling for no fault of their own and is at the bottom of all of them? My son has learning difficulties and he was well behind most of the class for the first few years of his schooling. I can't imagine how demoralising it would've been for him to have such a visual representation of this. He always thought he was very good at everything because both us as parents and the teachers spent a lot of time telling him how well he was doing.

[Magenta]

Totally agree Beau!

[Guest]

True Beau that is another reason I stopped doing it. Also why my groups are not arranged in ability order on the wall. Some children can get disheartened and some just get big headed and nasty! (well if you let them!)

[Guest]

wow thanks folks

 

foundation stage forum never lets me down. You all have some really wondeful and valuable ideas for me to use think about and try to impliment in my class. The head wants visual, so visual it will have to be but i will try to be sensitive to childrens needs and achievments.

 

I love the idea of childrens photos being used and think the children would enjoy moving thier own pics along a wall to a very visual terget. Busy weeknend ahead, as i've solved this dilema my head would now like to see how profiles fit in with NC levels and how the transition from rec to Yr 1 works with matching a profiled child who adverages say six or seven to a level 1c?????? any ideas here?