How Long Does It Take You To Plan A Week Or Day

[Guest]

I would like to know how long it takes you to plan, as I feel it takes me ages and ages. Just wondering if I'm doing anything to wrong

[Guest]

I would like to know how long it takes you to plan, as I feel it takes me ages and ages. Just wondering if I'm doing anything to wrong

week_14.5.07.xls

[Guest]

I sympathise hon x I've been at it all afternoon .... I hate doing a floor plan as we have to get everything out of a garage at the other side of the carpark and set up in a Community Hall... most days we have to pack it away

Floor_Plan_4th_June_07.doc

Weekly_Plan_4th_June_2007.doc

VETS_ROLE_PLAY.doc

mark_making_plan_in_the_sand.doc

Peace_at_last_Focussed_Activity_Plan.doc

Activity_Plan___climbing_frame.doc

[Guest tinkerbell]

I don't do a lot of planning.In fact its written down after the event in some cases.

I have ,a medium plan (Sally Featherstone R/Yr1)a weekly timetable grid ,a weekly maths plan ,my Ta does plan for 2 SEAL/circle times.I have an empty A3 grid and write in after each session what we did.

It sounds quite casual but everything is in my head and its the spinning of plates ..all up in the air!!

September I have a SCITT student so it will have to be written down more formaly I do like to go with the childrens ideas and have been doing this for over a year now...I start the topic with big sheetof paper and we write down what we know and what we want to do about finding out,so Minibeasts I have a medium plan which the children don't know about .....on tuesday (monday training day) I will ask them what do we know about minibeast? what do you want to know about them? How can we do this(what activities would you like to do?.....the children are pretty good at this now.

I do have weekly phonics, Minibeast books non/fiction etc so I am well prepared for it.

[Guest]

Tinkerbell you sound such a wonderful teacher!!!

 

Anyway I have been busy doing a different kind of plan. Does it look o.k. would osted be ok with it. I actually felt much freer and happier doing it

[Guest]

here it is

Reception_Class_weekly_Plan__4th_June_2007.doc

[Marion]

I only plan for two days initially then daily and we plan as a team which means we share ideas. I used to spend half my weekend planning but now it takes about an hour to an hour and a half over the week.

[Susan]

Merged that all for you, Laura. Hope thats ok!

 

Remember your planning is a working document and that it must work for you.

At our recent Ofsted, no planning was looked at although I know that is not always the case. YOur planning should be evaluated, showing how you use it to inform learning.

[Guest tinkerbell]

Laurapley

I sometimes think my teaching is great and in an ideal week it could be and everything goes well but....I am also assistant head and in a small school I have other plates to spin....I am sometimes torn between doing an excellent job teaching or helping NQT/TA's school problems etc so my teaching can suffer.

It is having afoot in both camps which can be useful because I do fight for the Foundation stage in school and in LEA meetings.

Tinkerbellx

[Marion]

As Susan says planning should be a working document our is changed and scribbled on as things are changed to meet the childrens interests.

 

I also agree with Tinkerbell I'm often torn between other work commitments which take me out of the classroom and away from the children and the actual teaching which is the bit I like and find the most rewarding.

[Guest]

Hi there

 

A really interesting topic as it seems very much there is no one way to plan in the foundation stage. I have changed my planning so often in the last year. I have begun planning the first few days of the week with learning obj etc in mind and then allow the children to take the learning further. Last week was our school creative week. I had in mind some activities but didnt want to be too prescriptive. We used a hoover bag cover lady and called her Grandmere, I introduced her and told the children she was from Paris. We looked on espresso at the journey that she had made through the channel tunnel. the children totally took the learning furhter, they asked for the train set out so they could build the channel tunnel, we then looked at the buildings in paris, e.g. arc de triomphe, pont de gard, eiffel tower etc and the ch used the blocks to recreate these structures. It was fabulous!! There is no way I could have planned that had i sat down sunday night and thought about what i could teach the children. I find my best teaching is where i am less prescriptive but it can be hard when there are other daily demands e.g. daily phonics, guided reading, whole class sessions of lit / num, observation time etc etc etc. there are so many demands in the foundation stage and I really try to not get caught up in it all and enjoy, which can be tricky!!!!

 

I would really like to see your planning Tinkerbell if you wouldnt mind attaching a copy. I do not have a whole class lit / num carpet session daily now in order that i can fit everything else in. I have 3 / 4 sessions over the week to introduce or reinforce learning objectives, my HT seems ok with this and is very much make it work for you. I still find that if I am not careful my week can be lit / num heavy and it is important to remember that there are 6 areas of learning, all of equal weighting. Unfortunately Y2 sats do not assess PSED, KUW, CD or PD, just lit and numeracy!!!!!!! Hence why I think the pressure on CLL and MD is there!!! my aim is to remember that I am a foundation stage practitioner, this year I have 5 Y1's and next year I have 14 Y1's and 14 yR'S which is very difficult. But as a FS practiitoner I must remember that I am teaching the EYFS currriculum and allow for equal weighting of all six areas. Sorry if I have gone off on one!!! What do other people feel about this? are you confident you have an equal balance? I do think my KUW, PSED, CD, PD tend to be through ch initiated activities and CLL and MD is through whole class and small group work???? anyone any suggestions!!

[Guest]

Hi, I too felt that I was not giving equal share of teacher time to KUW, CD, PD and PSE. Also, having just gone on the initial training day for EYFS and two recent cluster meetings with regard to planning and assessment I was really beginning to feel bogged down and am now beginning to make adjustments to my planning. In view of the move towards planning from the child rather than to the prescriptive requirements of the Learning Objectives, I spent time observing child initiated play on Friday morning. Observing and discussing with the children provided me with some great ideas for this weeks planning.

I am still planning for a daily numeracy and literacy session, particularly as the emphasis this term is to prepare the children for year 1. However, only one of the three groups will be on adult initiated task while the other two groups can choose from the play planning for indoor/outdoor environment. My TA and I will take turns to deliver the adult initiated which leaves the other adult free to observe and assess child intiated. This way I feel that all other areas of learning are given a chance. Obviously all groups will work with an adult on a rotational basis during the weeks sessions as the planning I have attached shows.

With regard to the planning I produce, I produce a weekly play plan and an outdoor weekly plan which will be a combination of ideas from the children and from myself. I also produce a weekly focus activity plan which is on a format used by the rest of the school. This does appear to give a greater weighting to numeracy and literacy but as I said, child intiated play during these sessions for two out of three groups mean other areas of learning are very much at the heart of every session. My planning does take up a full morning or afternoon/early evening slot but I can't see any way around that. Having trained with the push to produce a detailed lesson plan for every activity each day I feel that my present system is much less onerous. As others have said before, planning should be a useful, working document and that is what I am hoping I am getting to...!

 

My planning formats for play planning and weekly focus activities are attached. The outdoor plan is very much like the indoor play plan but with different resources/activities. Any feedback would be gratefully recieved.

 

Helenx

Play_Planning_for_week_commencing_2nd_July_2007.doc

weekly_planning_for_25th_June_2007.doc

[Guest]

I sympathise hon x I've been at it all afternoon .... I hate doing a floor plan as we have to get everything out of a garage at the other side of the carpark and set up in a Community Hall... most days we have to pack it away

 

Hi! Was really impressed with all your planning formats. Wonder if you can help me. We are working on : The Very Hungry Caterpillar this term. Any ideas, especially with PSE and CD. If you have Long, Medium and short term plans I would really, really appreciate it. Just getting my head round new EYFS, and Foundation/Reception - so any expert advise would be great.

 

Cheers

 

Chali Bear

[Aunt Sally]

It's a relief to hear others spend a long time planning. I thought it was just me. I too keep adjusting it and trying to find an easier method of working. I find quite often I am planning for the sake of planning...... so that it satisfys SMT who have a top down attitude. Last year when we had our ofsted visit they were very keen on looking at my planning and also recently when we had a teaching and learning observation. Both times I was complimented on it but I feel it is actually far more important that it meets the children's needs and as you say it is a working document.

[Jester]

It used to take hours and hours for us to plan but we now have it down to a couple of hours- (finally have got it spot on methinks!)

We do a weekly plan with all the links in then another plan which we add observations and notes to and use to plan for the next week. Covers all that AfL stuff. We regualrly add and take away and scribble over the plans which is what their for aren't they?

[Guest]

Debbington and Jester, would you be able to attatch an example of your planning formats? Really interesting to see how people plan. Really struggling with mine , so would be grateful to have a look and see where I can make adjustments.

[Aunt Sally]

I would love to help you out but I am in the process of revamping my planning because it just doesn't work!!!

[Guest]

Hi there we are term time only so usually do med term planning a bit each night over hols but my weekly plannig probably takes a couple of hours each week however with all this new letters and sounds stuff it is taking a bit longer while i get my head around it