Making Snow…and other Early Years Practice.

abc doesChild Initiated Learning, Continuous Provision, Planning and Assessment2 Comments

Just thought you might like to share some of the sorts of practice that I have been looking at over the past couple of weeks. Last week I popped to Coventry to work with Nicki  and the Early Years team at Joseph Cash Primary school.  The school has 60 Reception children who work in one open plan space (with a small work room next to the loos!) and a Nursery class who have their own space but share an outside area. I was working with Nicki on the further implementation of objective led planning and looking at their current systems for recording all of their other bits of planning – plus a bit of outdoor evaluation thrown in for good … Read More

Adult Directed verses Child Initiated

abc doesChild Initiated Learning, Continuous Provision, Planning and Assessment51 Comments

The Early Years guidance is very clear that there needs to be a good mix of adult directed teaching and child initiated learning in your setting. What it is not very clear on is how much of each there should be. The reason for that is there is no real definitive answer, as with a great deal of Early Years practice it depends on a range of other factors. Before you even begin to discuss percentages and ratios, the first thing you need to do is to define what you mean and understand by the terms 'adult directed' and 'child initiated'. I often find that these definitions can be tricky to clarify within a team and that practitioners individual interpretations … Read More

Objective Led Planning

abc doesBoys Learning, Child Initiated Learning, Continuous Provision, Environment, Mark Making, Planning and Assessment35 Comments

With objective led planning you would still group the children by ability based on assessment. Rather than having 'red group', 'blue group' etc for CLLD, PSRN etc. It allows you to group your children  by their specific need in each area of learning. So, children who need more support in talk development and less in fine motor can get just that, rather than being in one ability group for both. Once you have decided on your teaching focus you group your children in relation to their performance within that area For each group of children you would make a statement of their current performance in that area 'where they are now'. Then you plan a 'next step' for each group. … Read More