activity planning sheets

[Trudey]

hiya.
i work in a nursery and i love this forum for ideas. im also starting my childminding course in sept.

my question is. does anyone do activity planning sheets?

i do long term planning, mediaum term planing, weekley plans and i also do activity planning sheets, but ive never known if im doing them right as they seem to repeat what ive wrote on my topic web (monthly plan) unless its a cooking activity as i seem to waffle ...

has anyone got any activity planning sheets i can see,
im also confused with the learning objective. i now its what i want the children to learn, but do i link it to a learning goal.

do any of you gals n guys do activity planning sheets for your individual , i think i do far too much writting. can anyone help me x

[jumpinjen]

Exactly - they repeat what you have said elsewhere so no - I plan activities in my head and jot them on my planning - I do a web of ideas covering all areas for Spring for example, in CD it might say 'egg shell pictures', on my weekly planning sheet it will say 'egg shell pics' and in my head I have 'OK, I have collected washed out egg shells for weeks, they need to go out, along with paper, card and glue, the older mindees are here so shall we mix our own colours from the powder paints? yes I think so, ooh and a pestle and mortar could be fun to add to the experience, will need to talk about handling it carefully and sharing as there's only one'. I have no need as a CM to write all of that out on a sheet - it is a waste of my time!!!!!

HTH, Jen x

[sarah707]

Exactly what jumpinjen said!

If you are repeating yourself then you are wasting your time... who is going to read it all?

Keep to what you have to do - plan activities the children will enjoy :D

[Trudey]

hiya, and thankyou
i have to say i get a bit confused with the planning, we have had 3 different teacher advisers come in to over see what we do and each suggests different things. i wish there was a clear formated sheets that ofsted give out, so the planning set out is uniform for all!

my activity planning sheets show how each activity meet the early learning goals, but i know i write the activies in the topic web and if they meet more than area, i initial the other area next to it.. i sometimes feel like im confusing myself.

i may keep my activity planning sheets for big projects like cooking as its expandable.... dont even get me started on individual planning!...

[jumpinjen]

Thing is, when you are child minding, you might have an 8 month old, an 18 month old and a 3 year old so planning activities in that depth for each child will kill you! Ofsted want to see that activities and experiences are planned responsively to each child, they won't read reams of written planning - if you choose to use the activity as an observation in the child's LJ then you can link it to all the areas of L and D there, rather than do it twice - of course you will have in mind what it might cover but you might be surprised by the direction it takes. Also LJ's shouldn't just be made up of observations of planned experiences, but if mainly child led obs. Yes everyone will tell you different, and we all do it differently on here too, you need to find a system that works for you, your setting and your mindees - I have recently updated mine and tweaked it to suit the older mindees I have and the kind of planning I am doing for them currently. I suggest you find a system with the least amount of writing possible!!

Jen x

[lisa1968]

There is no wrong or right way of doing planning-or any of the other paperwork.Every childminder does it differently and in a way that suits them;as long as it covers the things that you need to cover,then its ok!!

Over the years I've worked my way through various sheets/forms/etc-which isnt a bad thing because it shows that you are reflecting on your practice and how you do things-but I got to the stage where I was so fed up of printing things off the computer, and having bits of paper everywhere, that i revamped it all completely.

I now us A4 notebooks to write things down-planning,individual planning,resourses etc;This way,should i need to jot anything down,then I can without having to keep starting up the computer.Each child has an evidence book with work,photos and which areas it covers,then they each have small folders which contain observations and where they are 'at' in the age ranges in the EYFS guidance book.
Good Luck :)

[clairelou2001]

I would also like to look at a planning sheet and how it links to the EYFS.
Thank you
Claire

[LouiseK]

I have just got my first mindee and am also confused with the amount of activity planning sheets I should be doing! I agree, I wish ofsted would give out sheets you can complete!