Weekly planning

[welshgirl]

Do you have to write out weekly planning? Icurrently have a 12 month old and 26 month old 3 mornings a week. I have tried writing out on a weekly chart Monday... Plan for Child A...., Plan for Child B........ which would include an activity, but they never seem to go to plan and we end up doing someting else, it just seems like a waste of my time and a waste of paper. I review observations over a month and make a list of next steps for each child, and pull things out which we do when the children are in the mood, somethings are a little more ongoing than 1 particular activity, such as Child A can throw a ball and self selects to play with the box of balls often, next steps use different size balls, bean bags, throwing them in a basket, encourage him to catch, kick,throw into a basket etc. We might do this over a long period of time and am not sure why I am writing it in for Child A to do on Monday. We do roughly follow planning following festivals and seasons, but again, do I really need to write this out, I know in my head what we plan to do.
How do you do it?

[sarah707]

Ofsted are looking to see how the child is making good progress - so observations and assessments feed into individual / next steps planning which feeds into more observations and assessments etc etc.

You can do this in your head but it might be easier to write it down so you have clear evidence at your inspection.

It shouldn't take long -

Obs - child using playdough to make shapes and naming some of them correctly

Assessment - link to what the child knows - maths, physical handling skills etc

Next steps - maybe some sensory playdough or a shape game

Obs - child playing shape game

Assessment - more about what the child knows and so on..........

The rest of your planning will mostly be the child's daily routine - arrive and breakfast, free play, some adult led activities such as..., snack etc.

Hth :D

[welshgirl]

Thanks for your reply Sarah. I guess I already do this as the majority of my observations have next steps to them. What I am struggling with is the planning of an individual activity for each day for example Monday we will..... Tuesday we will.... etc. Or writing out a specific activity for the week. I have tried, but it never goes to plan, and we end up doing it on another day. Am I wasting my time documenting it with a weekly/daily plan. Is it ok to go with the flow, I feel like it is just more paperwork for me to do that does not benefit anyone.

[sarah707]

A lot of childminders have an outline plan of things they intend to do on the day - their routine.

Monday am - outing to park

The children will develop their gross motor skills .... while we are out we will look at the changes in the world around us now it is autumn

Monday pm -

Outside play - I will get out the ....

Inside play - the children chose to use the....

Routine - singing session before school pick up

After school - arts and crafts linked to Halloween

You don't have to write it all up in advance, some can be done after the event so you are capturing the children's interests.

Older children need slightly more structure so you would plan for, eg maths activities linked to your autumn theme or focus on literacy - reading books about squirrels / making squirrel masks etc linked to the children watching squirrels that morning when you were at the park.

Hth :D