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JCrakers
09-01-2014, 01:13 PM
No idea why, but I woke in the middle of the night thinking about my obs and next steps and that I need to catch up with them. I decided at 3am in the morning that I'm going to simplify my obs and next steps.

I was getting a bit stressed over getting them done. I have 6 EY Children and was starting to get behind. I was ashamed that id got too far behind with writing them up and although I know then all very well I needed it written. My system of having a separate printed sheet for each child wasn't working for me.

So I went into Rymans after toddler group this morning and picked up a simple lined A4 book. Used a pencil and ruler to divide into sections
Name, Age and Date
Observation
EYFS links/characteristics
Next Steps

Then divided it into 6 sections for the 6 children and I'm deciding to do 1 page a month. So page 1 is January and now I can see all 6 children on one page.
Its made me feel a whole lot better and instead of flipping through sheets of paper I have it all on 1 page :D

No idea if Ofsted will be as positive but at the moment I couldn't give two hoots :D

ajc
09-01-2014, 01:18 PM
What a great and simple idea. I'm the same, getting bogged down with all the different LJs and different sheets of paper, looking through the DM every time for each child, this just keeps it so simple and user friendly going to give it a try, thank you

funemnx
09-01-2014, 01:24 PM
I decided the same thing J Crackers - make it more simple!

I nicked an idea from a fellow CM to print photos onto stickers so bought a big box of sticker sheets with 8 on each sheet (they go in the printer). Now I can print a photo ob (on half the sticker) and at the same time write them up (on the other half) 8 at a time, print and stick them in the journals. I will be able to get 8 on each page of their book instead of one ob to each page. I was writing far too much...

lisa1968
09-01-2014, 02:31 PM
I decided the same thing J Crackers - make it more simple!

I nicked an idea from a fellow CM to print photos onto stickers so bought a big box of sticker sheets with 8 on each sheet (they go in the printer). Now I can print a photo ob (on half the sticker) and at the same time write them up (on the other half) 8 at a time, print and stick them in the journals. I will be able to get 8 on each page of their book instead of one ob to each page. I was writing far too much...

I think that's the problem with a lot of childminders-we write too much!When I was doing my NVQ 3, the tutor told us not to over-think things and go into too much detail,so that's what I (try) not to do now!You don't need to writes loads of stuff for an observation-some can be longer than others-but as long as you get the main point in,then that's all you need.

I simplified my planning recently.I used to write a whole weeks planning,day to day in an A4 book...Monday to Friday,including individual planning.It took ages.Then I had a bit of a lightbulb moment one day-and now I write the planning on one page (the right hand page of the book) under the headings Indoor Activities,Outdoor Activities,Visits and Outings and Other activities(linked to themes).At the end of each day, I write notes on the back of the page-what went well, what didn't etc and If I noticed anything about the children-e.g.one of them practicing letters-I write it there too so when I do the next weeks planning it's there so I can include it as individual planning too.It takes less time and is a lot easier.