Basic Outline of planning - help please

[LouiseM2009]

Hi guys,

This whole planning thing is starting to puzzle me, iv really tried to look into it and also searched high and low on here for the answers but cant really get my head around what im trying to achieve!

i just dont get the planning, i mean, i do get that i need to do the short/meduim and long term plans, and that in doing so i also need to do individual plans for each child, leaving room for anything to change, but how are people coping finding things to do and then knowing how to link them to the eyfs?

so far, iv started by doing a long term plan, where for example in july i have put down that i will plan some activities on "holidays" in the hope that i can link it into things such as the weather and different countries etc.

so once iv done that, i begin to break it down into my medium plan, so i do a sheet saying in the first week of july i will do the following : a visit to the beach/seaside to collect seashells etc.

then what? how do i know that what iam planning in this way will be appropriate to the eyfs? its really starting to puzzle me because "collecting seashells" i dont see any links in my eyfs book!!?!?!

then i presume once i have a few activities listed, and the way they link into the six areas of development, nearer the time i can implement them into a short term plan on a weekly basis and break the activities up, but then how many activities should i be doing and how many should i be doing observations on?

do i really need to have 52 different ideas for activities through-out the year?

i know this is long winded but i think the only way ill get it sorted in my head is to put it all down, if anybody could break it all up for me id really appreciate it, some examples via email would be awesome also! im 3 weeks in and already feel snowed under by all of this!

thank you in advance!!!:(

[sarah707]

Start with this week...

What are the children interested in at the moment?

My lot are bonkers about the squirrels - they keep coming into the garden and running along the fence.

J wanted to run like them so I put out a skipping rope and they all tried to balance along it... this led to a game of hopscotch.

Then we got out the big blanket and used it as a parachute to bounce the Beanie Baby squirrel... before 3 of the children worked together and draped it across the clothes horse to make a den.

We talked about how a squirrels house was called a drey and looked up some dreys on Google images.

I provided some squirrel and other nature books and they read them in their drey with torches.

If you look through what I've just written, you have all the elements of...

1. Child-led planning;

2. Some adult involvement and providing appropriate resources;

3. All 6 areas of learning and development.

Next steps... go to the library and get some books about Percy the Park Keeper, find out about red squirrels, make a squirrel cake of food...

As you go through the year writing up bits and pieces like this you will have next years' planning... except of course for if children are interested in other things next year, in which case you'll have to start all over again :laughing:

Does that make sense? :D

[LouiseM2009]

kind of, is that classed as long medium or short term planning though?



As you go through the year writing up bits and pieces like this you will have next years' planning...

so should i not be writing up a complete "year plan" for ofsted to look at now?

i have a 4 year old on my books and like i say i can put down that in december, we will have a winter theme, and record that along with the other 11 months on an a4 sheet to be kept in a file.

then i will have an a4 sheet on "december-winter", and doing it as a spidergram i can list different activities under the 6 eyfs headings, then i can do individual activity planning and (eventually) link it into the eyfs. say for example we look at snowflakes, so then i ask the 4 year old to draw a snowflake and then cut it out, and develop it by talking about where snowflakes come from, or make some snowflake cakes?

is that all right? and how do i "plan" the activity as im actively doing it on the hop?

thanks sarah!

[sarah707]

What I've given you is short term planning following children's interests.

You can write up a long term plan...

Jan - Australia day / winter

Feb - Chinese new year / Valentines day

Mar - Easter / spring

April - etc...

BUT there's little point in doing lots of complicated planning for it until you know what the child's interests are nearer the time.

So when the month comes you can start with an outline sketch of ideas / things you might cover... that's medium term planning. Personally I tend not to do so much of this any more because working to the ethos of the Eyfs it doesn't get used.

When the week / day comes you need to offer a mixture of your planning and doing what the child wants to do. So that's when you think about activities the child will enjoy that follow your theme.

You can plan using a spider gram if that's how you like to do it, making sure you have activity suggestions for all 6 areas of L & D.

Please remember though they are just suggestions and if the child appears with a feather and wants to find out more about it... your planning should be adapted to follow his interests.

hth :D

[LouiseM2009]

the mist and haze is dissipating!

im happy that my long term plan is ok, as you said i can always use g's interests to update it for next year as part of her individual plan.

is it right then to do the short term planning, say on a sunday night?
so to sit on a sunday night and write out a plan relating to my long term, do all the linking in with eyfs and try to think of one activity per eyfs area.

or can i do the short term planning at the end of the day that the activities have taken place? just because how do you adapt your plan if you dont know whats happening if the child decides to lead into something else?

sorry to be a pain!

[miss mopple]

My mindees are all still very little (2 babies and a 2yr old) so my planning os very short term at the minute as it is pointless planning themes for them (and every time Ive tried with older mindees over the years we've never done it anyway as theyve wanted to do something else :laughing: )

I have a continuous planning sheet in each of their learning journeys that I write notes on each week relating to my observations. So for example I observed last week that D is currently into all things that rotate. So I have made a note of some activity ideas we could do based on those obs, one of which is playing with different sized balls and cars and long tubes to roll them down.

On my weekly planning sheet I have planned that as an activity one day when I have him and highlighted the links to eyfs.

I do the same for the other 2 mindees as well, making sure that all have activites provided each week that are tailored to their personal obs (although all activites can be adapted so all children get something from it), and then any gaps in the timetable get filled with adult led activities/ groups. I put it all together on a simple planning sheet and colour code which activities are child led (a different colour for each child so I am sure they are all being catered for) and which are adult led.

It sounds complicated but its not at all- well, I understand it anyway :laughing:

[FussyElmo]

I do a long term plan with important dates on. I also medium plan however I am quite prepared for this to never get done or as and when the opp arises.

Yesterday I was following the medium plan because at the moment its Autumn. However the childrens attention at toddlers have got caught by a caterpillar so we have pretended to be caterpillars ( I must have looked a right loon)then butterflys. We were going to do pictures of caterpillars when we got in however we got in and its nice so they wanted the sand out and put the dinosaurs in.

Sometimes I write it down - sometimes I dont I have piece of paper with lots of things leading off each other.

Mainly my short term planning is child led and medium and long term is adult led but I dont get stressed if the long term and medium never gets done.