Learning journals, how do you organise them?

[alex__17]

I've only been minding a couple of weeks, but am making a start on the learning journals as I already had the call from tribal asking for eyfs numbers for inspection in a couple of months and as I only have them 1 day a week want to add to them each week so I have something for when ofsted come.

I saw an example from another childminder that looked good, a file, with dividers for each area of learning where she added comments or photos, so I thought I'd do this, then have a space for longer observations. However I'm finding a lot of the short things I'm writing cover several areas of learning, and I just want to add a comment or photo and link to the area, and don't want to be putting the same thing under several headings.

How do people do theirs? Am I over complicating it? Should I just have no dividers and add to it as things happen and put longer observation sheets in if I do them? The observations I've done are quite short, like the 14 month old loved the new sand table I had, as did the 3 year old, both loved feeling the texture of the sand and filling pots up, so my observation for the 14 month old was: 'enjoyed exploring sand, seems to be a sensory learner, next steps do more sensory play/messy play with him.

Is that enough for an observation and next step planning?

I'd be grateful for any ideas and advice, it's really hard to know what's 'right' without seeing what others do!

[Glitter]

What you have done sounds the same as I do mine. Ofsted liked the fact that I could show an observation covered more than one area of learning.

How ever you decide to do learning journals make sure they are simple and quick to do. Once you have more children to look after updating them can take over your life!

[sing-low]

I've done things a number of ways since first registered in May! I started splitting obs into areas, as you say, but also found that they often covered various areas. You could put them in the main area you think and add also PD,CL or whatever the other areas are. I'm now doing my LJs chronologically for the most part. Some pages focus on one area over a few weeks e.g. LO sitting on trike, LO pushing with feet while sitting on trike but only moving a bit, LO pushed on trike all the way down the path and across the grass. I also have photos for my obs. I am quite a visual person and TBH parents prob only mostly look at photos so if an ob has a photo they're more likely to read it. Would also recommend Sarah's ebook on LJs.

[VeggieSausage]

I do mine in date order with the newest at the front, if you separate into the areas of learning you come a cropper as you should show that obs link to more than one area of learning, it doesn't have to be every one, but you should be showing it. Also with regards to your obs if you are saying a child loved the new sand pit you are projecting what you think rather than making an observation. An observation example would be Child x ran their fingers through the sand and spent 10 minutes doing this over and over and smiling. Then in next steps and planning I would say that child x appeared to enjoy playing with the sand and concentrated well on the activity (this could be a characteristic of learning) and play so will ensure they have more opportunities for sand/ water/ other sensory play.....

[alex__17]

Brilliant thanks so much for that, as you can see I haven't done many obs yet, didn't even realise I was projecting but can see what you mean. I think I'll just get rid of the areas and add to it as they happen then link to each area.
Do I need to say why it links? Or is it sufficient to just put the initials of the area next to it?

[hectors house]

I do mine in date order with the newest at the front, if you separate into the areas of learning you come a cropper as you should show that obs link to more than one area of learning, it doesn't have to be every one, but you should be showing it. Also with regards to your obs if you are saying a child loved the new sand pit you are projecting what you think rather than making an observation. An observation example would be Child x ran their fingers through the sand and spent 10 minutes doing this over and over and smiling. Then in next steps and planning I would say that child x appeared to enjoy playing with the sand and concentrated well on the activity (this could be a characteristic of learning) and play so will ensure they have more opportunities for sand/ water/ other sensory play.....

I do mine in date order with newest at front too, I do say X enjoyed playing with the playdough, or X was totally engrossed in painting the patio with water - this may be projecting and making assumptions but after 29 years at this job I feel I am qualified to read facial expressions, body language and verbal communication.

[VeggieSausage]

Yes each to their own, we all do things differently......I link to the area of development and the age banding and sometimes I may note a little line with the reason it fits with it from the Early Years Outcomes document such as Exploring using a variety of ways eg pulling, pushing etc......if I have put an obs about how a child was playing with something for example - if that makes sense. But I don't do that all the time......more to explain to parents why that fits where I have put it.....

[hectors house]

Yes each to their own, we all do things differently......I link to the area of development and the age banding and sometimes I may note a little line with the reason it fits with it from the Early Years Outcomes document such as Exploring using a variety of ways eg pulling, pushing etc......if I have put an obs about how a child was playing with something for example - if that makes sense. But I don't do that all the time......more to explain to parents why that fits where I have put it.....

I also have all the areas of development and characteristics of learning on my observation form, highlight any that are relevant (without finding an exact statement) and then cross reference with different coloured highlighter pens. It was easier when there were only 6 areas as I only have 6 different coloured highlighter - for the 7th I just have to underline it in red pen!

[gef918]

My LJs are in chronological order. I link to each area of learning, but don't put them in different sections, since I find that it's rare to observe something in just one area.

I also think that parents are more interested in seeing their whole growth over the time you have them, not flick back and forth between areas to see what they could do when they were 12m, 24m, 36m, etc.

[alex__17]

I've got rid of the areas and am just going to do a small picture with a couple of lines under saying what I observed, what areas of learning were covered, and any next steps, hopefully that'll satisfy ofsted and be a nice folder for parents to look through

[amylouise867]

I've only been minding a couple of weeks, but am making a start on the learning journals as I already had the call from tribal asking for eyfs numbers for inspection in a couple of months and as I only have them 1 day a week want to add to them each week so I have something for when ofsted come. I saw an example from another childminder that looked good, a file, with dividers for each area of learning where she added comments or photos, so I thought I'd do this, then have a space for longer observations. However I'm finding a lot of the short things I'm writing cover several areas of learning, and I just want to add a comment or photo and link to the area, and don't want to be putting the same thing under several headings. How do people do theirs? Am I over complicating it? Should I just have no dividers and add to it as things happen and put longer observation sheets in if I do them? The observations I've done are quite short, like the 14 month old loved the new sand table I had, as did the 3 year old, both loved feeling the texture of the sand and filling pots up, so my observation for the 14 month old was: 'enjoyed exploring sand, seems to be a sensory learner, next steps do more sensory play/messy play with him. Is that enough for an observation and next step planning? I'd be grateful for any ideas and advice, it's really hard to know what's 'right' without seeing what others do!

When I did them with my children when I was working in a school we called the mini slips you fill in incidentals.

We used to have a template, we would print them off, cut them out and keep them in a wallet so whenever we needed/wanted them they were there ready to use.

There was a box at the top for -
Childs name
Date
Time
Area (where they're playing)
A box would follow to write the incidental in and then underneath we had a list of the areas of learning.

We would cross reference throughout the learning journey and highlight the areas that were covered and date them, so they would marry up. On the incidental slips if we had highlighted any of that area off in the journal we would tick/highlight it on the slip to. It made it easier to go back and see which observations and incidentals gave us the evidence to highlight the journal.

We then decided which area the incidental was most fitting. This could be down to the activity, outcome, or if an area has a little less evidence than the others we would stick it there.
The statement which I found most fitting overall I used to write it directly under the incidental too.

I found that parents liked this as it made more sense to them as they could read the statements and not feel overwhelmed at the masses of developmental statements that were highlighted and not highlighted.

I too used dividers to separate the areas of learning. This made it easier to keep flicking through and finding the areas we needed. Far too time consuming without them.

This worked very well.

We used to do the same for the longer observations. We used a similar template but had a larger space obviously to write in.
We would always take pictures to add to support our evidence too. We also had a box to add next steps to work on.

The next steps I had selected for the children I would use sticky notes to add to my next step display. It was a much faster reference tool to aid with planning etc than to keep flicking through individual journals.

I think the bet thing is not to over think and find a template and process that works for you and your setting.

This worked great for us though.
Hope that helps xx