obs

[claire & steve]

Can observations be made on a planned activity or do they have to be something out of the blue that the child does new every time ....... thanks

[Greengrass74]

They can be either, planned ones are sometimes best if you want to observe something specific, such has fine motor control, however these can also be observed through general play. So there is no real rules for when you do observations.

We tend only to do planned observations when we need to observe something specific, most of our obs are done through every day normal activities.

[sarah707]

Most of our obs are from routine activities as well.

has someone been confusing you or have you read something that isn't clear?

[claire & steve]

Hi Sarah
We planned and made paper planes with the lo's we coloured them and then we measured with the tape to see whose plane had travelled the furthest and the shortest. One lo really enjoyed counting with us on the tape and telling us about things close and far away so we made an ob and next steps for him... at the school another childminder said an observation has to be something new a child does to show he is learning and moving on and as our lo can already count its not a new observation..... help

[sarah707]

Your friend is wrong! That is a lovely observation which should definitely be shared with his parents.

Observing a child is about watching and listening and picking up on his interests and learning styles... then writing it down and thinking what it tells you about him and his abilities and his thought processes and the way he tackles learning etc.

So you would write up that observation, link it to the way he is consolidating his knowledge of numbers, talk about how you might encourage him to measure other things - maybe a sunflower next spring or the distance a snail crawls across the patio - and also link to opposites language and how you can develop that.

Hth

[claire & steve]

Thank you sarah its such a relief to know im doing things right