Hi. Does anyone still do daily dairies? What age do you do them to.
Thanks
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Hi. Does anyone still do daily dairies? What age do you do them to.
Thanks
I do them online and then I also do an A5 sheet with nappies, food etc on which goes home. I do them until the child starts school.
xx
I do a A5 daily sheet with food/sleeps/nappies on, plus a brief rundown on the day. I also use this sheet to pass messages on such as 'more nappies please' or 'very snotty today' ... even though I verbally tell parents this, I find it helps if written down.
These sheets are filed in an A5 ringfolder that comes and goes with the child. I add photos or artwork occasionally.
But if folder forgotten, I can still send a sheet home.
I do this until they start school.
I use an a5 book until child starts school.
They are not required by the EYFS but some parents may ask you do them....in this case make sure parents tell you ...and promise...to return them each day, write in them as you have agreed and handle them with care.Quote:
Originally Posted by Childminder16
Diaries can take a lot of your time...and daily feedback can be given at pick up time
Good luck whatever you choose to do!
Also think ahead of the 30 hours when it comes into effect...children will have 2 diaries, 2 LJs and double dose of information if a child shares 2 settings!!
I use an online programme, I write a daily diary that the parents access in their own time from, computer, iPad, phone etc..they comment and add to it which gives an overall picture of the child.
It works well for me because my diary entry for the day really is based on my observations. It therefore acts as my observations too. The first section is the diary then I copy an obs into the observational box attach from drop down boxes what CofL or outcome this observation covers which automatically gets put on the learning journal to gather evidence.
The next sections are meals taken, bottles, sleep, toileting and other - again I can create preloaded drop down box to make it easier.
Then I can upload a photo or a video that I can choose if I want to allocate a learning outcome.
So I complete quite a detailed daily diary until they leave me to go to school, it keeps the parents and me well informed about their child. The detail helps when I have a busy day or week and I do 'catch up' - the evidence has already been recorded I just need to see if it is useful to use in recording progress. So I rarely get behind in my 'paperwork'.
Some of my children do attend another setting on the days they are not with me, we both contribute our daily observations which builds up a picture of the child alongside the parents input.
It may not be a legal requirement but I find it really useful and my parents love the daily information. I have a dad who is working in China for three weeks currently and he loves accessing his child's diary just to know what they have been doing and the conversations we have been having, he is able to talk about it with them when they Skype. The parent contributions are some of my evidence about working with parents that is a requirement.
But, it does take time, I start the diary if the children nap, I jot down obs throughout the day then after they have all left I review and re draft into a coherant diary, which I consider to be part of my working day.
If I was writing things down and nobody was reading it or the diary was getting lost between home and me I don't think I would be quite so enthusiastic.
Very interesting take on the diary Flora Dora...it seems you use them for observations as well as reporting on the daily routine and activities.
Does that make you feel you are duplicating on what you enter in their progress journal?....just curious to hear your take on this.
I suppose an online diary has no chance of getting lost and do your parents input in them?
Of course anything online is not that tangible to children....I say this because only the other day a child I looked after from babyhood and now grown up said she had just looked at her portfolio again....something they cannot do with an online journal maybe?...I suppose I am coming from the Reggio angle: making learning visible.....or am I on the wrong track?
My diaries are similar to Floradora's except they are paper versions, not online.
I only record sleep times, food etc when a child first starts with me as I can't think of anything more boring for a parent than being expected to read a daily record of nappy changing times and how often their child slept! I do record those things for the first couple of weeks so parents can get an idea of the routine, but stop after that.
My diaries give details of what we've done during the day, where we've been, what the children have particularly liked, funny things they've done and said etc. They are daily observations, just not done in a formal way. I'll include ideas of what parents could do at home, what area of learning a certain activity has helped with, what characteristics of learning a child has demonstrated, what next step I have encouraged. I also use info parents have given me, so things like, 'after you told me X had been on a train ride at the weekend we have looked at pictures of trains online, made our own timetable, played with the train set' etc. I include regular photos and termly assessments. Next steps idea are dotted throughout 'this week X has been confidently recognising numbers to 20, so next week we are going to make and play a snakes and ladders game with numbers to 30. He'll bring it home at the end of the week so you will be able to play it with him'.
I don't do a separate LJ as I think I include everything in the diary, but I do keep a tracking form for my use, not particularly to share with parents. I type everything up on my laptop so I have a copy of it should parents lose the book, although they all love them and take great care of them. They'd be devastated if they lost them.
Thank you Mouse for your reply...a very interesting take on the use of diaries.
I could ask another dozen questions but won't...I have enough to go by.
In answer to your questions: The programme automatically pops anything I write in an observation box into the chosen progress journal area - so yes, if I have chosen to use a diary entry as an observation the same 'words' would appear but I think it works....the parents see that I am observing their play and seeing where they are learning through their play.Quote:
Originally Posted by Simona
We access their journal regularly and I read things out and we look at the videos and photos to show what they can do now and when they couldn't or to encourage communication as we look at them completing activities. Sometimes we use their photos to plan activities they want to do. The way now I think is digitally but When they leave I do download their journal and bind it nicely and I give the children a cd of all their photos that appear small in their journal. I also send the children a PDF document of their journal and send it electronically - but I find as a working document it is easy to work online. I am used to using Educational SIMS and so chose the programme that was most similar to the ones schools use- the progress can be accessed via graphs if you want to - that are easy to see instant progress monthly, 3 monthly and yearly.
Making learning visible - does not need to be on paper format - something is visible on the setting computer , laptop and I pad. One 4 year old can access his journal if I have it open on the iPad and he switches our Apple TV on and flicks his fingers up the iPad to get the boxes up to press to put it on the tv. I consider this an example of the current way children use technology - computers on a desk or lap tops ( which we do have and they use) are going to be historical items for my 2/3 year olds.
On this topic I put out old mobile phones for language and communication encouragement out the other day and they used them to take photos, pretend to play games and watch videos .....not to talk to someone!
Thanks Flora Dora...you have answered a lot of my questions.