everything

I have been childminding for 6 months now and have one 14 month old, hopefully I am just over thinking things but I don't have a clue.
I am sure I am doing too much or not enough, I am really struggling with the EYFS side of things, what I should be observing, how to plan, what goes where and is covered by which part!

At the moment I am using paperwork:

Scrap book to put photos I take, not necessarily ones that have any link just great photos

Observation journal which I downloaded, in it it had subsections for look and note observations, photographic observation sheet and then monthly sections that include: planned observed, areas of learning ons, next steps and my work sheet.
I am using a tracker sheet to show at 3 monthly marks where she is and plan to do a summary every term which will include the parents.

It all seems a bit much, is there anyway to simplify it all, I find myself struggling to put anything in all the sections.

I also have a daily diary that goes home with parents but this doesn't hold vital stuff as it has been lost twice already.

Planning -I don't even know where to start!
Please any advice welcome, like I say I am probably just over thinking it all and it's all so much easier then I think

Everyone has their own way of doing things. As long as you can show that you are tracking development and have a good knowledge of where the child is then that's good. Mine are brief as I was doing too much at one point and I had to cut them down.

I have the following
Learning Journeys - Each page has a date and age of child (June 15 - 37m) then pictures of the child doing something such as playing with a farm set... A brief note next to the picture of what area it covers CLL, EAD etc
- Other pictures may just say 'I loved playing with the pourers in the water' and not all my pictures have links.
- Progress summaries (every 6-8months)
- post it notes saying 'Today I pointed to my nose' - 12th June 2015 - 11m

An observation folder - this holds brief observations of just a sentence or statement 'Billy wrote a letter B today, he was so pleased with himself' a link to EYO/DM (LIT - 40-60m) and next steps. Not all observations have a next step.

A tracker - which I just plot every 6-8months using the progress summaries

I do daily diaries for under 2.5yrs olds. This just includes food, nappy changes, anything the parents need to know and what's happened throughout the day. When the child gets older the diary tends to repeat itself from day to day so I don't fill it in as much, just if something needs to be shared
I also have a 3 way diary which goes to nursery/preschool, this is a good way to show that I am sharing with other settings. So far its working well. I add pictures and statement and its like a mini LJ/diary to share with the nursery.

HTH :)

So if I added dates and areas the photos link to then the scrap book could become a learning journal?
And then keep ons and tracking together

I think what makes it worse for me is that it's all separate, the journal is a book, photos in another book, tracking and summaries in a folder

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Tracie75

I have been childminding for 6 months now and have one 14 month old, hopefully I am just over thinking things but I don't have a clue.
I am sure I am doing too much or not enough, I am really struggling with the EYFS side of things, what I should be observing, how to plan, what goes where and is covered by which part!

At the moment I am using paperwork:

Scrap book to put photos I take, not necessarily ones that have any link just great photos

Observation journal which I downloaded, in it it had subsections for look and note observations, photographic observation sheet and then monthly sections that include: planned observed, areas of learning ons, next steps and my work sheet.
I am using a tracker sheet to show at 3 monthly marks where she is and plan to do a summary every term which will include the parents.

It all seems a bit much, is there anyway to simplify it all, I find myself struggling to put anything in all the sections.

I also have a daily diary that goes home with parents but this doesn't hold vital stuff as it has been lost twice already.

Planning -I don't even know where to start!
Please any advice welcome, like I say I am probably just over thinking it all and it's all so much easier then I think

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Have you approached your Early Years team to ask for support? ask what is available from them....what training they have for you now you are registered, can they come and visit you?
We know many LAs have had changes in their EY teams but they still have duties to support providers.

Can you make friends with other CMs in your area and ask for a little support? look at the way they do children's records to get ideas?
are you able to contact the company who trained you as a cm pre-registration for further support?

Yes we are all different but we all must follow one statutory framework...keep knocking on doors for help