how often do you do your obs?

**Donkey** · 08-05-2008, 07:58 PM

hey peoples

just wondering how often you do your obs, on the dqp course it says once a term min, but I guess this depends on the age of the child, babies would need more.

what do you do?

thanks

**sarah707** · 08-05-2008, 08:41 PM

I try to write something positive about each child each week for their folder ...

Not great reams... just a few notes to say what they've done or how they've enjoyed something new

**barbarella68** · 08-05-2008, 09:01 PM

I think I know the answer but I have 4 mindees a 7 year old, a 6 year old,a 41/2 year old and a 7 month old baby,do we do observations on all the children or just the baby(with it being for birth to 5 ),the 41/2 year old I look after only comes to me 1 hour before school and 3 hours after school 3 days a week so do I include her in obs as she will be 5 in september.
I think it will be just the baby but you never know with these things they tend to make it up as they go along.

**donnahay0** · 08-05-2008, 09:09 PM

I definately do more obs on the baby I look after - he is doing so many new things all the time - like Sarah says just a few lines. Although sometimes I sit and write more on a particular activity I have set up that will involve all the children.

Somebody mentioned about cornflakes and trucks in the tuff tray the other day - I did this with the baby and the three year old. It was fantastic and I got a page of obs on each child.

**Spangles** · 08-05-2008, 09:11 PM

What's this about cornflakes? Sounds good!

**donnahay0** · 08-05-2008, 09:23 PM

Lizzymoonshine said this regarding the thread on tuff spot.

"not seen them in b and q, always thought they'd be more expensive than that but there ideal. Would use mine for the garden, when we went to sure start the other week, they had cornflakes and tipper trucks, my mindee was in his element!!!"

Thread is titled Tuff Spot if you want to search for it. Sorry don't know how to do a copy for a thread.

I just put the cornflakes into the tray along with some digger trucks and spoons and both the children played for ages. The baby tried to copy the older child and they used spoons to fill the tipper trucks. I gave the 3 year old a toy dustpan and brush and he swept the cornflakes off the floor - the baby took the brush and swept too .... more cornflakes all over the floor. He cried when I had to take him out so we could have some lunch.

**sarah707** · 09-05-2008, 06:34 AM

Originally Posted by barbarella68

I have 4 mindees a 7 year old, a 6 year old,a 41/2 year old and a 7 month old baby,do we do observations on all the children or just the baby(with it being for birth to 5 ),the 41/2 year old I look after only comes to me 1 hour before school and 3 hours after school 3 days a week so do I include her in obs as she will be 5 in september.
I think it will be just the baby but you never know with these things they tend to make it up as they go along.

Eyfs is for children up to the August following their 5th birthday, starting september ...

The final assessment will be done by the setting they are in most - which is usually school.

You will need to do general obs /planning for the 4.5 year old until next August and on the baby.

don't forget a lot of what you do with the older child will be eyfs anyway, you just haven't written it down yet.

I intend to write it as a 'routine'... during this routine, the child covers this part of eyfs.

Then the extra play... these will be brief obs.

Hope this makes sense - it's early!

**Tatia** · 09-05-2008, 12:14 PM

I tend to make short obs every day. Don't forget photos as evidence, too and saves writing about somehting when you can pop the photo in an the just link oit to EYFS

**barbarella68** · 09-05-2008, 06:37 PM

Thank for your help,for some reason it is so much clearer when you hear it from another childminder

I have just realised I am going to be busy for weeks as from tomorrow I have my first aid course for the next 2 weeks(9.30am-16.30pm Saturdays)Yuk.
I feel resentful doing training on Saturdays why is that?.

Then I have a EYFS course starting in 2 weeks (19.00pm-21.00pm Wednesdays)for 4 weeks.Now that doesn't bother me. Why?

**vix84** · 11-05-2008, 02:10 PM

Im really struggling to understand the age thing for the EYFS ........ so if you had a child that was 5 in June, would you do the EYFS untill the following August?

**sarah707** · 11-05-2008, 02:25 PM

Originally Posted by vix84

Im really struggling to understand the age thing for the EYFS ........ so if you had a child that was 5 in June, would you do the EYFS untill the following August?

You got it!

**vix84** · 11-05-2008, 02:31 PM

Oh ok, that makes sense now, thanks

**vix84** · 11-05-2008, 02:36 PM

Just re-read it again - so is it untill they are 5 and 2 mths, as opposed to 6 and 2mths?

**sarah707** · 11-05-2008, 02:44 PM

It's not about their age or when their birthday falls... it's about dates on an academic (school) calendar...

They are counted as within the eyfs until the August after their 5th birthday...

This means that at the end of their reception year at school, the teacher prepares each child's eyfs learning and development grids, planned to coincide with them leaving reception and entering year 1, not with how old they are.

We need to provide evidence up until that time that we are also supplying eyfs for the child - and the thinking from Ofsted / the Government is that we will be involved in feeding information into the grids the teacher is doing...

Not sure how that one will work

**vix84** · 11-05-2008, 02:52 PM

I am going to have a mindee from September, who will be 5, bday is in June - and I think he is starting school in September ...... I get confused about when they can and cant start school, let alone all the extra info. about when School years

So was guessing I wouldn do the EYFS

**sarah707** · 11-05-2008, 03:01 PM

Originally Posted by vix84

I am going to have a mindee from September, who will be 5, bday is in June - and I think he is starting school in September ...... I get confused about when they can and cant start school, let alone all the extra info. about when School years

So was guessing I wouldn do the EYFS

Ahh, I see what you mean!

I would ask parents what school year he's going into ...

If it's reception then you do eyfs with him ... if it's year one, then you don't!

**MissTinkerbell** · 12-05-2008, 03:15 PM

Once again only know from a teaching point of view but I went on a 2 day Observation and Assessment for the EFYS.

We were told that Ofsted expected an observation per child per week. As the courses were being offered to all involved in childcare from nurseries to schools to playschools to childminders I guess that is what is expected.

The types of observations are also pretty specific in that Ofsted expect to see 80% of observations made on child-initiated play and the remaining 20% made on adult-led play.

Hope this helps.

**hello kitty** · 18-05-2008, 07:05 AM

I was told on my conference yesterday that EYFS applies until the end of reception year.

She also said if you do a longer narrative observation then this only needs to be done once a term.

**Hannahlg** · 28-05-2008, 08:32 AM

The child who me and my mum mind are

2 and a half
3 and 3 month
3 and a 1/2
and 4 (was 4 on sunday)
and have a new boy starting on monday who is 3 and 3 months aswell

i do a big obeavtion with the next step every other week like i will obsaved 2 of them next week and od the next step the week after the week which im doing the next step i will obeave the other 3 etc

i also do snap shot obeavtion (which i dont carry out the next step ) all the time
if i see anything intresting which there doing i just wirte it down on my pad of paper

will have having 2 10month old babies starting on october- havent got a clue how im going to do the EYFS on them yet

**bubbly** · 13-06-2008, 11:03 AM

At my EYFS meeting last night, someone asked how often we should do observations and the reply was approx once a month. I was surprised, to say the least, as I thought it would be much more frequently i.e. at least once a week.