[kdilworth]

Here is my interim task – apologies that this is so late (have been rather swamped!)

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[kdilworth]

Sorry this is late. Please find attached my RL on 2 year progress checks.

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[kdilworth]

Please find attached my Interview with a SENDCo task

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[kdilworth]

Critical Review of working with parents attached.

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[kdilworth]

I was really amazed by the approach in this article, in particular the idea of involving children in decision making processes for the setting itself. We are thinking about revamping our outdoor space (so very similar to the article) and it has absolutely not occurred to me to get input from the children, because I simply didn’t think that they would be capable of helping us make decisions! However, I think it will be really valuable to listen to the children’s opinions on the existing space when thinking about what we keep/revamp/introduce. This could be done using the mosaic approach – so interviewing them, asking them to take photos, draw their favourite thing in the garden etc.

I think we do listen very well to what the children are saying in our setting. Staff often listen to children’s requests and act upon them. For example, we have a turtle bus that we take the children for walks in, and they often request this. Staff will almost always grant their request (as long as staffing etc allows). Also, staff listen to children’s requests during an activity and extend the activity based on what they have said. This is particularly the case in our upper nursery and staff will often be found doing unplanned things the children have suggested. The staff are very good at taking the children’s ideas and running with them.

However, I was struck in the article about listening to children not just by listening to what they say, but by observing them and seeing what they do. Of course some children are quieter than others and it is important to be aware of those who don’t make as much noise or don’t respond to questions as much as others. We probably need to be better at looking out for these children and ensuring they don’t get ignored.

[kdilworth]

Hello,

I misunderstood the instruction for this one, sorry. I have attached my UTW activity plan (which is also an EAD activity as I thought we had to combine the two). A colleague observed me doing this and Nicky knows this was used for my mentor observation. I haven’t yet done a peer observation of an EAD activity where I am observing. I will do this ASAP and upload.

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[kdilworth]

Please find attached my reflective log.

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[kdilworth]

Hi,

Please find attached my phonics audit.

Katharine

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[kdilworth]

Hi Lauren,

I have actually just had some behaviour management delivered to all staff in our setting from an EY Partner at our local council. I organised this because I felt that after lockdown we were seeing some challenging behaviours, and the staff just didn’t seem to know what to do with some of the children.

I am going to write up a new Behaviour Management Strategies document for my staff (summing up the session) and I’d be happy to share that on here once it’s done if people were interested.

A few interesting points from the trainer were:
– She was not a fan of time out, naughty chairs or token charts. We did use TO and token charts, but won’t be using them anymore.
– She was anti token charts because she said it can mean that children do something in order to get a token, rather than just for the sake of it (e.g. tidy up to get a token rather than to help their friends)
– She talked a lot about remaining calm yourself, getting down on the child’s level, using a low voice and explaining the child’s feelings to them – giving them the words to understand how they are feeling. Lots of empathy, no anger etc.
– If a child is hit/bitten – ideally have one member of staff dealing with the child who was hit and another with the child who did the hitting. Don’t force the children to play together afterwards (the hit or bitten child may be scared) or force any child to say sorry (no point – they don’t understand and may think they can do what they want if they just say sorry after). Do need to explain to the hitter/biter that it’s not OK to do that, that they have hurt/upset someone etc, but don’t get angry.
– She suggested getting children to help tidy up/fix something if they do something wrong. E.g. if they deliberately pour water all over the floor, get them to help you tidy it up. So you’re not telling them off or putting them on a time out, but there is a consequence for the behaviour (which they may not enjoy that much!)
– There was lots of talk about understanding children’s behaviour and actually putting things in place to try and prevent it in the first place, e.g. understanding changes in child’s life, issues at home, even things at nursery like staff changes or a different sleeping spot!

This is a bit of a rushed summary, but hope some of that is helpful and the document I draw up will probably be a lot more coherent!

[kdilworth]

I will be asking staff to observe their key children to identify what schemas they have (if any). Our staff know about schemas, but I don’t think they apply this knowledge to their everyday practice and don’t understand how schemas could explain a child’s behaviour, and therefore what could be done to extend their learning using their schema. Once staff have identified schemas, I will work with them to explore how we could better support that schema in the nursery.

In our setting I know we have a child with a transporting schema, and one with a trajectory schema, so I will focus on those two.

Transporting: We have ample resources for this in the garden – bikes/trikes, push along prams, scooters etc. Indoors, we need more resources to facilitate this schema so I will look into sourcing some prams, trollies, bags etc to place in the rooms. Staff could use the schema to help extend learning, e.g. transporting items of a certain colour to an area, counting items as they are placed in a trolley, using vocabulary to name items that are transported from one place to another. Staff already make trains/buses with chairs and ‘take the children on trips’, but we could do this more, particularly with the children displaying this schema. Could ask staff to focus on buses or cars when out on walks. We have a ‘turtle bus’ in which 6 children can go on a walk – this is brilliant for the transporting schema.

Trajectory: A good schema to identify as it explains throwing objects, knocking things down, running up and down and climbing, all of which can seem destructive and difficult behaviours. Actually this schema shows the child is exploring how things and their own body respond to forces being applied, and there are lots of ways to support this. Ideas include an obstacle course outside, soft play for jumping off things, posting activities, throwing objects into targets and activities that involve pouring water.

[kdilworth]

Thanks Nicky – I really like the speech bubbles idea. I think we have always thought that having words around the place was for children (who can’t read yet so their usefulness is questionable), but they would certainly be good for the staff! They will need reminding and I can’t be there watching them all the time 😉 And yes we do have a little ‘maths area’ with some weighing scales and fake money to be used for playing shops, and I’ve certainly seen the pre-school doing this during free play, but it could probably be encouraged more by the staff.

[kdilworth]

Hi,

Please find attached my SSTEW Item 12.

In terms of something I am taking away from today’s session to work on in our setting, it is based around maths provision because this is an area we consistently fall down on. I am going to encourage the staff in the upper nursery to use opportunities presented by mealtimes to use maths. We have 5 set mealtimes a day in the nursery, so there are plenty of opportunities! I want the staff to ask more maths based questions such as how many cups/plates etc do we need, how many children are in the room, take X number of carrots etc, how full is your glass, is this apple halved or quartered, how many pieces do you think can we cut this banana into etc. I want to encourage the staff to do this all the time, so that it becomes second nature. It is not something they need to do any paperwork for, but it just needs to become something they simply do.

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[kdilworth]

Please find attached my interim tasks.

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[kdilworth]

My reflective log on Vygotsky.
SSTEW to follow.

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