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Provocations for Learning...and Giveaway winners.

I love the term ‘provocations for learning’, as I think that it encapsulates what our Continuous Provision and indeed our wider environment both indoors and out should be about.

How are we actually prompting children to want to learn? Have we created a space that is interesting? Do we have resources that are intriguing and worth taking a detour from your route to the outside area to have a look at, to investigate?

Although we want our children to feel happy and secure within the provision that we create for them we don’t want it to become so familiar that they stop noticing it.

We want them to be independent and able to access resources for their learning and play, but we want those resources to be interesting enough for them to want to pick up and use time and time again.

My fear is that in some settings that the resourcing for Continuous Provision has become too uniform, too bland and almost a clinical. When I first started teaching a Reception classroom had tables, chairs and draws in it – Oh, and the occasional book case on the carpet. That was it. Then with the introduction of the Foundation Stage came the concept of open shelving, at child height, where children could self select from the bounteous resources that had hitherto been locked in the stock cupboard!

With this welcome revolution came the wide bottomed moulded plastic pot in three sizes and three colours with a matching spade, bucket and sand wheel. All of which you could display upon your lovely new blond wood shelves. These were giddy times indeed! The problem is, although the organisation and uniformity is appealing - everything begins to look the same.

 

Settings gained an awful lot in using furniture that promoted all of the elements of independence and self selection, often resulting in children independently self selecting everything on the shelves and making a nice pile with it in the middle of the carpet!

What I think we have lost is some of the thrill and interest that children get from looking, touching, feeling interesting and often unfamiliar objects.

We need resources that make children think. To give them a unique twist on a familiar experience.

Take this water area for example...

This has been created as a permanent feature. In these photographs it has been leveled around ‘pouring’ based on the skills of the children who are going to be using it.

All of these items are second hand, mostly car boot or online purchases. All will drip, drop and pour to some degree – so nothing new there, but what they do is to challenge children’s thinking and provoke their learning.

The metal reflects the light and gives a different feel to plastic when filled with warm or cold water. The kettles vary in size, weight and capacity to challenge children’s knowledge and problem solving skills.

Some of the spouts are fat and wide, some are  long and thin. There are two glass teapots that enable the children to see the movement of the water and also anticipate the moment when it will finally flow out of the spout.

There are metal scoops with long handles that make gathering water more challenging as well as kettles with side handles that use a whole different set of muscles to enable pouring.

There are taps that need to be manipulated and an urn and a samovar that need to be filled.

The skill that is being taught has been considered. The different levels of attainment have been accommodated, but the icing on the cake is the level of provocation – just through the resourcing.

In this sand area some of the very familiar plastic resources have been replaced with interesting alternatives that offer a whole new dimension to the experience.

In this Creative space I have used lots of interesting resources that children will want to look at and touch.

Everything from peacock feathers, sabre toothed tigers skulls to a small wooden man peeping through a stone.

I have put my little man under a plastic cloche from the garden centre. I tend to find that if you put anything under a cloche it makes it immediately ultimately more interesting. If you think that little fingers might not be able to resist having a quick poke about under the cloche, then you can always double sided tape it to your surface – or run mild electric current through it – whichever!

(The little man and the book behind him are all by author and artist Tracy Gallup. She has a series of really lovely little picture books all based on her sculptures posed around natural objects. They are well worth a look.)

A provocation can be something as simple as this little weather house barometer, tucked away on a shelf. Wherever I have used it the children have been fascinated by who is coming out of the house today and why.

Away from your shelving, you can also create individual provocations based around children’s interests or themes that you want to introduce.

I created these in wooden crates for texture, linking this one to the story of the Gruffalo, enhancing it with story stones and various open ended small world items.

This one is full of all things bear and brown. The camera encourages the children to look at all of the items in their box in a different way.

There is no end to the sort of thing that you can create. Just ask yourself the question ‘Does my environment provoke interest and therefore learning?’ If the answer is 'no', then get yourself to a jumble sale or car boot…fast! Organisation and order are brilliant for helping Early Years children to develop a sense of independence - and also to keep your environment running smoothly. But, as organised as your shelves are, if you aren't interested on what is on them then your children definitely won't be.

Obviously, everything you provide for children’s use should be safe and risk assessed before they use it!

Provocations for learning don’t have to be just restricted to areas of learning, you can also create smaller ‘Provocation Stations’ throughout your setting, both indoors and out. If you have fun with it, so will they!

Now for the winners of this weeks Giveaway.

The four LUCKY winners of a free place at an ABC Does Conference are...

Sarah Franklin

Amy Armstrong

Lesley Smith

Karen Botham

Well done to you 'lucky' four! Could you please email the lovely Fee at [email protected] and let her know which conference you would  like to attend and she will sort you out.

Hope to see some of the rest of you at an ABC Does conference in the near future!

Have a lovely weekend

Alistair

 

Imaginative Play and the Overhead Projector

In the days before every classroom had a computer, never mind an iPad per child, schools were full of weird and wonderful contraptions to help to make your life more simple.

When none of us had even heard of a photocopier we relied on the services of the Banda Generator. A spirit based printing machine that required you to write out your worksheets in special ink, load up a large drum with your master copy and then turn a handle like your life depended on it. 

Sheet after sheet of purple stained paper would then land in a pile - still wet and reeking of alcohol. Many a morning was spent in 'the Banda queue' observing some quite unnerving 'jiggling' of the backside of the person in front whilst getting slightly high on the fumes! Ah, happy days...

If you ever wanted to project any sort of image for your whole class to see then you got out the big guns...the Overhead Projector. This contraption also required you to write (not type) anything you wanted to project onto asitate with a special pen. 

Haven't we come a long way?

As the world became a more interactive place and Smart Boards began to appear on everyones walls the poor OHP got resigned to the back of the stock cupboard - or worse - thrown out!

Today I want to dispatch you to the back of those dusty stock cupboards to search out those OHP's and give them a new lease of life as they can be BRILLIANT for engaging children in Early Years (and beyond).

Continuous Provision in the Early Years  - the original!

This week I have been finishing of the final draft of my second book about Continuous Provision. At the moment it has been given the inspirational title of 'Continuous Provision Two'. That makes it sound to me like it should have an extra strap line like 'Continuous Provision Two - The Revenge!' But the publisher seems to like it!

Anyway, in said book I am focusing particularly on skill identification, differentiation and development in areas of Continuous Provision. As part of extending skills in Small World and Role Play provision I re-discovered my love of the OHP.

 

Anything that you put onto the flatbed of the OHP is then projected onto the nearest wall or ceiling. This means that children can create large scale 'scenes' to enhance their play. 

Whatever scenes they create are easily changed as different groups of children move through the play space. Once they get the hang of what to do they find out just how easy it is.

The castle in made from paper and the characters are Small World figures lying on the flat bed of the OHP

These photos were taken in a Small World space where, following children's interests, practitioners had identified preferences for 'dinosaurs' and 'fairytales' as well as open ended provision to extend children's imagination.

In this setting the back wall of the Small World area is really just a wide pillar and it has a display board in the middle of it. So, to give me a nice big projection space I threaded a bamboo cane through a shower curtain and hung it from the ceiling.

Now, as we all know, hanging anything from the ceiling can be tricky! If you have a ceiling in your setting that is made up of a grid of ceiling tiles separated by metal runners (the classic suspended ceiling) then what I am about to tell you might very well change your life!

Are you tired of standing on tables trying to poke bits of string under those tiles? Have you been told in no uncertain terms that you are NOT to put staples into the ceiling? Does your blu tack just not hold? If so then you need these.

They are called magnetic hooks and the stick to the metal runners on your ceiling. Each hook will hold up to 5kg - they are genius! 

But the joy of the OHP doesn't stop with Small World and Role Play. Here I was extending Water Play provision by using the water area to facilitate other aspects of learning besides just the 'pure' or 'unique' skills linked to water. The projector is working as a back light in, what is to all intents and purposes, a fancy shadow box. 

The children place objects on the shelves and then look from the front to see how those objects appear when back lit. You can use solid objects or transparent ones with water or aqua beads like I have here.

To create the screen at the front I just used the same old shower curtain and pegged it on tight.

Once again, hours of fun!

You can use your OHP for pattern, shape, consruction...the list is endless...

So, if you are looking for a new dimension to your Small World, Role Play, Water or any other area of your provision, then dig out that OHP and get busy!

Have a great week.

Alistair

Superheroes, Weapon Play and a Giveaway

Last month was all about Superheroes for me. It is not that I developed an overriding urge to wear my underpants over my trousers (although it has been known!). I just ended up doing a lot of talking, writing and idea sharing around the positive impact of Superhero and Weapon play for children in Early Years.

March saw the official release of 'Creative Role Play in the Early Years' in which I have outlined my thoughts on what makes really effective role play work and why. As Superhero and Weapon play does take up a considerable amount of a lot of children's role play time, there is a section in the book that explores the reasons behind why children play in that way and what you can do to enhance it rather than try to eradicate it (which never works!).

I have been writing a series of articles for Early Years Educator Magazine over the past year and this month was all about that Superhero and gun obsession that for some children, seems to punctuate every session of Continuous Provision and free play.

Good role play of any sort, allows children to explore questions and emotions that they encounter in every day life in a controlled environment and a safe context. They can explore what is possible and, equally as importantly, what is impossible. Exploring what is risky and dangerous through play is essential if we want our children to be able to acknowledge and accept the limits of reality.

There is a huge element of emotional exploration that goes on during Superhero and weapon play. Through power struggle and combat children can put themselves into semi-real situations that allow them to experience and combat negative emotions.

As adults we tend to me far more literal in our interpretations of children’s Superhero and weapon play, so when we see play fighting we see violence and aggression as the main catalysts for the play, which is rarely the case. I am not saying that play fighting doesn’t sometimes turn into actual aggression, but that was not the intention when the play started out. If it was then it wouldn’t be play, it would just be a fight!

By it’s very nature this sort of play involves struggle, chase, competition, noise! It is often adrenalin fueled play, there is a high level of thrill for the children taking part so it will be fast and loud. We cannot penalise children for that. If we accept that this sort of play is going to take place then we need to make provision for it, both inside and out, and make sure that the whole team have clear expectations about what is acceptable and what isn’t.

In cultures where they do not have guns, children still engage this this type of play only their guns are replaced with spears, bows and arrows. It is the same symbolism.

Is there any difference between children playing ‘robbers’ and pointing guns at each other and children playing ‘Harry Potter’ or 'Fairies' and pointing their wands to cast spells and kill each other? Does it feel better because it is not a gun? Surely the end result is the same thing - power. It is just that the symbolism is more acceptable to adults. 

Courtesy of Warner Bros.

The question that I always ask myself is: when our children are engaged in gun play, are they practising to become a man with a gun or are they just exploring emotions such as control, risk and a sense of power?

Lots of our children’s essential emotional connections, consolidation and development can be made through fantasy play. The more opportunity they get to rehearse them, the more proficient they will get at managing them.

Superhero Dress Up Set 2  - TTS 

Through Superhero and weapon type role play children can learn to manage their own feelings by displacing them. They can make things turn out as they want them to, reinvent the truth and explore other possible outcomes that wouldn’t be possible in ‘real’ life where there is only one.

Wrestling, chasing, play fighting all help children to experience ‘safe’ danger assess risk and take appropriate action. As a species we are ‘hunter gatherers’. Much of the way that children play is grounded in instinct and an innate desire to hone our survival skills. Our experience of current culture just dressed them differently from our days in the cave!

Most often, but not always, these children are boys who are attracted helplessly to this play for five key reasons:

• making guns is an easily achievable task

• weapon play relates to early communications skills
• major themes of children’s play are represented in weapon-related playing

• running in big spaces, outside is a preferred play style

• it is a universal language that requires no language.

If you want to read more about this kind of play and what you can do to support it then get your hands on a copy of this month's EYE and/or enter the Giveaway below.

So, what am I giving away in this month? Well...

The lovely people at TTS have given me five sets of superhero figures to give away.

These are miniature, generic Superhero figures that would be a great enhancement to your Small World and other areas.

I am also going to throw in five copies of 'Creative Role Play in the Early Years' for good measure.

This of course means that this month there will be FIVE winners (I know, the excitement is unbearable).

All you have to do to stand a chance of winning a set of figures and a book is:

Leave a comment on this blog post and/or

Leave a comment on the ABC Does Facebook page and/or

Tweet me about the Giveaway @ABCDoes

All comments and tweets must be received by noon on Saturday 12th Aril 2014

FIVE winners will be drawn by random number generator and the lucky recipients will be informed via the method/s that they entered the Giveaway.

Good Luck!

Before I go, just a quick conferences update...

It had been really good to see all of you that have managed to make it along to an ABC Does conference. As most of the current dates have sold out, next weekend I will be posting the dates for the next lot.

Alongside new dates for 'Excellence in Early Years' and 'From Mark Maker to Writer', I am also running two new ones. 

'Heads Up'  - specifically for Head teachers, Senior Leaders and Governors, looking at attainment and best practice in EYFS. How it works, tracking high level attainment in and out of direct teaching, auditing your provision for best outcomes for children, being 'Ofsted ready' and lots more.

'Transition - No Space, No Staff, No Stuff!' - to make sure that our lovely Year One teachers are not left out, a course that really gets to the bottom of how transition into KS1 can work effectively, how to plan for it, what it looks like and how to maintain levels of attainment for both EYFS and KS1 children.

Look out for details on the 'conferences' page of the blog.

For those of you who broke up yesterday - have a lovely Easter holiday. For those of you (like me) who have got another week to go - just keep thinking about the chocolate and it will be Friday before you know it!

Alistair

ICT in Early Years AND a TTS Giveaway!

It is sometimes difficult to think of ICT as being anything beyond a computer or an iPad, but ICT in EYFS takes on many different forms and can be promoted in all areas of continuous provision – and beyond.

Undoubtedly there has to be a taught element of ICT, but as many aspects as possible should be integrates into the Continuous Provision that we create to make it real and relevant to children.

ICT should be viewed as a tool that will support all of our teaching and learning, rather than just a single focus for teaching. As well as getting children to be familiar with the ‘operation’ of equipment we need to try and ensure that they can access, experiment and practise with various forms of ICT in their play.

  Nice bit of hairdrier action in a deconstructed role play hairdressers!

The world of ICT moves forward at an ever increasing rate and often we find that children’s skills in operating equipment are just as good, if not better than ours! There is no shame in adults being learning partners with children when it comes to experimenting with new gadgets. After all to teach someone else can be the most powerful way to learn.

I watch my pre-school Niece and Nephews navigating their way around an IPad or playing apps on my iPhone and I am struck by how accomplished they are performing tasks that some adults find challenging. We cannot underestimate the high level of ICT capability that our very young children have. We need to make sure we acknowledge it and reflect it in our environments and planning.

 When showing my 2 year old Niece a picture (in a frame) of my boys when they were little, she swiped her finger across the glass and asked me why the picture didn’t change! Many young children have high expectations of the level of ICT that should exist in their little worlds.

 Sometimes one iPad just isn't enough!

Having said that ICT is SO much more than an iPad or a computer. ICT in everywhere around children in many different guises. We need to help them to recognise it, explore it and apply it to their investigation and play.

Lots of you will already be familiar with programmable toys like Bee -Bot. These have many uses and children really enjoy working with them. Ideally, alongside a focussed input, this sort of toy should be part of your Continuous Provision, so that children can access them in their free play.

When we are thinking about areas like Role Play, think about including ICT resources that children will experience in their everyday life. Has your role play area got a cashpoint machine (a cardboard box with a slot)? Does your ‘shopping’ enhancement box have a self service till? Does your restaurant enhancement box have a chip and pin card reader and calculators for working out the bill?

Anyone who has ever been on a staff night out will know that you have to allow at least an hour at the end of the meal to work out how much it will be per person (‘but I didn’t have a starter’…’I only had one glass of wine’…’we shared a desert, so can you split the cost between three’…)!

If you haven’t got the real thing (there aren’t many spare cash machines knocking around) then you can make it. Better still get the children to make it. There is huge fascination though, for children with ‘the real thing’, so if you can, go real.

 

Effective ICT is also good for helping children to develop creative and critical thinking. Operating and applying the technology that they come across helps them to make sense of what they are experiencing and also make new connections about how things work and how they can use them.

Try to keep your ICT experiences relevant and meaningful to children. If it matters to them and engages them then they are far more likely to learn.

One really effective and engaging way for children to learn about how things work  is to take them apart. I guarantee that you will get huge levels of engagement from children if you provide them with a selection of screwdrivers and a pile of ‘stuff’ to unscrew. (Obviously, remove any really dangerous bits!)

 

Switches, wires, circuits, connectors, bulbs, batteries – it is all there waiting to be discovered and tinkered with.

 
With a clever bit of recycling you can even create something new. You might need to raid the Y2 electricity topic box - just don't tell them!

Snack is another great opportunity to get children using ICT. They might be using an electric timer to demarcate how long they can spend in the snack area, a bread maker to make their snack, a toaster to toast their bread, an electric apple peeler, a juicer or a talking tin to give them a talk prompt the possibilities are endless.

Bread making

 

Using 'easy to follow' instructions.

Nursery and Reception children self serving toast

You can have endless fun at the photocopier (as long as the Office Manager isn’t looking!). I have yet to meet a child who doesn’t get a bit giddy when they get to press the big green button and have a copy of whatever they put under the lid pop out of the other end.  Try copying their hands to create a number line.

Lots of settings have a Visualiser now, but if you haven’t got one, you might want to consider it. You can attach it to your lap top and your Smartboard. Anything the children put underneath it gets magnified. Great for sharing interesting ‘stuff’.

 

Equipment like metal detectors are relatively cheap and highly engaging both indoors and out. Just make sure that whatever they are looking for is worth finding. No one wants to find a word card with a paper clip in the corner!

 Simple video cameras are very easy to get hold of these days. There is also lots of really simple software out there that lets children turn their videoing into short films. There is something VERY empowering about being in charge of a video camera or camera. It gives children a sense of power in that they can capture images that are important to them.

Video cameras and cameras are also a really good social prop for children who are shy or lack language, because they give a valid and accepted reason to approach other children and engage.

 

A video also allows children to re-visit and reflect. This can be a very useful and enjoyable thing for children to do.

If you are in a setting with a working kitchen then try and make as much use of that as possible. Not just when it comes to ‘baking’ but work with the children to use the other electrical items that are in there like the washing machine, the microwave and the dishwasher (if your setting is dead posh!).

Bring in from home items that children might be less familiar with like a sewing machine. They will be fascinated by how it works.

Make sure you let them have a go. Under supervision of course!

You can also add to your everyday provision with equipment like a light box, torches, microphones, remote control vehicles, voice changers, talking tins, torches, listening centres, headphones, karaoke machines…the list is literally endless.

 

This is a 'black light' torch. It makes highlighter pen water, tonic water and anything white glow in the dark!

Don’t forget that if you have access to two laptops/computers and an internet signal you can Skype or Facetime either from the room next door or get your friend's school to do it from the other side of your County, the Country or even the World.

I am working on a project at the moment using Xbox and Wii in Early Years, with some fantastic results – but more of that in a longer post at a later date!

ICT can bring really high levels of engagement, learning and interest from children. There is so much out there, make sure you have plenty of it in your setting and LET THE CHILDREN USE IT. It is no good it is still in the stock cupboard.

TTS GIVEAWAY 

To help you along with your ICT provision. The lovely people at TTS are donating quite a spectacular ICT package for this month's giveaway.

 

You can win a set of these Mini Mobile Phones worth £119. They were Shortlisted for BETT Awards 2014 - Early Years Digital Content - Category

These six walkie-talkies, realistically styled like the latest smartphones with bright colours are a fantastic addition to your ICT resources.

So simple to use, they are ideal for outdoor play or even used from room to room.

• Up to three pairs of children can speak to each other simultaneously, each having their own conversation without the need to select different channels.
• Colour coordinated buttons make 'dialling' easy. Simply press the button that corresponds to the phone you want to call. If the other phone is busy, you get a realistic 'call waiting' function.

Answering is simple - just press the 'answer' button and talk, just like you would with a real phone. Children can talk together naturally and enjoy real conversations without pressing extra buttons to talk or listen.

If that wasn’t enough, they are also letting me have 2 sets of Walkie Talkie Headsets worth £38.34 each. These headsets allow the children to communicate with each other whilst on the move or from their secret hideout!  Or, if the fancy takes you, you can use them to chat to the person on outdoor provision! (If you win, you will need 2x9v batteries per headset which are not included in the giveaway.)

 

So, all you have to do to stand a chance of winning the set of mobile phones and the two sets of headphones is:

Leave a comment at the bottom of this blog post and/or

Leave me a tweet @ABCDoes and/or

Leave a comment on the ABC Does Facebook page here

All comments and Tweets must be made by noon on Saturday 1^st February 2014. The winner will be selected using a random number generator.

Good Luck

Alistair

Talk for Mark Making and Writing - Granny's teeth!

At the grand old age of 93 years, my Granny passed away last year. She will be sorely missed and has left behind the great legacy of a long life well lived. She also left a number of things for us to remember her by  – but one unexpected (and unintentional on her part) heirloom was her teeth!

Not her everyday set, you understand. Theses were her ‘spares’, her ‘just in case’ set. Kept in bubble wrap at the back of a drawer – just in case…

I was really chuffed when I found them, because I knew I would be able to put them to good use!

Imagine coming into your setting to find these in a jar in the middle of your snack table! Now if that doesn't get you talking, I don't know what will! There are a million questions, statements, stories and exclaimations that will come from one pair of flase teeth.

When a child has limited language acquisition and wants to talk about the temperature of something then they can only really refer to its state as either hot or cold. They do not have the words for anything in between. As adults we can provide them with a wide range of words supported by a relevant experience. It is no good just getting the child to learn a list of words, for that learning to stick those words need to be attached to an engaging and relevant learning experience so if we say something is, luke warm, tepid, ice cold, warm, boiling, scorching or freezing the child will be able to put that into the context of their experience.

Not forgetting that children have to hear a word used in context on a number of occasions before they can assimilate it, make sense of it and then regurgitate it in their talk.

If they cannot talk about it, then they cannot write about it, as writing is only talk that comes out of the end of your pencil instead of your mouth!

There are so many exciting words in the English language that nearly every activity that they do will be an opportunity to try one out! If you decide to take one of those opportunities and extend a child’s vocabulary, first of all be sure that they have a basic word to describe whatever it is that you are going to extend. Use that word first as that is their point of reference and then extend. The more engagement you can get from the child. The more chance you have got of that word sticking.

• Stress the word that you are using within the sentence

‘Look at that big (insert word). It is not just big it is enormous!’

• Tell them what the word you have used means

‘Can you see it? It is really big, huge, massive, really enormous’

• Act it using gestures, actions or tone of voice.

It is really e-nor-mous, even bigger than this (fling arms apart) 

• Relate the word to something that is personal to that child’s experience

 ‘It is as even bigger than that enormous piece of playdough that you were playing with this morning. Do you remember?'

• Talk it again and again and again! There is no harm in overusing a word on first introduction as long as you don’t put the children off!

 ‘What else can we see that is enormous? That rock over there, is so much bigger an the others it’s enormous. I Once wrestled a shark that was as big as a double decker bus – it was enormous and had enormous teeth!’

 If the child is keen to join in and have a go at using the word then that is great and you should encourage then to have a go. If they are showing no signs of wanting to join in then this is also fine. I is not so much about the child saying the word, but about them hearing it in context and making sense of it. enough to use it.

For a quick mental reminder of what you need to do, just think

START

Stress it, Tell it, Act it, Relate it and Talk it.

Learning to write is not hard, painful or boring if you do it at the right time and in the right order. Many practitioners still put too much emphasis on the physical mark making element of writing pushing children to do things that they are not physically or mentally equipped to do.

 

(Not sure what is scarier - me or the teeth!)

Once we understand the process of how children develop their mark making and writing skills then we can make sure that we are accurately assessing their progress and then reflecting that assessment in the environment that we create and the planning that we put into place.

Alongside that we should be spending a HUGE amount of time talking with children and giving them something that they want to talk and write about.

Getting children with limited interest or vocabulary to talk can be hard work. So pick things that will provoke a reaction.

Something to make them laugh

make them think, make them go ‘Yuk!’

or give them a mild fright!

(This is one of my activities where you make 'dinosaur poo' out of playdough with soil and coffee grinds mixed in. In some of the poo, you put boiled chicken bones, in some vegetation. The children have to disect the poo using tweezers (and hygienic gloves) and work out if the dinosaur who did the poo was a herbivore, carnivore or omnivore and then record their results! Get's them talking and writing every time!)

Once you have got them talking – then you will get them mark making and writing. Hold on, that sounds like a good idea for a conference. It just so happens I know a bloke who is running a really good one on just that subject! You can find the details here. If you're lucky he will bring his false teeth!

Thanks for the inspiration Granny. I am sure you are smiling down on us all (albeit a gummy one due to the fact that I have got your teeth!)

Happy talking...and writing

Alistair

Challenge in your Wheeled Toys - Guest Blog

I met Nicola on a conference I was delivering in Cumbria. I had been talking about the need for challenge in all areas Continuous Provision, especially outdoor where providing challenge can be difficult. 

Nicola came to chat to me during the break, where she told me about the success she had had teaching her Reception children to to ride 2 wheeled bikes.

It sounded great, so I asked her if she wouldn't mind sharing what she does.

So, here it is....

Thanks Nicola

Pedal Power

Having read Alistair’s blog we have been reviewing the level of challenge in our areas of continuous provision, particularly in our outdoor classroom. As physical development is now a ‘prime’ area we have also been giving it due attention in our teaching and assessment cycle.

We all know that scootering at speed is a favourite past time and often not very challenging for the children who choose to access this activity. Various challenges had been introduced when an adult had played in this area. We’d numbered the bikes, matched them to numbered parking bays, used them in a car wash, had a ‘pay before you play system’ where the children used real money to pay a suitably assertive child for a turn, asked the children to create their own challenges (very scary – teams of children manoeuvring heavy planks of wood and scootering down a ramp on these) and placed fewer scooters outside to develop the childrens’ ability to negotiate (usually with sand timers) and take turns.

 

Over time we did, however, feel the area needed a boost, especially when we eventually had a class who would and could scooter. We did put the scooters away for a while but then, fortunately, Annie Cousins from Pedal and Scoot, came to offer tuition to small groups of children to enable the children to ride a bike without stabilisers.

Because of  her successful coaching, the children were then allowed to bring their bikes into the outdoor classroom, where we sectioned off an area for them to use in free flow learning time. It was then very easy to then provide differentiated challenges.

You can contact Annie on 07877 604 711 or [email protected]

 

But how did they learn to ride a bike?

 We introduced ‘Feel good Fridays’. Every child was asked to bring a bike to school with the stabilisers and pedals removed.  The parents were asked to provide a suitable helmet and if they would give permission for  their child’s bike and helmet to be loaned to other children. The sessions with  Annie were planned on Fridays for the full day over 4 weeks.

 

What was really special about the sessions was that the parents were invited to come in to help. We like to involve parents as much as possible and I feel sure that this first, positive experience of coming into school later made our families more receptive to the ‘stay and play’ events we hosted later in the term. I would certainly recommend additional helpers- oh did we need them!  

I couldn't believe the progress the children made, in their little groups in the 20 minutes they each had. We had five children who could already ride a bike without stabilisers and after just forty minutes of coaching over two weeks thirteen children also achieved this skill.  Although there were a few tears and nerves in the beginning, over the weeks the children became resilient learners, spurred on by the success they could see their friends enjoying.

Some of the children found this activity very challenging indeed and had not mastered how to ride a bike after four weeks. Their perseverance was touching and they were invited to bring their bikes in at playtime where we taught them individually. By the end of the year every child had learned to ride a bike.  We were able to draw on their biking experience and encourage them to persevere when they later faced challenges in the continuous provision. Collectively learning to ride a bike over a period of time really helped to embed class learning mantra’s such as ‘mistakes are part of learning’, ‘practise makes perfect’ and ‘never give up’. The parents were hugely grateful, explaining that when they had tried to teach their child at home they became tearful or gave up.

 

I was fortunate enough to support and plan the small group work with Annie and get a good grasp of  the stages of skill development. She’s given me the confidence to now run an after school cycling club each week with our new Reception children.

 

How we organised the sessions

We asked our families in advance if their child could ride a bike without stabilisers and organised them into broad ability groupings which we then refined for week 2. By week 3 (nerves a little frayed ) we then actually reorganised the groups again. The higher ability group continued to be taught separately every week but the other groups were then taught in mixed ability groups, which avoided the daunting task of teaching the 5 most wobbly children together with just 3 adults! I would really recommend doing it this way !

 

Skill development for learning to ride a bike without stablilisers:

1. No pedals, push off using alternating feet. Practise breaking on command.

2. No pedals, push off with both feet at the same time and balance (this can take a little while).

3. Go downhill, stop using breaks.

4. Cycle with one pedal on .

5. Two pedals on (provide a push).

6. Free movement going downhill.

7. Starting off  downhill then starting off travelling uphill

8. Travelling on grass downhill

9. Travelling on grass uphill

10. Weaving in and out of soft floppy domes (if the children catch the rigid domes they fall off their bike).

Because some of our children have already entered Reception having mastered these skills, our additional challenges have included:

-Momentarily taking one hand off the handle bar whilst cycling. Then trying to take the other hand off.

-Reaching the end of an obstacle course and giving me a high 5 without stopping.

-Looking back over their shoulder and telling me what colour card I’m holding up (without stopping) and then  how many fingers I’m holding up.

-Making the obstacle course super curvy to improve their turning skills.

-Having many children on the same obstacle course so they must skilfully and safely negotiate spaces.

-Timed challenges – ultimately we want them to build up a sweat.

This year I’m hoping to maximise on the speaking and listening opportunities linked with this activity. Perhaps those who can ride a bike will be able to develop their leadership skills and be sensitive and empathetic when guiding other children.

Annie from Pedal and Scoot is based in Lancashire. She has a lovely manner with the children and I would recommend her unreservedly to local schools. 

Good luck to anyone who feels inspired to give it a go.

Nicola

A 'Divided' Guest Blog from Tom Bedard (and a TTS Winner)

I love Tom's blog tomsensori.blogspot.com it never fails to provide some inspiration! If you are not familiar with it then I thought that I would share one of his recent blog posts that I really liked.

Thanks Tom

Ruminations on Cardboard Dividers

"That's my shovel, give it back."

"Don't take my pail."

"Teacher, she took all the sand and won't let me have any."

Does that sound like something you might hear at the sand table?  It is those types of pleadings that got me thinking: Is there a way to divide the sand table to eliminate, or at least reduce, the number of squabbles?  At the time, I had a very small sand table that was three feet by three feet and only stood a foot off the ground. How does one partition a table that small?  With cardboard.

Using a big enough box, cut out two sides so you have two sheets of cardboard.  Trim the sheets so they match the length and width of the table.

Cut slits halfway up each piece in the middle, one slit cut from the bottom and one from the top (picture on the left). Now slide the two pieces together to make four areas (picture on the right).

 The whole thing is then secured into the table with duct tape.  The seams are also taped to give the dividers more stability.

 

If you notice there are holes cut in the cardboard.  I did that on purpose. Although I wanted to cut down on the squabbles, I did not want to eliminate social interaction.

What was the result of installing dividers in the table?  It really did eliminate some of the conflict. In fact, the spaces created by the cardboard dividers seemed to enhance the children's focus when they are operating in their own little cubicles.  (Working in cubicles, is that a life skill?)

It did not prevent the hoarding.

 

Whenever I observe children interacting with an apparatus, I am always surprised with the operations they dream up.  For instance, in the picture below the child is playing in two different spaces partitioned by the cardboard.  In fact, he is using the divider as a part of  his operation.

 

The child is transferring sand from one space to the next using the cut out window.  What motivated him to do that?  An OT person might say this is a good example of crossing the midline.  The child is also working on body awareness because he is not following his right arm with his eyes, but is using proprioception to know what his right arm is doing.  But what is it about this apparatus that encouraged this type of operation?

Sometimes it is easy to see that the child is the agent for the interplay between materials and the apparatus.  That agency is sometimes quite imaginative and quite practical.  For example, the photo below shows that a child has figured out he can hang the measuring cups by their handles on the divider so he can fill them hand-free.

 

But how exactly did this child come up with this idea?  Would you have thought of this?  I sure didn't.  Now that a child has taught me, though, I can pass it on as a provocation for others.

Do the dividers foster more solo play or more social play?  Look closely at the picture below. There are four children working in for four spaces with one child, cup in hand, waiting in the wings. How much of the play is individual and how much is in concert with others?  I am not exactly sure. I do know the boy in purple and yellow on the right end is filling the container through the window for the boy in orange who is contentedly watching his friend's actions.   Interestingly, the boy doing the pouring cannot see where the container is and how much more is needed to fill the container. He is essentially relying on the boy in orange for direction. Now that is a sophisticated endeavor.

 

When I look at the other two children in the middle spaces, their play seems more individual, although I can't imagine they do not know someone is on the other side of their actions.  They are just not as synchronized in their actions.

One the biggest surprises for me with this apparatus was that it prompted the age-old game of peek-a-boo.  What an excellent surprise to see who was on the other side.

 

Often times that game can get quite animated and even physical and can involve more than two children.

I started out to make a simple apparatus to partition the sensory table to cut down on the squabbles.    Once the children got ahold of it, though, it became dynamic.  Part of that was because of the spaces it created, but the biggest part was what the children did in, around, and through those spaces. The apparatus was not so dynamic as the children who played with its potential to spawn unique types of play.  And for some reason, the squabbles were pretty much a thing of the past.  Not bad for a couple of pieces of cardboard.

P.S.  If you are in the UK and are interested in my work, I am planning a trip next summer (2014) from June 9 to July 14th.  From there I will be in the Netherlands for a week.  If you would like to see and discuss the work I do around sand and water trays, please feel free to contact me through my blog or at [email protected].  I have done national, regional and local presentations here in the USA.  I just did two local ones this past month and after the sessions the teachers could not wait to start building. 

If that wasn't enough enxcitement for one blog post...

The winner of th TTS Giveaway this month is:

Helen Usher

Well done Helen. If you could send your postal details to [email protected], your weaving frames and ribbon will be winging their way to you very soon! 

 

Alistair

Make a Mud Kitchen - It's a must!

If you haven't got a mud kitchen already, then you need to make one! I know that for some of you in schools the summer holidays have already started and for the rest, they are just around the corner, but this would be a brilliant thing to set up for your new intake in September as it links to so many of the skills that you will be focussing on with all of your newbies.

If you are working with children in your setting during the summer then there is no better way to spend your day than up to your eyeballs in mud!

Not only is a kitchen a lovely familiar link to children's own 'home' setting. This sort of familiar, secure play offers up lots of opportunities for cooperative play and interaction as well as a million other things.

The great thing about a mud kitchen is that it will develop with the children. It has got so much potential for so many learning experiences, that it would be an all year round asset to your outdoor space.

I had been wanting to have a go at making one for ages and the opportunity arose this week via two unrelated incidents.

The first was that my brother-in law sat on our garden bench and broke it. To be fair it was an old bench and it gave way very easily, with hilarious consequences!

The second was that we were having an 'invasion' of nieces and nephews this weekend that would result in 10 mud kitchen guinea pigs, six of whom were 4 and under - perfect!

So I got to work with my very limited DIY skills, a broken bench and an old Belfast sink from down the side of the shed (just needed a good clean and a new plug - 34p.)

A mud kitchen is not the same as a soil or digging pit, although they are a good place to start, A mud kitchen will have some structure and be a defined space, that is well resourced that children can return to again and again.

What really helped me in thinking about what I wanted my mud kitchen to look like, was identifying some of the skills and experiences I wanted children to have in it.

Obviously, they are not going to get all of these in one session, and the list is by no means an exhaustive one, but it gave my thinking a bit of structure and purpose. I was also thinking about how it might look as a permanent feature in a setting.

These are some of the skills that I came up with that children could learn and consolidate through mud kitchen play.

• Development of Pretence – Children developing the capacity to use their imagination to feed their play.

• Development and use of receptive and expressive language – Children’s ability to listen to and understand what is being said to them and also their ability to communicate their ideas and thoughts is a way that others can understand.

• Mental representations – ideas that children create in their mind and then play out through role play and interaction

• Transform objects – Children use their imagination to turn one object into another. The more ambiguous the object, the easier the process. So a box can be a boat, a house, a microwave a shoe etc

• Symbolic action – children imagine how something might ‘be’ or ‘feel’ and then use this as a mechanism for their play.

• Interactive dialogue – Children talk to others who respond appropriately

• Negotiation – Using language and conversation skills to reach a compromise or end result.

• Role taking through choice – Children coorperate in play but decide on the role within that play that they would like to take. Often done without talk

• Role taking under direction (cooperation) – Children cooperate in play but are happy to be directed by another child or adult who is leading the scenario

• Improvisation – Children have no set or fixed plan for how their play will develop. The scenario emerges as a result of the children’s interactions.

 Cognitive Strategies

• Joint Planning – Children work together to come up with a plan

• Negotiation – Joint discussions that lead to an agreed end result

• Problem Solving  - taking time to think together or alone to solve a problem or issue

• Goal Seeking – Children will work individually or in collaboration to seek and end result

• Emotion – Children can explore a range of emotions in a safe and supported environment

• Cognition – Children acquire new knowledge through language, interaction and experience

• Language – Children can extend their range of vocabulary as well as mechanisms for using and expressing language.

• Sensory Motor Actions  - Children make sense of the world through their senses and physical actions

• Abstract Thinking – Thinking about the world around them in a different way. For good abstract thinking, children need to be able to use and apply their prior knowledge uniquely.

• Explicit Rules  - Children learn about explicit rules like playing fairly and sharing

• Implicit Rules – Children learn about more complex and subtle rules that exist with play like engaging others in their play and maintaining fantasy play, even though they know that it is not ‘real’.

 I also bought 3 wooden crates from EBay (3 for £26) so that I could stack them to display the resources I wanted the children to access and also use them to store the resources if I needed to put them away. The crates also make the space easy to change and re-arrange around the chidlren's preferences.

It is worth remembering, that if you use indoor wooden furniture (like a ‘play’ kitchen) you use will eventually warp due to the sun and rain. If you can, varnish anything you leave out with a good yacht varnish to help to protect it.

Although shelving is important for storage, work surface is really important. You need to provide enough working space, at child height, to allow the children to arrange all of the resources that they need and then carry out their stirring, mixing, pouring and creating. All of which takes up a great deal of space!

I extended the working space by using a old pasting table and chopping off a bit of the legs to make them shorter.

When it came to resourcing the mud kitchen, I wanted what was in it to be interesting, open ended, linked to skill development and cheap!

Be prepared for your mud kitchen to ‘evolve’ as the children play in it. Although the structure is likely to stay the same how the children play with the resources will be different.

 I had some bits and pieces already (If you work in a school or setting, you can send home a letter asking families for kitchen donations) and I decided that it would be worth investing in some long term and unique resources like this gorgeous teak wooden bowl £24.99 (find it here)  

and wooden basket £17.99 (find it here) from TTS.

I also got this wooden pestle and mortar from eBay for £14.99 

as well as some everyday, familiar items like, jugs, whisks, wooden spoons, pans, cups  etc.

 

The Uncle Joe's Mint Balls tin was a 'thank you' gift from the Wigan Early Years team when I did their Early Years Conference this year. Why Uncle Joe's Mint Balls? You will find the answer to that question here. They even have their own song! (Thanks Ruth).

These turkey basters were another eBay purchase and a huge hit.

The children are going to be exploring and consolidating a range of skills like:

• Filling
• Pouring
• Emptying
• Transferring
• Sorting
• Whisking
• Mixing
• Splatting
• Counting
• Handling
• Mashing
• Sharing
• Scooping
• Gathering
• Estimating
• Decanting
• Adding
• Stirring
• Sieving
• Foraging
• Serving
• Ladling
• Squashing
• Grinding
• Molding
• Smoothing
• Splashing
• Picking
• Selecting
• Collecting
• Crushing
• Squashing
• Measuring
• Brewing
• Separating

 …to name but a few. So, it is worth considering how you will resource your space to support these skills. I had a happy half hour in Wilkinsons buying all sorts of pots, pans and plastic containers very cheaply. I also managed to pick up some really nice wooden bits and pieces like pastry brushes and an egg timer. You can shop online for delivery at www.wilko.com.

If you can, try and provide a wide selection of different natural resources for children to add to their play like pebbles, gravel, bark, wood chips, seeds, pine cones, shells, glass beads, wood slices, sticks, moss and I even added my trusty old box of bones which never fails to provoke a reaction.

Even though I called it a mud kitchen, it is not just about mud. Mud is a great starting point so ideally you need to set up your mud kitchen near to a good source of soil. I made my mud source in a nearby border. This meant that the children had to do a bit of digging as well as some transporting. I put up a camouflage net to give the area a sense of enclosure and privacy for the children. It also provided some well needed shade.

If you haven’t got an open digging space that the children can access, then you can provide containers of topsoil that the children can use to make their mud mixes.

I found out through experimentation that although compost has a unique texture when mixed with water, it doesn’t make great mud. It tends to be very ‘loose’ with lots of floaty bits in it! You really need to use soil. If you are concerned about what might be in the soil in your boarders (especially if you have got younger children who might eat it) you can buy bags of sterilised top soil from the garden centre.

Because the soil in our garden was so hard due to the hot weather, I topped up the bed with a bag of loam top soil. One bag went a long way.

To make soil into mud you need water. I was able to fill (and refill and refill and refill…) the sink with the hose. I also cleaned out and filled a water butt with fresh, clean water and stacked it on some bricks to give it enough height for the children to be able to fill their containers. Water butts are very heavy when full so you have to make sure that they have a really sturdy base to stand on. In a setting I would always use a water butt stand for safety.

Like with the moving of the soil, lots of children really enjoy the transportation and pouring of water, so having a separate water source can be a real benefit to the space.

Washing up liquid, scented shampoo, powder paint and even a bit of glitter can all make simple but effective additions to your mud kitchen mixes.

Children will get the opportunity to experiment and create to their hearts content. I used a tomato sauce dispenser for my washing up liquid. It was good for getting little hands stretching and squeezing.

Children will also want to pick leaves and flowers to add to their mud mixes. If you are going to set up a kitchen then you need to have a conversation with the children about what they are allowed to pick and what they aren’t.

It is very hard to make petal perfume without petals, but by the same token, every flower in your setting could easily be stripped of its petals in one afternoon by a group of over zealous perfume makers. You need to establish a middle ground.

Poo Alert!

Dogs, cats, foxes and potty training 2 year olds all like a nicely dug soil patch to use as a toilet, so you have to be vigilant to ensure that the children aren’t going to come into contact with any animal (or human) poo as it can be extremely harmful.

Hand washing is essential after any mud play. Because you are not going to be with the children every time they finish their mud kitchen play it is really important that the hand washing routine becomes automatic to them. It is also good to get the children to wash up all of the utensils they have used in the kitchen using warm soapy water. Not only do they enjoy the water play, but it also really helps to keep their hands clean. A little squirt of sanitizer never goes amiss either!

Whether your outdoor space is big or small you will find hours of play, engagement and learning from a few kitchen utensils and a bit of mud.

Have fun, we did! 

 

TTS Giveaway - It's All About The Talk!

Command of language and talk is the single most important thing that we can teach our children. The more that they understand then the more diverse their use of language can be.

 As talk is so important, it never fails to surprise me that its essential elements are often misunderstood and that quality opportunities for it practice and use rank so low in the learning opportunities that we provide for our children.

There is a long history in teaching of 'listen to learn'. In adult led talk sessions the adult will spend a great deal of time instructing and children only really get a chance to talk when they are responding to adult questioning. This significantly stifles children’s opportunities to develop their language skills and also mars their interest and engagement in learning. There is a great deal of emphasis on children's ability to be able to record their thinking but not as much on giving them the language to use.

Even though the Early Years curriculum is far less prescriptive than that of Key Stages One and Two and offers more opportunities than anywhere else in the primary curriculum for children to engage in talk and exploration of language. Adult focused sessions are still very centred around adults speaking and children listening.

When I talk to practitioners about why they run their Early Years teaching sessions like this, some talk about a ‘top down’ pressure to get children writing. An expectation that often comes from management who have little or no experience of Foundation Stage. Some staff have also told me about their own insecurities and lack of knowledge and confidence for how to deliver their teaching in any other way.

(all pictures above from October Afternoon)

If we are going to change the ingrained practice of ‘chalk and talk’ to allow children the opportunity to engage with their learning in a meaningful and personal way then there needs to be a huge pedagogical shift not only from practitioners but their management teams and the institutions that are responsible for delivering the training that prepares adults to be effective practitioners in Early Years. 

The message that we need to get out there is...

It's all about the talk!

To help you to start your very own 'talk revolution' TTS have given me:

6 Talking Post Cards

6 Talking Pegs

and 3 Talking Points to give away.

I will also throw in a copy of my books 'Get Them Talking Get them Learning'

and 'Get Them Talking Get Them Writing'

That should be enough to keep you talking for a while!

All you need to do to win is to leave a comment at the bottom of this blog post or on my facebook page. The comments are moderated first (just in case of inappropriate content) so don't worry if your comment doesn't appear immediately.

All comments must be posted by mid day on Saturday 6th July when the Giveaway will end.

A random number generator will then be used to pick the winner!

Good luck

Alistair

Know Your Early Years Currency

It is hard to imagine that anyone who worked on the Stock Market wouldn't have any idea what the FTSE index was or how their shares were trading. It is this essential knowledge that allows them to make the best investments and chase the best deals.

Whilst in Early Years we don't necessarily have to concern ourselves with FTSE we should all know what is current in the social media lives of the children that we work with.

Early Years in a very specialist area of teaching and so are the viewing habits of the children that are in it.

There will always be the 'dead cert' themes like Football, Princesses, Dinosaurs and Pets.

 

Football themed mark making table and 'self display' area Ladybrook Primary School

But now that children have access to multiple channels on the television as well as the ability to view their favourite shows on a laptop or tablet, specific television programmes are more accessible and more watched than ever.

Advertising is everywhere (and very clever) so children become very engaged and influenced by what is 'current'. This high level engagement is a real gift when it comes to enhancing our provision and activity planning.

Peppa Pig  and Ben 10 interest boxes and lacing cards - St Augustines RC Primary

If I can tap into an interest in Tree Fu Tom to teach my phonics or mathematics I am far more likely to get some high level engagement than I am if I am counting multi link or pulling random objects out of a feely bag!

If you are asking yourself  'Who is Tree Fu Tom?' That is the point!

Tree Fu Tom themed resources - St Andrew's Primary School

For lots of early years staff, the issue is staying current. I know when my own boys were small our lives were dominated with Teletubbies, Wonder Pets and Ben 10, but that phase soon passes and morphs into the ultimately more annoying one of American youth TV like iCarly and Sweet Life on Deck  and then further into The Regular Show and The Amazing World of Gumball (if you have no idea what I am talking about here, my advice is keep it that way. It will be better for your sanity!).

Whist I am not saying that you should festoon your setting with mass market media products or promote endless hours of TV watching, it is a real shame if we don't tap into what interests (both on and off the screen) the children that we teach.

I asked my two Early Years age nephews to give me a list of the current TV programmes that they LOVE to watch. This is what they came up with - see how many you know...

• Kerwhizz
• Sarah & Duck
• Old Jacks Boat
• Lingo Show
• Team Umizoomi
• Yo Gabba Gabba 
• Ben & Holly
• Jake and Neverland Pirates
• Doc McStuffins

No one is suggesting that you sit and watch Cbeebies for hours on end, although it can make a refreshing change from the gloom of the news! But there are some things that you can do to help build your knowledge:

Talk - Make sure that you have times built into your day where you can engage in quality talk with children. Times when they can set the agenda and talk about what interests them.

Listen in to play - You can find out an awful lot about what children need to learn by observing their play and interactions, but you can also glean a great deal about how they would like to learn it.

Read up - As well as having that copy of TES delivered to the staffroom every week, make sure you get a couple of Early Years comics too. Not only will they get read more than TES, they will also keep you up to date with who is who and who is doing what!

Best thing is that when you have finished with them you can use them as part of your provision. The list of things that you can do with them is endless!

Self-service snack 'waiting area' St Andrew's Primary School

I cannot emphasise enough the difference a cultural reference can make when you are 'dressing' a resource or teaching input, especially with those children who can be the least engaged when it comes to learning.

In the words of Peter Andre and Katie Price...

...it's 'A Whole New World'!

Happy researching

Alistair

 

TTS Giveaway - Wooden Viewers

I have the great pleasure of working with the team at TTS in the development of various educational resources.

They are such a lovely lot that they have given me some resources to give away on my blog - that is right, give away...for free!

This month you could lay your hands on these gorgeous 'award winning' wooden viewers.

They are each 20cm wide, the surround is made of wood and they come in 6 different colours.

The list of things that you could use them for is endless. They are great for both indoors and out.  I am sure they would make a welcome addition to any setting.

All you have to do to stand a chance of getting them is to leave a comment at the bottom of this blog post or on the ABC Does facebook page before midday on Saturday 8th June.

(All comments have to go to the 'adjudicator' first to make sure that they are suitable for posting - so don't worry if your comment doesn't appear immediately!)

The lucky person will then be chosen using a random number generator and their name will be posted on the blog (I will also drop them an email to let them know the good news).

If you haven't visited before, it is well worth taking a look at the TTS Website for tonnes of ideas and inspiration or their blog to see resources in action.

Good Luck...

Alistair

Seed Bombing!

Now that the weather has finally decided to warm up a bit, you might want to get your children to partake in a little bit of Seed Bombing.

Seed Bombing originally started out as a way of bringing a bit of 'nature' and 'colour' to disused and derelict pieces of land in towns and cities, but now you can buy ready made seed bombs to scatter in your own garden or outdoor area.

But, why buy when you can make your own? (I was ably assisted by my youngest son, Geordie and my niece, Mabel).

The concept of a Seed Bomb is a ball of seeds wrapped in compost and red clay. The clay gradually disintegrates when it is left to the elements and the compost helps the seeds to germinate. Many of them also contain chilli powder to deter animals from eating them.

The first time I tried to make a seed bomb, I couldn't find red clay powder so I decided to use the 'school clay' that comes in those big grey blocks. This really didn't work very well as it would take you about 3 days to work the seeds into the clay! I also decided that children and chilli powder probably wasn't a good idea so left out that ingredient!

That is when I struck on the idea of using a dough recipe.

For a batch of bombs I mix up: 2 cups of flour, 1 cup of compost, 2 packets of wild flour seeds and a cup of water. If it is too 'wet' I add more flour, if it too dry, then more water. You want to get the consistency of a good batch of playdough.

If I really want the children to work the dough for a bit of fine motor development then I add the seeds once the dough has been mixed. If not then you could add the seeds with the flour and compost. (Always check your seeds just in case the flowers they produce could be poisonous)!

Once you have got a good consistency, turn your dough out onto a floured surface. 

Pull of small pieces of the dough and roll into balls. If your dough is still a bit sticky towards the middle then roll it in the extra flour you have put onto your surface.

Once you have rolled all of your dough into Seed Bombs then leave them to dry out , this usually takes a couple of days.

Once they are dry you can then scatter, throw or catapult them into your outdoor space.

As we were doing these ones in the ABC back garden, my boys of course chose catapult. There wasn't one to hand so they made their own from a stick and an elastic band - good work!

Now we will just wait for the flowers to grow!

Happy 'bombing'!

Alistair

Fantastic Sand and Water from Tom Bedard

I came across Tom's blog 'Sand and Water Tables' a while ago when I was researching my '50 Fantastics' book about sand and water. 

Reading it made me want to get out my card board tubes, drill and tape and knock up something spectacular.

Tom kindly agreed to do me a guest blog post so that I could share some of his 'gems'. Enjoy reading this and when you have finished make sure you pop over to Tom's Blog for more inspiration.

Alistair

The following apparatus takes advantage of  the axiom : Children are compelled by nature to put things in holes.  This apparatus is basically a piece of plywood with holes that creates a cover over the sensory table with space underneath.

I took a piece of 3/8 inch plywood and cut it so it would fit two inches deep into the top of the table leaving seven inches of space between the piece of plywood and the bottom of the sensory table. In my sensory table, the sides slant in slightly so the apparatus fits snuggly into the table.  For extra support, I used strips of wood as braces so it would not bow in the middle and added legs for extra stability.

As you can see, ten holes are cut in the plywood.  With holes in the plywood, children have to reach down into the holes to gather the pellets.  The idea is to create a second level of play at the table and to present a spacial challenge for the children and their operations.  Their normal scooping motion doesn't work so well because they have to reach down into the holes to get the pellets and then navigate their way out without spilling.

Another nice feature of this apparatus is that the cover and holes serve an additional function. The cover is also a place on which to set containers so the children can fill them without having to hold them.

And the holes are also places to hold containers.  Some of the pots and pans fit nicely into the holes and others are propped by their handles.

Here is a video of a child using the apparatus.  There are lots of good things happening in the video, but watch near the end how he changes the tempo of his actions so he more carefully pulls the pellets out of the hole so he is able to keep the pellets on his spoon before depositing them in a bowl.

What determines from which hole a child takes pellets or into which hole he pours?  Watch.

Is there a rhyme or reason why a child chooses one hole over another?  This video shows that some of it is trial and error.  The measuring cup did not fit into the smallest hole so the child had to scoop from a hole into which the measuring cup fit.  Other than that, does a child just use the holes that are close?  No, because many times children will stretch across the table to scoop from another hole. 

Even though I ask the question, it is less important to me than observing and recording the myriad of operations the children concoct.  When you watch the next video, see how many different operations you can see from this one child in less than a minute.

He begins by pulling his pot of pellets out of a hole.  He does a swirling motion and watches and listens as the pellets tumble in his pot.  With a little shake and then a bigger shake he empties his pot.  Did you catch his little smile at the end of this first set of operations?  He then reaches in a hole to get pellets with his scoop.  As he does that, the hand with the pot swings in behind him and down for balance.  As he carefully pulls out the pellets, he swings his scooping hand over to the pot hand in a fluid motion and pours the pellets into the pot.  He got them all in the pot and the pot wasn't even over the table in case some missed.  As soon as he completes the transfer of pellets, he immediately empties the pot over the table.  Did you catch his little smile again?  Now he takes his pot and puts it in a hole to collect some pellets with the pot.  As soon as he pulls out the pot, he dumps them right back into the same hole.  He then leans in and gathers pellets with his scoop again.  As he does that, he lays the pot on the cover apparatus and holds his left hand up for balance.  Even his fingers in his left hand seem to be helping him balance.  He very carefully pulls out the pellets making sure not to drop any. He pours them all in the pot.  He grabs the pot by the handle again and uses a back-handed flip motion to empty the pot in the table yet again.  All that in 40 seconds, a very fluid 40 seconds.

One just has to marvel at a child's ability to effortlessly experiment with fine and large motor operations in space and time with any given material and apparatus. 

Print Rich Display or Walls Full of Print?

'Print rich' is a lovely phrase, but it is one that is easily mis-interpreted and can cause practitioners a great deal of angst not to mention headaches for children!

So, what is a print rich environment? Well, for me the most important word in the phrase is not 'print' it is 'rich'. If we think about the word rich in monetary terms, it just means that you have got a lot of it. But when it comes to learning through print, less is often more - at least to start with.

Image supplied by Google Images

This is a VERY busy wall. For me, amy one aspect of it is lost in the sheer explosion of text. Although there is a lot of information it would be very difficult for the emergent learner to unpick and apply.

Print in your environment is only 'rich' for children if they are interested in it and engage with it. If there is lots of it then it just becomes wallpaper.

At the early stages of development, when children are recognising different letter and number shapes, print doesn't only just need to be engaging, it needs to be clear. To an 'emerging eye' a,o,b,d,c,p,q,e,g can look vey similar so if they are displayed all in the same font and colour within a very busy background then chances are they won't be as engaging.

Moseley Nursery Class

If we use print in the environment to teach children that print carries meaning, then it makes sense for children to be involved in the creation of that print. This could be labels for the classroom or on a display.

Crofton Hammond Infant School

Recording in display what the children say about their work or what they think about what they have been doing along with their photograph can be a great way of getting them to engage with the print that is on the walls.

St Augustines RC Primary School

The Friars Primary School

Saint Andrew's Primary School

I would say that there also needs to be a variety of styles of print mixed in with adults and children's mark making and writing that has been done 'live' in the setting. 

The main body of print on your walls should be meaningful and relevant to the children and produced by an adult or child working in the space.  Then enhancements to your printed environment can be made using other examples and styles of print. But you should view this sort of print in the same way as you do an enhancement to any part of your provision as just that, an enhancement.

Edmondsley Primary School

If you were to hang an umbrella above your water tray with lots of laminated keywords on a raindrop, hanging from an invisible thread. It might make other adults go 'oooh'! But how many children will actually look at it? More importantly how many of them will understand what the words say and then independently refer to them in their learning. In my experience (and I have seen a lot of umbrellas in my time) none!

Speaking of water, what is the purpose of this display in your water area for non-reading early years children? Do we have it because it is a well known fact that children don't know how to play with water unless there are a few blue circles next to them with text they can't read in it? Even if you can read it - it is ever going to influence your play?

The 'have a go if you want to' area at Halton Lodge Primary

It can be a really good idea to have labels near to provision to help, support and focus children's learning, but only if they actually engage with the print. A good idea is to use the children themselves to make the labels. Then you can talk about ideas and expectations while you are making them and the children will have a memory prompt when they look at them.

Noah's Ark Pre School

If in doubt, do the squint test. Stand about 6 feet away from your board and squint at it. If the children's work the background, the boarder and the labeling all merge into one riot of colour and pattern then you have got it wrong. If the children's work 'pings' out at you (and them) then you have got it right. After all, what is display for? It is there to motivate children by raising their self esteem or to teach them something that they need to know. It is not about making wallpaper.

There will be lots and lots of other opportunities for you to introduce print into your environment through books, comics, letters etc. Just make sure your walls are print rich and not just full of print.

 Alistair

Café Culture and the not so humble snack...

Like with every area of your provision, it is worth asking the question 'what is snack for?' before you start to plan for it.

At it most basic level, snack is an opportunity for young children, who burn lots of energy in their play and exploration of your environment, to re-fuel. But, in truth there is SO much more that snack could and should be than that. At best it can offer some brilliant leaning opportunities. At worst it is a bag of apples and some cartons of milk dumped on a table.

Halton Lodge have a small but perfectly formed snack area with a 'Have a go if you want to' waiting area with leveled challenges in it

There are a number of ways of running your snack sessions, from sit down and eat together to free flow. There should be no hard and fast rule for what you should do when as long as your snack sessions have purpose and are linked to learning as opposed to being a glorified chimps tea party!

At the beginning of your year, or with a new intake of children, you will be stopping and starting your children regularly to re-enforce rules and routines and celebrate individual achievements. 

During this 'settling' in period, a collective snack time can be brilliant for coaching the children through what snack is all about. How you eat your snack, how to pour your water and in some cases how to suck through a straw -trickier than you think if you have never done it before!

It is also a time for practitioners to remind children about rules and routines and celebrate successes.

Another situation where you might consider as 'stop and sit down' snack is to support your Key Person role. Sharing food is a very social thing to do and meeting and eating in small groups can really help to develop relationships as well as provide fantastic opportunities for adults to tap into children's interests and then use what they have found out to link into learning for high level engagement.

I worked with one setting where the Key Adults had a picnic basket complete with blanket, plates and cups. At snack time the children found a space either indoors or out and set up their 'snack picnic'. 

In this particular setting many of the children lacked a range of vocabulary and talk. So, each week alongside the usual 'chat' we planned in a talk focus. So one week it might have been talk for questioning, another talk for conflict resolution. This didn't mean that this was all that was talked about, but it gave adults a focus for their snack talk which they could also use in their other interactions with children in  and around the setting.

Here at Hamstel Infant School they have made soup together and are now sharing it for snack.

Usually as time goes on and the children get better at using the environment independently, you will do far less stopping and starting as you want to facilitate opportunities for deep level learning, exploration and discovery.

This is when a self service snack comes into its own. Sometimes practitioners are a bit wary of giving children responsibility for their own snack. Someone did once ask me what I would do if I child took two milks instead of one! I don' t think my answer of 'Call the milk police and have them arrested' went down too well!

There is really no need to be wary though. With some good organisation and high expectations very young children can be very self-sufficient.

Here are children at Noah's Ark pack away pre-school self-managing their own snack - yes, that is a toaster in the background on the table and no there is no adult (in a tabard) standing watch.

and they do the washing up...

This is a similar idea in St Andrew's C of E Primary. These children are mixed Nursery and Reception and they completely self manage their 'Seedlings Café'. The school is in an are of high social deprivation so the café serves breakfast at the beginning of the day. 

Once the breakfast rush is over the cereal and toast are replaced with milk, water and fruit.

There are 2 waiters aprons which the children take turns to wear. They manage the length of time that they are a waiter by using a timer.

The children were surprisingly good at sticking to their time without adult intervention, but there were one or two serial offenders who would have kept their apron on all day, but staff were aware of who these children were and kept an eye out for them.

Snack like this is brilliant for supporting independence and interaction but as there is no adult 'manning' the space it can also become a haven for 'avoiders' who will happy sit and spend half an hour chewing on an apple.

Alongside the independence element of the snack area, you also want to introduce other learning opportunities. This can be as simple as having a photograph or object on the table for the children to look at and talk about. 

For any Continuous Provision to be effective, adults need to be mobile within the learning space. You should be taking learning to children rather than pulling children to you. If you set up an activity at a table in one area of your setting and then call children to you it becomes impossible for you to then ensure that what is going on in your Continuous Provision is really taking children's learning forward and not just low level holding tasks.

So, as an adult is moving through the learning space they are able to drop into snack, re-set any of the resources that need resetting, check for loiterers and engage in a bit of quality talk.

This is snack time at St Augustine’s 'Primadona Café'. The waiters are also on a timer and their job is to write down the name of the diner and their preferred snack option before serving it to them.

Whilst waiting, the snackers had some great pictures to look at that promoted a lot of talk.

If you are trying to encourage children to talk then you need to give them something that they are going to want to talk about. Humor and terror (within reason) often work well as does showing them photos of past events, getting them to remember, recall, sequence and articulate their memories.

the shark creeping up on the boy (if sharks can creep?) was a particular favourite!

There will also be times when you work in the snack area alongside the children to help them to prepare what they are going to eat and then join them in eating it!

nursery children learning to cook and cut with a sharp knife

rocking that pinny Mr. Clegg!

Although I am a fan of keeping most other areas of your provision as ambiguous and open ended as possible snack is one area that you can really go to town on 'dressing'. This not only gives your environment impact but also offers up some great opportunities to re-enforce other areas of learning like roleplay, mathematics, understanding of the world, mark making -the list is endless!

Whether it be a cafe, ice cream parlour, tea shop, tree house or all American 1950's diner, just make sure it has purpose and impact as well as good food and quality talk!

Alistair

The Thrill - The Will - The Skill!

So, you have got these children (most likely boys) who every time the door is opened stampede towards the outdoor area and plant themselves on a wheeled toy.

Then, the fun really begins...Crashing, banging, hurting, destroying, fighting. You know the score.

First of all you ask nicely for more appropriate behaviour. Then you tell, nay demand better bike etiquet. Then you threaten confiscation of the wheeled toys or compulsory eviction from the outdoor area until attitudes improve. The problem is...attitudes never do!

I work with lots of settings who resort to the 'lock away' method. This consists of locking away any and all wheeled toys to 'teach children a lesson'. In my experience this is HUGELY unsuccessful! 

There are very few Early Years children, especially boys, who when their favourite thing in the world is confiscated and 'locked away' take time for a period of reflection, inwardly examine their misdemeanor and then vow to be better citizens! They just get grumpy and find mischief elsewhere.

You see, the fundamental issue is not about wheeled toys, it is not even about the children concerned, it is about us and the provision that we provide.

If you have children who are heading for the door, the simple fact is that there is nothing - I repeat NOTHING in the rest of our provision that they find as engaging.

Every area of provision that we create should have been placed there in response to a need that we have identified through assessment and observation.  Our provision is there to support and extend children's learning. This could be social, it could be physical, it could be academic but it is there for a reason.

If we look at a group of children whizzing around a track at 50 miles an hour taking corners at 90 degrees, they are showing a very high level of skill and dexterity on the piece of equipment that they are using. In that respect this piece of provision is not providing challenge. The children find it easy to manipulate and that is why they like it.

Most children don't crash into each other on the bike track because they have poor coordination and direction skills. They crash into each other because it is fun, exciting and a little bit dangerous.

It is the THRILL that gives them the WILL to want to engage. What we need to do is capitalise on this and make sure that the provision on offer also develops their SKILL level.

The THRILL doesn't have to come from big physical activities. The THRILL comes from any activities with high levels of engagement. THRILL can be small and quiet as well as Ta-Dah!

How many times have you seen this scenario?

 

A bank of computers 3 boys deep. You could certainly say that you were getting the THRILL and the WILL but this is another one where the SKILL is often lacking. If you really observe what the children are actual doing, are they developing social skills and turn taking?(Very unlikely). Are they taking their learning forward with programmes that will extend and challenge them? (Again, unlikely). Are they engaged in low level provision thinly camouflaged as learning? (Yes! probably).

 

What I am basically saying is that if you have gang mentality on your wheeled toys and scrums around your computers and constant confrontations in your construction while your workshop area remains void of testosterone and full of sparkly pom poms then you need to have a small rethink.

Take some time and do yourself a THRILL, WILL , SKILL audit. Identify your areas of THRILL (easy) they will indicate high levels of WILL and then the harder bit...Take a long hard look at the level of SKILL development that is taking place and then adjust accordingly.

This is not only about children (often but not always boys) on wheeled toys it is also about children (often but not always girls) who will sit in mark making or workshop areas for long periods of time and produce beautiful pieces of work that do not challenge them in the slightest.

Regardless of their gender, find out what THRILLS your children and just make sure that you use that THRILL to actively support the development of SKILL.

Just remember that age old 'dumping' phrase, 'It is not you...it's me'. Only this time it's true!

Alistair 

Making Snow...and other Early Years Practice.

Just thought you might like to share some of the sorts of practice that I have been looking at over the past couple of weeks. Last week I popped to Coventry to work with Nicki  and the Early Years team at Joseph Cash Primary school. 

The school has 60 Reception children who work in one open plan space (with a small work room next to the loos!) and a Nursery class who have their own space but share an outside area.

I was working with Nicki on the further implementation of objective led planning and looking at their current systems for recording all of their other bits of planning - plus a bit of outdoor evaluation thrown in for good measure.

There were lots of displays that were linked to teaching and learning. They had been annotated really well so that it was clear to see engagement, planning and purpose through what was on the wall.

The work for this display was produced as a result of children working on their physical dexterity during their daily intervention.

it went up the wall and across the ceiling, there was so much of it. Although the higher the display the less likely the children are to engage with it, I did come across a group of children who were lying on the floor looking up at the ceiling and picking out animal shapes that they could see in the squiggles. They were there for a while and found lots!

Some nice illustrations of process

and annotations. I also really liked these as another way of creating a number line.

I imagine you would get a lot of volunteers if they knew that they were going to go and photocopy their hands! Just make sure you do it when the Secretary is out of the office!

Within the provision Nicki has been looking at leveling in response to assessment so, there were three different types of construction available

not to mention the large scale construction on the carpet.

When you have planned for different levels within an area and all of the adults working in your space know what the differentiation is, when they are moving through your space it is easy for them to support children and redirect them if they are using inappropriate resources.

The Reception day has two long sessions of Continuous Provision punctuated by focused teaching in groups and a physical intervention. The children are also grouped for this activity. On the day I visited the groups were:

Making marks on a large scale

Practising early cutting skills by snipping/fringing with appropriate scissors

Picking up pompoms with pegs (even the pegs are differentiated, some being harder to squeeze than others)

and tying tricky knots.

Outside of the adult directed activities there was plenty to explore and discover in the environment, especially in the aptly name 'Hmmmm, this looks interesting' area where the children were deconstructing old computers and key boards with great interest.

It was evident from the walls that observations and children's interests were key to shaping the environment and the planning.

Alongside some dough in the malleable materials area there was a nice big tray of PVA which was great for supporting gross motor movement and pattern making as well as more fine motor dexterity and mark making.

The best thing about a tray of PVA is that when your hands are covered you can clap them together and make snow. As you clap, little strands of PVA float up into the air and then come down again like stringy snow. If you bang a flat hand on the tray repeatedly you get the same effect, it is just noisier!

As part of her weekly planning process Nicki has an A4 sheet which is split into boxes. Each box has the title of an area of the provision. Nicki records in the box any areas that have been enhanced and says why. This was a really useful tool for me when I was looking at the provision and a great record for the setting of how they are responding to the needs and interests of children. With a relatively small 'tweak' this overview could also show which areas had a skill enhancement and how that skill was split into high, mid and low level.

Even though, like everyone, Nicki is very much on a journey of improvement there was lots of great examples of quality learning for us to celebrate before we got down to planning ways forward. I really enjoyed my day Nicki, thank you for inviting me.

Alistair

Adult Directed verses Child Initiated

The Early Years guidance is very clear that there needs to be a good mix of adult directed teaching and child initiated learning in your setting. What it is not very clear on is how much of each there should be.

The reason for that is there is no real definitive answer, as with a great deal of Early Years practice it depends on a range of other factors.

Before you even begin to discuss percentages and ratios, the first thing you need to do is to define what you mean and understand by the terms 'adult directed' and 'child initiated'. I often find that these definitions can be tricky to clarify within a team and that practitioners individual interpretations can differ considerably.

The next thing I would do would be to work out how you think your direct teaching is going to work because that is the easier bit.

Is it going to be every day? If so, how many times?

Are you going to teach whole class or group by ability?

Which members of the team will be planning and which will be delivering?

If you are following a programme like Letters and Sounds or Read, Write Inc. how are you going to fit those in?

So, you might decide that you are going to have 3 sessions of direct teaching each day. Theses will be at the beginning or the end of a session as you don't want to compromise the children's opportunities for sustained shared thinking, exploration and deep level learning.

Great. That is that sorted! Problem is what do you do when the children leave you after the direct teach?

Well you have a couple of options. Once you have finished the input then you will say 'red group you stay with me and the rest of you...go and get busy!' Shame for red group having to do more 'work' while everyone else gets to go and 'play'. Still I am sure that they will give you maximum engagement, after all who wouldn't rather count multi link as opposed to play in the water?!

Once 'red group' have finished, you have the eternal dilemma of what you do next. Most people opt for developing  a common condition known as 'tambourine elbow'. Common in Early Years practitioners and members of the Salvation Army. It occurs from excessive shaking of the tambourine!

So, red group have finished and while their seats are still warm you reach for the tambourine and shake it. Everything (well, nearly everything) stops. All the creativity, all of the sustained shared thinking, problem solving, deep level learning, imaginative play, everything! You then proceed with the 'I am looking for blue group mantra'. Now depending on the genetic make up of blue group, this could take some time.

After 5 minutes you have managed to coral 4 of the 6 children, but 2 are still AWOL. Outside on the bikes or making guns. Telling them that if they don't come in now they will never go out again, probably does nothing for their levels of engagement - but at least you have managed to rally blue group, safe in the knowledge that in approximately 15 minutes the tambourine will come out again and the herding of green group will begin!

I don't think anyone would argue against the fact that there needs to be some direct teaching in Early Years. Maybe with my idealist head on I would argue that every aspect of the Early Years Foundation Stage can be taught through quality play based learning, but with my realist head on I know that in the majority of settings that type of learning just isn't practical and nor does that style of learning fit in with the way most settings operate.

My issue with grouping children for Literacy, Mathematics and then 'topic', is that the groups are too broad. At this stage of children's development they can excel and need support with different aspects of the same subject area. So I might be a brilliant talker but not such an adept mark maker yet I will be in the same Literacy group for both. I might be fantastic at shape but not so great with numbers but I will be in the same mathematics group for both.

I know what some of you are thinking...How could you possibly have a different group for each aspect of each subject area that you teach? The answer for me is...don't have groups.

When I say  don't group your children, what I mean is that you would group them in the aspect of the subject that you were planning to teach. Then (and this is the good bit) you take the next steps to the children not bring the children to you.

So... You might do a direct phonics, literacy and mathematics teaching session every day.

You would always place these at the beginning or end of a continuous provision session. You might ability group the children or teach them whole class.

At the end of this direct teaching session your children all go into Continuous Provision.

WARNING - When I say Continuous Provision I of course mean provision that is linked to assessment, leveled and dressed for attainment. NOT just places to play.

When the children are in CP the adults will go into that play not only to look for opportunities for assessment and observation, support children's play and discovery but also to teach, delivering an objective that had been identified by assessment as a need and has then been broken down into next steps  for each ability group.

This Objective Led planning might be linked to the direct teaching sessions or it might be linked to any other aspect of the Early Years Foundation Stage that your assessment and observation has identified as a need.

This planning for adults in CP would last for a week.

During that week the adult (or adults) responsible for that objective would try to deliver it to all of the children at least once through play

They would probably not have a planned activity that they took around the setting. Instead they would look for opportunities to to deliver the next steps objectives through what was engaging the children most.

If a child you were working with didn't understand or achieve the objective then you could revisit  it  a number of times in a number of different areas across the week.

By the same token if a child clearly showed that they  were beyond the objective that you had set for them then you could revise that objective and deliver it to them again in a different play situation.

How do you plan for it?

For your direct teaching sessions you would differentiate your objective over 3 broad levels or more and direct your questioning to children based on their ability level.

For Objective Led planning you decide on which aspect of a subject you were going to focus on. It could be calculations, talk, upper body movement, pencil grip, ability to independently access the painting area. Anything that has been identified by assessment, observation or curriculum coverage as a need.

First you group your children by their ability within this aspect. 

Next, on your planning sheet, you make a statement of current attainment under each group of children. This is an important stage in the planning process because it crystallises your thoughts about what you think these children are capable ot and how you know it. It also lets the whole team know what you are thinking

Then you make a 'next steps' statement of attainment for each group. This is what you are going to take with you into the play and deliver.

If you go into play and you find a group of children of mixed ability, there is no need to syphon them off by their ability level, you just differentiate what you ask them guided by your 'next steps' statements on your planning sheet.

I have found that any more than 3 objectives led planning sheets  in any one setting becomes hard to manage and track. In larger settings adults often double up on one ojective and just present it in different ways.

Lindsay at Dee Point Primary has been trialling Objective Led planning with her two form entry team. 

Here is an example from the beginning of the year. The objective was centred around the children's independent use of paint.

The next step for each group is split into 2 smaller steps, hence the numbering nest to the children's names.

These planning sheets were on clip boards to make it easy for the adults to pick them up and put them down.

Where I would usually have a column for 'evidence' Lindsay has put in an example of an activity starter, just to give her team some support with this type of planning until they got their heads around it!

Any extra assessments and observations were written on the back of the sheet or on a seperate sheet.

Here is an example of a different objective with assessments and observations attached 

Of course there is no right or wrong planning format for this style of teaching  as long as all of the essential elements are there.

I have attached an example of my A4 planning sheet  here  Download Objective Led Planning

Here is a n A3 wall mounted version of Objective Led Planning  done by Susan from St Augustines that we were trialling before the summer break

The focus here was writing. Once this sheet had been completed then a member of the team would look for writing opportunities in the children's play and then encourage the children to access their 'next steps' target.

Joanne and her team at Chester Blue Coat Primary are also using this form of adult directed and then Objective Led planning to great effect. They started the process in their setting by every adult having the same objective. This was done so that everyone in the team could have a shared experience of how the system works. Once everyone is comfortable with what they need to do then you would move to different adults having different objectives. Here is Joanne's planning

Joanne had some lovely examples of how you can translate this sort of planning and teaching into display which had been created by her and the Reception team.  (As this post is becoming a very long one, I will 'show and tell' those at a later date!')

I also popped into Halton Lodge  to see how Ruth and her new intake were getting along. Again lots to share later from that visit, including their new 'Infinite Playgrounds' outdoor area. But, this is the objective led planning that she was using.

So, you might happen across a group of mixed ability children setting up an ice cream shop in the role play (this happened to me in Durham). If they were engaged in some amazing play or learning you would forget your Objective Led planning sheet and observe/assess/support what was going on.

If their play is fairly low level and non challenging (which it often can be) then you would go in, play alongside and then introduce the need for some kind of writing. A menu, a sign, a brochure, a website...whatever. Once you have engendered some enthusiasm you match your resources and your expectations to the ability of the children and the next steps objectives.

You do NOT turn it into a 'red group' table top session! You are going for high level engagement so you need to keep it relevant to their play and not hijack their play with your planning agenda.

If it feels like it is going that way then drop it and pick it up again at another time in another place.

It really is THE most effective way of teaching within the principles of the Early Years Foundation Stage and more than that, it allows you to be creative, have some fun and really 'teach' rather than just 'deliver'. 

Give it a try! If you have got any questions, feedback or ideas, then post a comment and we can all share in each others experiences.

Alistair

Sewing in Pre-School

I know that I said that I would post some objective led planning next (and I am on it), but I just wanted to share a little moment of pre-school joy that I experienced recently.

Acorns  Nursery in Oakly has historically always had a separate area for their 2 year olds to inhabit within the larger space. As part of the work that we are doing together we have released the 2 year olds 'into the wild' and they now roam the space with all of the other children.

This move in itself has proved very successful but has had a significant impact on how the provision across the setting is organised. Now ALL areas have to provide opportunities for learning for children aged 2 to 4 years, especially in the absence of an adult. 

On my last visit we were standing in the middle of the provision chatting about skill development and fine motor dexterity, when along came Verity (aged 3) with her dinosaur and a rather fetching pasta necklace that she had whipped up with great ease.

Her independent dexterity with the pasta clearly showed that she needed a greater level of challenge. That challenge came in the form of sewing.

With some patient guidance from a skilled adult and a REAL needle and thread Verity very quickly showed what she was capable of.

She had really got the hang of it and was producing stitches far neater than anything I would be able to do!

I am not saying that we should be letting our pre-school children run round with needles in their hand! What I am saying is that for children with this level of engagement and physical dexterity, threading pasta just isn't enough.

Happy sewing!

Alistair

Developing Skill Differentiation

Have had the great pleasure of working with lots of lovely settings over the last couple of weeks, with two in particular focussing on the development of skills in Continuous Provision and objective led planning.

Last week I made a visit to Dee Point Primary School to work with the very lovely Lindsay and her team. Lindsay is the new Early Years Coordinator a this 2 form entry primary and manages the Early Years team which includes Nursery and Reception.

Lindsay and I have worked together before she went to Dee Point and talked lots about objective led planning and how it works so, when she started her new role she was keen to put her ideas into practice.

My visit was to see how it was going, evaluate impact and help Lindsay iron out any creases. I think I managed all of that as well as giving the entire team a headache - which is an achievement in itself!

I really don't get the faces on a paper plate frenzy that seems to occur every September, especially when there are 30 of them all stuck on the wall, all looking exactly the same. What is the purpose behind them? What skills are they teaching children? Where is the individuality?

Anyway, I have to say that I LOVED Lindsay's point of entry display. Not just because of the individuality that was evident, but because of the fact that it had clear links to assessment, physical development and attainment. Not to mention the fact that it looked FAB!

All of the display boards  were  full of it. It is quite hard to capture the impact in one photo. 

The assessment focus that had generated the images for the display was around children's grip and fine and gross motor movement.

Not only could you see the stages of development in the size and content of the drawings themselves, but the comments and photographs that had been added gave the pictures context and showed that the staff were clear about next steps development.

You can see from the photographs that both the indoor nd the outdoor environment was used to get high level engagement and also a variety of sizes of paper and types of drawing marterials were matched to children's gross or fine motor dexterity.

The fact that the photographs had been printed in black and white was a nice touch and helped give the display real impact.

I was then able to go and see if I could match the next steps identified by the display in the provision. I am very pleased to report that I could! 

Liked this idea for giving a common or garden pencil some real grip

It is pipe insulation and insulating tape (both available from any good DIY store).

These pens have a great moulded rubber grip on the front. Apparently they are in the sale at Staples, so if you want some, you will have to hurry before they sell out!

The development of gross motor and fine motor skills was not restricted to the mark making spaces it was also clearly evident in the Malleable Materials Area, Paint Area, Workshop, Construction and Outdoor. It made tracking evidence of assessment and attainment very easy.

Yesterday I was back in Coventry. I spent the morning training with my Early Fresh Eyes focus group.

(Fresh Eyes was started up by like minded Head teachers in Coventry who wanted to have more control over CPD for their schools. Any school can buy into the service and they pool the funds together, identify common areas of need and then provide bespoke training  that is very need specific.

I have been asked to deliver training for the Early Fresh Eyes group. The Fresh Eyes initiative has always been very popular with around 70 Early Years Coordinators attending each training session. This number is now growing fast as Heads from other Local Authorities are buying into the Fresh Eyes training packages that are relevant for their staff).

Then in the afternoon I went to St Thomas More RC Primary to re-visit Claire and her team. You may remember Claire as the lovely teacher 'in a lemon cardie' from this previous blog post.

Well, today she was in a pink cardie, with wellies to match! Claire is the Early Years coordinator of a 2 form entry Reception and a Nursery. Much like Dee Point, the children and the staff in Reception share the space. This means that the CP has to support the learning of all children, be enhanced by skill development and dressed for interest and engagement.

Claire and her team have clearly worked their socks off over the summer because they had transformed their space. Not only was the environment clearly linked to their point of entry assessment but key areas had a weekly skill enhancement and differentiation.

This is like a huge working wall which will continually change in response to children's interests and experiences. The photographs show children engaged in activities, the speech bubbles record how the children were able to articulate their learning or interest, the cloud is a practitioner judgement a post it will be added to the bottom of the cloud to show next steps.

These will be transferred directly into children's learning journeys when they come down.

Claire has planned for skill differentiation in areas, but her Head (Mary) asked that this differentiation be displayed so that adults working in the setting were able to keep track and also when Mary came in to do any monitoring (or just to play), she could easily track attainment and see how the system was working.

Sorry about the rubbish photos Claire. I was trying to make miniature books with a group of girls and take photos at the same time!

These are positioned way above head height so that they don't get into the children's immediate line of vision.

They are there to encourage children to develop skills. They are not the same as the Learning Objectives that will be taught during direct teaching time.

The resources that are in the CP should then reflect the skills listed

The resources should be 'dressed' for interest to encourage the 'target' children to use them.

Elsewhere in Claire's CP there were these bobbins that had been dressed for interest to develop the skill of pincer grip and wrist pivot. Wonder what the children who needed to develop this skill got excited about?!

These sheets were used to develop higher level cutting skills - again, dressed for interest.

Like at Dee Point the children at St Thomas More were engaged, active and purposeful in their learning. Activities were fun and had been planned around the things that motivate children. 

The environment was matched to assessment. The Continuous Provision was also matched to assessment and further strengthened with skill development.

The adults delivered a mixture of direct teaching and objective led teaching through continuous provision which was producing some brilliant results even this early in the school year.

In my next post I will unpick those teaching strategies further and share some ideas for what objective led planning might look like on paper and in practice.

I think both Claire and Lindsay would tell you they have lots they still want to work on and they by no means feel that they have got it all sorted, but from what I saw they are well on the way. It was an impressive start to the year - and not a paper plate in sight!

Alistair