Some Useful EYFS Documentation

This page will contain links to the documentation which is used in the current (2012 - 2013) EYFS. 

Obviously this page will be updated if the documentation is updated yet again! 

• Development Matters in the Early Years Foundation Stage
  This document is the main document from which you will take targets to put in your planning. While you must also ensure children have a well rounded education, these are the targets through which you will start lesson plans.
  Remember you don't need to stick to the 40 - 60 months targets if you are in Reception. Some Reception children may not yet be working at a 40 - 60 months level so you will need to have links to lower targets. If you are very lucky, you may have some children working on the year one 'I Can' statements so don't feel constrained to these targets. 
• Assessment and Reporting Results
  This documentation will inform your foundation stage setting about assessment and reporting these assessment results to parents.

• Statutory Framework for the Early Years Foundation Stage
  An excellent document for those who haven't worked in the Early Years before. It's not too long and highlights the purpose of the Early Years. In the previous document they did detail how much child-initiated time there should be in your day, but this updated version seems to have missed that bit out.

• EYFS Progress Check at 2 Years
  If you have some SEN children in your setting, this document is good for identifying their individual needs. It can also be adapted for older children.
  It is also useful for parents of younger children how want to check their child is on track.

• Parents' Guide to the EYFS
  If you find that some parents don't think the EYFS is an important stage in their child's education, you could supply them with this document. It is also useful for any parents who would like to know more about the Early Years Foundation Stage. Supplied by 4children.

Useful Links

 

Literacy ICT Resources

	Cbeebies Alphablocks My absolute favourite resources for phonics and literacy! The children completely adore working on the Alphablocks. They work as a whole class teaching resources, a small group resource and even an independent activity. You can use the Alphablocks on your white board or on laptops. I would recommend Alphablocks to all Early Years, EAL and SEN teachers!
	Letters and Sounds The Letters and Sounds website is stuffed to full with resources and ICT games for the children to use! It’s mainly good for teaching phonics using the Letters and Sounds scheme, but all the resources are free and again can be used as a teaching session or independently.
	Sequencing on Cbeebies This is actually a really nice game for sequencing. The children can watch the video and then put it into the correct order afterwards. Children can do this independently or in a small group.

Numeracy ICT Resources

	The Numtums This is more for your children who aren’t yet recognising numbers, although if you’re playing this game with your SEN children you may find the others come to watch. The children pop the balloons and hear the numbers read out as they pop each balloon. Also good for EAL children.
	Cbeebies Numberjacks A bit like the Alphablocks, the Number Jacks site is full of fun activities for young children to work on in groups or independently. There are even some more difficult activities to challenge your gifted and talented children.
	Sorting We all teach sorting by colour or sorting by shape, but there are actually lots of different ways to sort. Using this site will show you lots of good ways to work on sorting with your little ones.
	Higher or Lower One of the Early Years targets is to know if a number is larger or smaller than another number. This game allows children to work with numbers in a fun and unique way. There are also higher numbers for your extension activities. This could be done as a mental oral starter or as part of a plenary.
	Basic Counting 1 - 6 You may have some children who start in Reception, or children who are in Nursery, who need counting reinforcement. This could be done as part of a mental oral starter in the Autumn term, or in small groups for your target children.

Thematic ICT Resources

	Diwali The British Council website has lots of fun little activities for young children. Difficult concepts like religious festivals are explained in a simple way that appeals to young children.
	Chinese New Year This is one of my favourite videos. You can pause and discuss what’s happening, play the video a few times and there is a fun year picker at the end so that children can see what year they were born in. Do the children have the same birth year as the teacher?

Congratulations!

You’re an Early Years Teacher!

Congratulations, you’re an Early Years teacher! You are now working in the most fun year group that there is! You will have more breadth than ever before to express your fun and creative side!

The other year groups are great too, but nothing beats the Early Years Foundation Stage!

Basic Tips for the Early Years

• Have lots of free flow!
  Children learn in many different ways, especially at such a young age. Whole class teaching, small group teaching is great but allow the children to learn independently using appropriate resources in the classroom.
  
• Small group teaching!
  The little ones can often find it difficult to concentrate in large group teaching sessions. I love teaching tables as they allow you to work almost one on one with a small group.

picture from TTS Catalogue.

The Case of the Missing USB’s

Why I Haven’t Posted Yet

The genius that I am left all my USB’s at work so I can’t post any of the resources I have made, which is the entire purpose of this blog!

What I am going to do instead is work on the links page so that if any parents or other teachers are looking for different resources you will be able to find the links on here! Hopefully this blog will be useful to other teachers. Especially those who find themselves in the Early Years and aren’t sure what they’re doing!

Please keep checking back, progress will be made soon!

Free Online Early Years Resources

Helping Out Fellow Teachers

I did a graphic design type degree at university so I am a fairly proficient user of Photoshop (but who isn’t these days) and I use my ‘talents’ to make resources for my lessons.

Resources for mathematics, communication and language, literacy and themed topics including Christmas, Easter, Diwali and Autumn, and I even make requests!

I also want to make links to other websites to share resources and ideas, to have a collection of different resources for other teachers. I want to share planning and preparation to help other teachers become good or even outstanding!

I hope you find something useful on this blog!