Thunks

Odd Questions to Make the Kids Think

Developing speech and language skills are an essential part of the Early Years. Language development leads to developing story ideas, critical thinking, social skills and many more!

Thunk work towards raising children’s confidence to speak in front of groups, in full sentences and to think about topics they haven’t previously considered.

I’ve often asked the kids what colour is Tuesday, which they sometimes take literally and say the colour of the word on the board.. Other Thunks could be:

• Can you touch the wind?
• If you took the stripes off a zebra, what colour would it be? (Also tiger and spots from a leopard)
• Where do words go after you’ve heard them?

Assessment 2013/14

Using the New Curriculum

As you must be well aware, assessment in the Early Years is a challenge now that they have change the curriculum. At a recent course run by our LEA, we met with other practitioners and it seems that everyone is doing something different, but basically the same.

There are many types of observations that is common in every setting:

• Photographs
• Quick observations as would appear on a postit or a magic moment
• Catch as You Can observations
• Small group observations
• Large group observations

It’s not until you look specifically at the assessment sheets that you see the differences.

The priority for every setting is showing progress.

Assessment in the Early Years

The 2012-13 Curriculum

Showing progress in the Early Years has always been difficult. The previous system of using profile points allowed practitioners to show numerical progress for all children from Nursery to end of Reception.

Many children would start in Reception at level 2 or 3, and would progress through the levels until they finished Reception.

Unfortunately, there is no current numerical method for showing progress nationally.

For our own records, in our Reception class we are trying to make sure we keep meticulous records of phonics, literacy and mathematics. I thought I would share some of my assessment sheets to help out other practitioners.

	Writing Assessment Record Sheet We have split up the basic statements for the writing targets from 30-50 months all the way to a 2c on curriculum targets. We looked at the main process the children go through to be able to write independently and put it into a table that we can use to help us guide our planning and to track pupil progress.
	Phonics Assessment Record Sheet This sheet is one in which you can input the children’s total scores for the term. So, if they know 12/20 phase 2 phonemes and so on, and tracks the progress they have made from the previous term. Obviously leave the progress columns empty if those areas haven’t been tested yet.
	Reading Assessment Record As the children begin to use their phonemes to decode words for reading and also begin to recognise more words, this assessment sheet allows the user to track progress through terms and also see where the children are currently.
	Number Writing and Reading Assessment Record I do like to keep specific records to help with my planning. I find it’s easy to waste time teaching children things they already know. This sheet allows me to target specific children with specific number recognition which I can jot down in my planning. It doesn’t actually take that long, either.
	Catch as You Can Observation Sheets These sheets could be completed by your Learning Through Play Manager, as they are working with children. However, we don’t want to be filling in sheets when we should be moving children’s learning on so I recommend targetting specific children, perhaps children who need more help or children who are gifted and talented to use these sheets as effectively as possible.
	Magic Moments We keep Learning Journey scrap books at our setting, where maths, literacy and topic work, photographs and magic moments are collected and displayed to show children’s progress through the year. The magic moments cards capture special moments the children share with you. For example, today I was invited to a space party so I asked the child what happened at a space party and wrote down what he said on the magic moment card. This will later be stuck into his Learning Journey The magic moments cards are fantastic ways of capturing sweet things the children say and making notes about their progress through snapshots.

If you have any ideas on assessment in the Early Years, please share!

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Spellings

Yes, We Do Them In Reception!

Not all schools have a cohort that are ready for spellings in Reception. Some children are just not at the stage where they can sit and do sustained work. This could be due to life style, home background or personal development.

We do assess the children individually before giving out spellings, which is important. While you want to give the children all the same opportunities, pushing children who are not ready for writing will only be detrimental to their learning attitude.

When the children have reached a good level of fine motor skills and have learnt many of their phase 2 phonemes, we will start giving spellings to take home.

We use the Letters and Sounds High Frequency Words, and base our high frequency words on those. The spellings follow the order of the words as they appear in letters and sounds, making use of the phonemes children have learnt. There are only 3 or 4 words per week as we don’t want to overload the children. Those adults learning languages will know how difficult it is to learn a lot of new words in one go, so we drip feed the words to the children throughout the year.

We have been printing these sheets out A5 size, double sided so that the writing page is on the back, parents literally have to look, cover, write, check to complete the spellings. The document you can download has the pages all set up to be printed double sided. We assess the children’s reading and writing skills for their spellings in summative phonics assessment.

If you would like to download the spellings document, please click on the links.

	Spelling pages 1
	Spelling pages 2
	Spelling pages 3
	Spelling pages 4
	Spelling pages 5 - 10
	Spelling pages 11 – end

We have noticed a distinct difference between the children who complete their spellings and those who don’t. Homework, in Reception, is encouraged but is not compulsory. We noticed an increased improvement in both the reading and writing skills of the children doing their spellings.

There is a lot of controversy in the Early Years community about children learning through rote.

Learning Through Play

It’s about Developing Knowledge

I’m having a bit of a preach I’m afraid.

Members of staff working with older children can often think that all we do in the foundation stage is play.

I have told the children in my class that we work with the toys in the classroom, and the head teacher will tell me off if I let them play when it’s not play time. The children now delight in correcting me if I say ‘play’ by accident.

Children in the foundation stage work very hard when they are playing. They are developing relationships with other children, learning about who they are and how they relate to other people. If they actually do the activity as it is intended, they will be learning about numbers, shapes, writing, sounds and ICT.

The role of the Learning Through Play Manager is essential for ensuring that the goals in the Early Years Foundation Stage are met. It is not all about teaching knowledge but it is also about developing that knowledge.

It’s All Gone a Bit Gruffalo

I am Gruffalo Mad!

I’ve been a huge fan of the Gruffalo from the first time I read the story. It’s different and unique and sparks the children’s imagination. There are thousands of lesson plans you can use from the Gruffalo, and I’ve gone a little bit Gruffalo Mad!

My husband will say I don’t need an excuse to spend money, but with a Gruffalo lesson week coming up, I couldn’t resist!

I am teaching a rhyming lesson, but I didn’t want the children to only be involved in rhyming, I wanted them to have a rounded experience of the Gruffalo so the resources I have are:

• Gruffalo role play
• Gruffalo story sequencing
• Gruffalo large pairs matching
• Gruffalo small pairs matching
• Matching the written description to the picture (that’s to challenge my highers)
• Matching rhyming pairs, so ‘snake’ would be paired with ‘lake’ for example
• Making a Gruffalo’s child puppet
• Writing the roasted fox, owl icecream, scrambled snake and Gruffalo crumble recipes
• A maze (for fine motor skills)
• Story writing frames if the children would like to write their own Gruffalo story
• And a Gruffalo puppet
  
  
• I also have in my classroom a matching rhymes game that isn’t Gruffalo related

Learning Through Play Manager

It’s More than Just Playing

I talk a lot about a Learning Through Play Manager. It’s an important role in any foundation stage classroom as the children will learn using activities but sometimes they can go a bit off task, as we all know.

Picture from www.allkidsfirstnj.com

The Purpose of a Learning Through Play Manager

There of many purposes of a Learning Through Play Manager, each of them importing.

1. Assessment
   While we can assess the children in test situations, it is not until the children use the learning in their own independent play that they have truly assimilated the knowledge.
   
   The Learning Through Play Manager is in a perfect position to observe children using their knowledge in their play. The LTPM can use observation sheets, post it notes or magic moment cards to capture these fantastic displays of knowledge.
   
2. Moving Learning On
   Sometimes children can retain misconceptions in their learning. They may continue to miss out the number 4 when counting, or write their ‘s’ backwards. The LTPM can correct miss conceptions.
   
   When children are playing in the role play area or are writing a story or even counting, the LTPM can ask ‘what happens next?’ or ‘what comes next?’ This encourages the children to think about and develop their play. Asking open questions is a fantastic way to move children’s learning on.
   
3. Crowd Management
   Most teachers know that when the children are left to their own devices things can get a bit silly.
   
   While one adult is working with a focus group, the Learning Through Play Manager can ensure that children stay on task and focused on their activities. The LTPM can control the mood of the classroom and prevent children from becoming too silly.

Suggested Time Table

Just a Suggestion

Different schools have different ways of working. I would never suggest that everyone should follow the same time table or routine in their classroom.

As Early Years practitioners we should always work to our children’s levels.

The time table below is a suggested time table for those schools who teach Literacy and Numeracy as discrete subjects. It could also be applied to schools which work on a thematic structure, incorporating literacy and numeracy into topic headings.

This is more of an Autumn time table, but it could be suitable for schools where children are working below the national average. The longer sessions in the morning give children the opportunities to really get stuck into what they’re doing without having to change to a different subject or activity.

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.

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.