Observation in setting
Daisy has been choosing to spend a lot of time in the book corner, sometimes with friends and sometimes alone. This morning she entered the area as soon as she left Mum and selected The Three Billy Goats Gruff from the wall rack. She sat on the beanbags, made herself comfortable and then opened the book. Daisy looked at the cover and, realising that the book was upside down, she turned it the right way up. Turning the pages carefully, she looked at each picture and, in a 'storytelling' voice talked about what was happening. 'It was sunny and the big one was eating grass... and there was a bridge on the river... and it went over'.
Later in the day, during a small-group story session with her keyworker, Daisy offered The Three Billy Goats Gruff book to the adult, saying, 'Let's have this one... with the monster!'
Information from home
Mum says that Daisy loves sharing a bedtime story with her. Daisy has recently started to ask for 'The Three Bears' story from her 'big book'
every night. She gets the big storybook off the shelf and puts it on her bed before she has her bath so that it is ready for them at bedtime. Daisy helps Mum to read the story by contributing repeated phrases and by using different voices for Mummy, Daddy and Baby Bear.
Practitioners' response
Assessment of learning
Daisy's keyworker and other practitioners are in agreement that observations show evidence of Daisy working within the blue stepping stone band in the area of 'reading'.
Next steps
Daisy's keyworker, recognising her interest in the 'The Three Billy Goats Gruff', decides to plan opportunities for her to retell the story. She sets up an interactive display in the book corner, including a copy of the book and a bridge, three farm goats (graded in size), a troll and imitation grass in a small-world tray. After discussion with the rest of the team, she also decides to plan a focus in the outdoor area that will let children explore the story on a larger scale through imaginative and role play. She involves children in preparing props, for example, making masks and finding suitable materials to represent grass and a river.
Short-term planning
Key early learning goals
Retell narratives in the correct sequence, drawing on language patterns of stories
Show an understanding of story elements such as main character, sequence of events, and openings (and how information can be found in non-fiction texts to answer questions of where, who, why and how)
Key objective
To revisit the story of the Billy Goats Gruff and to talk about key characters and events in sequence
Area of provision
Large space in the outdoor area
Resources
A copy of 'The Three Billy Goats Gruff', musical instruments (such as claves, maracas and a drum), planks, crates, wooden blocks, fabric (silver and white to represent the river and green for the grass in the field), masks and pieces of fabric to support children in assuming the role of a goat or troll
Content
* Recap on the story by talking about the illustrations in the book.
* With the children, create a scene from the story, including the river and a green field.
* Encourage the children to build a bridge the goats can cross.
* Use musical instruments to represent sounds, drum beats as the goats cross the bridge and to indicate the presence of the troll.
* Retell the story through role play.
Meeting all children's needs
* Plan for the activity to be held outdoors and accessible for those children who prefer outdoor learning.
* Buy copies of the story in other languages or ask parents to bring them in and place these alongside the English version.
Adult role
What will the adult do?
* Support the children's developing ideas by adding resources as appropriate, for example, masking tape to join parts of the bridge.
* Observe the children's responses and assess their stage of development particularly in the area of 'reading'.
* Narrate the story as the children engage in role play.
* Ensure that resources are available for as long as children are interested.
What will the adult say?
* Use key vocabulary - goat, bridge, troll, grass, big, middle-sized, small.
* Why did the goats want to go to the other side of the world?
* How did they cross the river?
* Which goat went first?
* What happened next?
* What did the troll want to do?
* Where did the troll hide?
* What happened to the troll when the big billy goat crossed the bridge?
Evaluation
How did the children respond?
Daisy was very motivated by the focus and, on the first day, insisted that her mother join in with the story play when she came to collect her. Other children also enjoyed this way of retelling the story and one child suggested including their role-play ideas in a book corner story session.
What links to other areas of the curriculum were identified?
The focus offered opportunities for discriminating between sounds made by musical instruments and experimenting with voice sounds. The children also explored rhythm as they 'trip-trapped' across the bridge. These are valuable experiences in children's journey towards linking sounds and letters.
Building a bridge challenged the children to construct with a purpose in mind and also to modify their construction according to need. For example, one child said, 'We need a big bridge for the big goat... or it will break!'
There were lots of opportunities for learning in all aspects of mathematical development, such as counting the goats, calculating how many goats have still to cross the bridge, the shape of the bridge and comparing the size of the goats and the troll.
Children were observed negotiating roles and thinking creatively through representation of ideas and objects.
What follow-up will be planned?
Practitioners will encourage Daisy, and other children at a similar stage in their reading development, to think of alternative endings to their favourite stories and to predict outcomes in unfamiliar stories. They will display photographs of the children's play during the outdoor focus in the book area alongside the children's scribed comments. They will make available favourite nursery books and props for the children to borrow and read with their family at home. The children will be encouraged to bring their favourite stories from home to share.
Are there any implications for the long-term planning of provision?
At the next staff meeting practitioners will discuss:
* a review of story session groups to ensure that the needs of all children within each group are being met at story times
* planning an audit of books in the book area with a view to ordering copies of popular stories and information books the children can borrow (for example, a book on wild animals to support a family visit to the zoo)
* the role of stories as starting points for cross-curriculum learning.
Series guide
To deliver the Foundation Stage curriculum effectively, practitioners need to consider three levels of planning:
* long-term plans, which chart the learning opportunities that will be offered through continuous and permanent provision
* medium-term plans, which cover the enhancements that will be made to the permanent provision over the next two to six weeks
* short-term plans, which cover how to respond to an individual child's interests or needs over the next few days.
Settings have tended to focus on medium-term plans (often based around topics) at the expense of short-term planning. This series aims to illustrate the importance of short-term planning in furthering children's learning by taking practitioners through the key steps involved in identifying and responding to a child's current interests or needs.
Good practice points
* Value the role of observation in the assessment and planning process and make ample time within the framework of your day to observe and plan.
* Recognise that children's learning takes place not only within the setting. Share information with parents and carers to help identify and address a child's needs.
* Be prepared to abandon or postpone plans in order to respond immediately to an observed interest or need.
* Be aware that while a focus may be planned in response to an individual child's needs or interests, the activity will probably motivate several children in the setting. Consider, therefore, how all children can access learning at their own stage of development and build on what they already know and understand.
* Be aware that planning a child's 'next steps' may mean 'moving forward', but often children need to be offered experiences at a similar level, with a similar objective in different contexts, for their understanding to become firmly embedded.
* Ensure all learning experiences are rooted in a meaningful context.
* Always evaluate plans so that you can analyse children's responses and highlight any implications for future planning.
* Although formats for short-term focus planning may vary in appearance and organisation, they should include key elements as demonstrated in the series.