News

Thinking big

Respond to a child's immediate interest and provide for classmates who also pick up on it, with suggestions for short-term curriculum planning by Jane Drake Observation in setting
Respond to a child's immediate interest and provide for classmates who also pick up on it, with suggestions for short-term curriculum planning by Jane Drake

Observation in setting

Recently, Callum, aged three years four months, has entered nursery enthusiastically every morning and headed for a basket of plastic dinosaurs. He takes out one or two dinosaurs and, holding them out in front of him, he rushes at other children shouting 'Grrrr!' At quieter times, Callum has been observed feeling the texture of the dinosaurs' skin and running his fingers repeatedly over their spikes and horns.

Information from home

During discussions with Callum's keyworker, his father explains that Callum has a collection of play dinosaurs at home and that his favourite one is the Tyrannosaurus Rex because it is 'big and scary'. He reports that Callum spends time arranging the dinosaurs on the floor and then uses one to knock the others over, making growling and snarling sounds as he does so. When out shopping, Callum points out images of dinosaurs and comments when he sees ones that are the same as his own models.

Practitioners' response

Assessment of learning

Having identified Callum's interest in dinosaurs, the team decides to look particularly at what their observations tell them about his development in the area of knowledge and understanding of the world. They agree that there is evidence of Callum working in the blue stepping stone band within the aspect 'exploration and investigation'. However, they do not feel that his learning is secure in this band, and decide to plan opportunities for Callum to extend his knowledge and to explore concepts and skills further.

Next steps

Practitioners plan to set up a dinosaur environment in the small-world area, which they hope will engage Callum and other children. They aim to provide a context for purposeful play and evolving ideas, and support children in finding out more about dinosaurs.

Short-term planning for a focus

Key early learning goals

Find out about and identify some features of living things, objects and events they observe

Look closely at similarities, differences, patterns and change

Key objective

To look at, talk about and compare features of dinosaurs and find out more about their habitat and behaviour.

Area of provision

Small-world play area

Resources

Large shallow tray, sand, gravel, stones, rocks, plants (real or imitation pot plants) and pineapple tops, small shallow bowl containing water, plastic dinosaurs, picture and information books about dinosaurs, posters, paper, clipboard, pencils and pens

Content

* Involve the children in the setting up of the 'dinosaur world'.

* Encourage the children to explore the environment.

* Talk about features of the dino- saurs and the environment.

* Suggest criteria for sorting the dinosaurs.

* Encourage the children to make drawings of the dinosaurs.

Meeting all children's needs

* Provide small trays of sand, gravel and stones for those children who are more interested in tactile explorations of materials.

* Extension: Encourage the children to consider why dinosaurs had features such as sharp teeth or horns and how they compare with animals living today. Encourage them to talk in more detail about similarities and differences and to record their findings.

Adult role

* Play alongside the children.

* Help them to access information from books.

* Make your own observational drawings of dinosaurs.

* Provide additional resources to support developing play.

* Observe the children's play and record significant learning in individual profiles.

* Assess the children's progress towards the key goals.

* Share the children's experiences and achievements with parents and carers at the end of the day.

* Use key words such as dinosaur names, 'legs', 'neck' and 'tail'.

* Model the use of descriptive language, such as 'bobbly' and 'scaly'.

* Ask questions to extend learning, for example, 'Can you find all the dinosaurs with wings?', 'Do you think this dinosaur eats meat or plants?', 'Why do you think this one has such a long neck?' 'How many spikes has this one got on its back?', 'Can you find another dinosaur that walks on its back legs?'

Evaluation

How did the children respond?

Many children chose to access this activity, some becoming deeply absorbed and returning to the area frequently. Callum was able to take his interest to another level and has built up a bank of knowledge about particular dinosaurs, which he is eager to share with others. His play has become more focused, involved and interactive.

What links to other areas of the curriculum were identified?

The focus had strong links with creative development and was effective in promoting imaginative play. Some children introduced a narrative into their play; others were resourceful in finding objects to represent other things, such as a green plastic box turned on its side to create a 'cave'.

There were also opportunities to explore and make up new words. Children were fascinated by the complicated dinosaur names and keen to attempt saying them. They created their own words and names to describe dinosaurs - for example, 'Spikepointy - and used a range of mathematical vocabulary, such as 'big' and 'long'.

Experimenting with their voices to produce dinosaur sounds provided children with early experiences of phonics.

What follow-up will be planned?

Because of the enthusiastic response to this focus, the dinosaur environment will be left in the small-world area for a further week.

Callum's keyworker has planned to record a 'dinosaur sounds' tape, with children providing voices and other effects. The tape will be played in the small-world area as children use the dinosaur environment.

Children will take digital photographs of the dinosaurs in the environment and their comments will be scribed to produce an information book about dinosaurs. Some photos will be copied onto acetate sheets and projected on the wall on a large scale.

A series of questions about dinosaurs will be used on the question table as children enter nursery.

A circle time session will be planned to give children an opportunity to talk about their favourite dinosaur (from home or the nursery collection) in a small group.

Are there any implications for the long-term planning of provision?

A set of big model dinosaurs has been ordered for use in the 'wild' area of the outdoor space. It will enable children to extend their ideas on a larger scale.

The team has decided to look at how other sets of small-world equipment could be developed to increase learning opportunities, support interests and improve the quality of children's play. They will also look at the organisation of provision to enable children to create their own environments.

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 interest or need.

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.