In the Moment Planning and Focus Children

EYFS Curriculum Information

Each day we are unsure of where the day will go, or exactly what learning will happen resulting in a sense of excitement and anticipation throughout the day. Children’s interests are very much ‘in the moment’ and this is why here at the Centre pre-school we aim to very much teach in the moment and ensure our planning is spontaneous and tailored to that individual child. Planning in the moment is all about capturing the moment for children to progress based on what the children are already deeply involved in. From this we are able to see the ‘teachable moment’ from the child’s perspective and know when to intervene and when to stand back and observe. It is all about capturing the moment of engagement and running with it to make sure the children progress.  

The teachable moment

From the teachable moment the child feels valued, interesting, important, capable and able to learn as well as gaining knowledge, skills and understanding therefore making progress in one or even several areas of the Early Years Curriculum. We are able to gain a good understanding of the child’s knowledge, skills, attitude, understanding and progress.  

Planning on paper

This way of working means that most of our planning is in the moment (there is little forward planning as we are following the child’s lead) We record what we have done to help the children progress each day through their ‘next steps’ and these are recorded in the children’s observations on their online Tapestry journal. We still have adult led activities daily and plan for things like art and science-exploratory/messy activities. 

Observations

All observations made of the children are based on quality interactions between children or children and us practitioners or record ‘wow moments’ when a child does something new for the first time. They will include any teaching that has taken place or progress that a child has made. All of our practitioners are responsible for highlighting progress in observations. Emphasis is highly placed on using ‘I wonder…’ statements e.g., ‘I wonder if…’, ‘I wonder what…’, ‘I wonder how…’. We feel that this approach to questioning is a lot less pressurising and allows the children to open up more readily. 

Parents are also asked to share any observations of ‘wow moments’ of their child(ren) at home by adding observations to their child’s Tapestry journal. 

Focus Children

Instead of having focus activities, each week we have three or four focus children. The week before a child is one of our focus children, parents will receive a notification via Tapestry explaining this, and asking you to contribute your knowledge of your child too along with a few photographs.  Each child is a focus child once per term, three times a year, thus resulting in parents having the opportunity to contribute and consult with us in a structured way each term. During each child’s focus week they will noticeably have more observations in their journals on which quality interactions and learning experiences are recorded.