Childcare

At placement, I was asked to carry out some children’s observations in reception class in the morning aged between 4-5yrs old to ensure that the children are all progressing with their individual development. The children had done some counting activities last week by using different counting themes using numbers from 1-20 and different shapes, size and colour objects from around the room for the activity. I had started the activity by sitting with three children at a time and using different coloured pebbles to observe how far they can count to. I was observing and writing notes on each child to find out what numbers can he/she confidentially count up to without any help or guidance from an adult and also if I noticed any difficulty whilst them counting. For example: Child A - counted the pebbles from 1-20 quite quickly and with confidence. Child B - counted up to 1-15 correctly and then started to miss out a few numbers trying his very best to count up to 20 which I helped him to achieve by recounting all the pebbles and working with numbers from 15-20. Child C - again counted all the pebbles from 1-20 correctly but was slow and shy at counting, I then asked him to do two recounts using the pebbles which gained his confidence. All together I had observed 22 children in class and repeated the activity successfully. If another child or all the children in the group had liked to join in then they too had the opportunity to carry out the activity and to ensure that all children can adapt to the activity accordingly. The aim was to have each child counting confidently on their own from 1-15 or above and it shows that the children enjoyed using different objects to count by using pebbles and I feel that if they enjoy an activity then they are learning from it. In reception all the planning and observations are linked into the Early Years Foundation Stages and the children have at least two observations done on them during the week for their personal developmental records. All the observations are evaluated and then expanded for continuous planning and development. It’s in the evaluation box that children’s names are added for further reference so they can be added to the planning for this type of activity again in the future. After the children’s personal observation sheets are completed it is then filed away in the record files and every 6 months a review is carried out to make sure the child is progressing and if an area of development is falling behind then it is made sure that staff focus on it to ensure it does not happen. The children’s parents are welcome to ask for a meeting at any time when their child is on our care for us to go through the personal record file and to identify any issues that both parties may have to ensure that they are controlled and monitored to ensure they don’t become worse and to show the child’s parents how well the child is doing in school.