EYFS writing ideas - windy day activity follow up

The week ahead in our Early Years Foundation Stage Unit includes several activities based on the theme of weather.
The kite activities were such a success last week because they provided an exciting stimulus for talk.

Engaging early years children in writing is not always easy but the golden rule is to make any writing activity motivating, purposeful and have an audience for the child to present their writing to.

Talking, listening and communicating are crucial elements of the EYFS. The summative assessment culture of the English education system has lead to teachers and practitioners feeling pressured to move straight onto the actual physical act of producing writing in the Reception class. To produce quality writing, young children must have be given time to formulate their ideas, fire up their imagination and voice their experiences.


I used to get so worried that we were not doing enough writing but experience has shown me that if children have access to truly inspiring, sensory and meaningful activities it will prompt them to talk about them.

When children are confident to talk, structure and sequence their thoughts they are more likely to be able to write them down..

So, in the morning, we have a delivery of a letter. The letter is from the Year 1 class. It says:

Dear Children,
You had a lot of fun with your bag kites last week.
How did you make them?
Can you write some instructions for us please so that we can make a bag kite too?
Love from Y1.

We will then embark on talk partners. This involves the children pairing up and discussing through recall how they made their bag kites.

I will ask them just 2 questions. What did they use to make the kite? What did they do to make the kite?

The final part of the session will involve me listening to feedback from the children and modelling the writing process on the board. I will use a series of pictures drawn by my own fair hand and labels.

I will write 3 or 4 simple sentences to describe how we made our kites.

The carpet session will lead nicely into the individual and small group writing input where children will have the opportunity to write their own set of instructions.

We will make these into a book (after copying them for their learning journeys) and give the book to Y1.

Hey Presto! Motivation, purpose and an audience for EYFS writing!

management time - who is entitled to it?

I manage a team of 5 other practitioners in our busy EYFS unit. Yet we are all managers in our own right as we have the responsibility to observe, assess and plan the learning of each child in our key group.

The planning is done through analysis of learning and discussions during our team meetings but what about the other work involved such as updating assessment information and recording any significant evidence in children's learning journeys?

From the outset of my role, I have been committed to allowing each practitioner some PPA (preparation, planning and assessment) time. We are lucky as our ratios are favourable - in a large unit we have 1:15 in Reception and 1:9 in Nursery.

I shared my expectations with the team at the start of my contract and my belief that we should all be able to access some 'time away' to carry out our duties. This had never happened before - with the manager and other qualified teacher being the only members of the team that were permitted to take any PPA. 

It was agreed that we would all be flexible and plan accordingly for everyone to take time out each week to update their learning journeys and have some time to reflect and this has led to the rest of the team covering for a 1 and 3/4 hour period each day - with slightly raised but legal ratios in order for this to happen.

The result of this has impacted on the quality of planning, the range and suitability of learning opportunities and a deepened understanding of each Key Person's children. The cover periods are successful because the planning and interventions are so much sharper.

I realise that we are in a good position as we have a unit with very skilled and committed staff but taking the decision to release them has raised morale and had a positive impact upon the quality of provision.

During my many years as a consultant, I came across so many practitioners who were frustrated that they had no time during school hours to reflect. When it is only teachers that get PPA time it can also be very divisive - and the challenge for EYFS leaders is to be creative - looking to their own team and within the senior management team to find ways in which to ensure that EYFS practitioners who have Key Person responsibilities to access non-contact time. It may not be possible weekly but ways need to be found to allow some time during a half term.

The tiger who came to tea

Last term we covered a really great unit of work based on Judith Kerr's popular children's story 'The tiger who came to tea'. As it was such a success, I noted down some of the ideas that were used incase you may find them useful as a starting point for your own topic. Our 'Tiger Day' was particularly successful and as a result we intend to do regular theme days both to enhance learning and fundraise for resources.
I hope you find these ideas useful http://notecook.com/drinks/the-tiger-who-came-to-tea-planning-ideas-for-learning/