how can i write an observation?

[actonchildminder]

Hi all

I know what I want to say but just dont know how to word it?

Development worker is coming Monday so need to get it all up to date, she wants to see them and rest of paper work?

Any help is much appreciated.

Thank you

What kind of observation?

There are the type where you decide to watch the child and note down everything they do or say like a running commentary as a pure observation with no input from you.

'X is playing with cars. He lines the cars up by the side of the box. He chooses a blue car and uses his right hand to roll it along the floor to another box. He leaves the car and returns to the row of cars. He selects a red car and repeats the action. He repeats the action until all the cars are lined up by the second box. He selects a white car and rolls it along the floor returning it to the first box....'

Or you can incorporate talking to him as you would normallly.

'X is playing with cars. He lines the cars up by the side of the box. He chooses a blue car.

CM: What colour is that car, X?
X: It's a blue one.
CM: That's right it's a blue car.

He uses his right hand to roll the car along the floor to another box.

CM: Where is the car going, X?
X: I'm driving it to the garage.
CM: What's going to happen to it there?
X: It's going to get fixed. My daddy's car was broken and the garage men fixed it.

He parks the car and returns to the original row of cars....'

At the other end of the spectrum there are observations that you do as a tick list over the course of a week to see what skills the children have, so for a 7 months old baby you might put the milestones for a 3, 6 and 9 month old on a tick of when they demonstrate something.

You can do obs on a specific area of learning (like the above) or spontaneous obs using a camera or post-it notes that you can scrapbook for a learning journey or evaluate later.

A lot of the childminders i know use the post it note version, as do I.
I cant se otherwise how you would have time to do a full blown ob like you wouild in a nursery for example.

The Easiest way I feel is the 'Tick Chart'. Its Very quick and easy to use. Yiu can make these up yourself just using PIES. Great detail is not needed like schools or nurseries.
Hope this helps

My learning journeys are scrap books, with a summery of the learning areas at the front along with child's starting points, and page for family and pets photos. I take lots of photos to put in along with photos of craft work and pictures that the child has done. I write captions underneath stating the date, what the child was doing/did/said/reactions etc... Some of these I then link to the eyfs, some I put a suggested next step to and others I leave with a caption or an "I can" or a "Wow". I then have a print out of the development matters grids that I highlight and date as a stage is reached. I keep a roll of white sticky labels near by to note things on aswell, these are dated and just stuck in to the learning journey.

Have you looked at the Childminding forum? Loads of useful help and advice on there.

thanks for all of your replies, I have done a few photos and written next to them but I have got the observation sheets which is confusing,

box 1 observation/post it note
box 2 link observations to 6 areas
box 3 next step planning
box 4 link next step to planning 6 areas

not sure what im supposed to write, (sorry for sounding thick)

I would ignore box 4

waterloo, a tick box is not showing what the child achieved or how they did it, nor whether the child extended that activity, or what support if any was needed

Tick boxes really don't fit EYFS imo

Okay using my interactive example that's your raw obs.

You then identify the areas of learning - communication, explaining what he was doing, recognising colours, motor skills, links to the wider world, imaginative development etc and look at the eyfs to see where they fit in.

Then from that you can plan future learning eg identifying colours other than blue (same area of learning under eyfs) and suggest that you extend car/garage relayed activities and incorporate them into your planning (instant child led planning). Then for bonus points you can consider how to link other areas of learning to cars (how many = basic numeracy etc).

Your next step planning is basically saying X can do this; this relates to areas a, b and c; the next steps in areas a, b and c are p, q and r; I can help X achieve p, q and r by doing these activities.

Dont worry about linking to all six areas of learning, yes most good obs will cover a lot of outcomes but if your'e just starting out pick the one or two things that stand out specifically to you and concentrate on those, when you get the hang of it, you will be able to reel of the lingo without looking at the book.

An ob with one detailed outcome is far better than an ob with loads of notes straight from the manual which doesn't actually say what the child has done IYSWIM.

thanks atwork that really helps, going have a go at doing one today.

Good luck

Obs don't need to be scary. If you've got good raw material a lot of the time you'll find they write themselves as it's usually quite obvious what a child was doing and then you just use the framework as a tool.

Just remember the milestones etc are your friends, not something you impose on every activity. If it fits with an area then great, if it doesn't don't try to force it!

I'm STILL struggling with obs and whether or not I'm doing it right. I did one recently that I thought is more like what they want but can I post it here and you guys let me know if I'm on the right track?

I've copied and pasted it, just removing personal info:

Observation ? Looking at ?Colours? and ?Shapes?

X 2010
Using the Shapes and Colours books, X and I discuss the different things we see. X remembers more colours than in the past and is very happy to get them right. Only colours that X needs help with are Purple, Green and Grey (correctly tells me Red, Blue, Yellow, Orange, Black, White, Pink & Brown although these are a bit mixed up when we discuss it again, maybe just a confidence thing)
We move onto the Shapes book, I point at shapes........
? CIRCLE ? ?It?s a ball?. ?It?s round?. Then shouts ?It?s a CIRCLE? with a big smile
? SQUARE ? ?It?s a square!?
? DIAMOND ? ?It?s a Triangle? (I say ?It?s like 2 little triangles on top of each other?), ?It?s a square? (I say ?Yes, if you turn the page a little it is?). I then give a clue by holding the shape in the air (using fingers) and remind her there is a song with the word in. I sing Twinkle Twinkle Little Star and leave that word blank. X shouts ?DIAMOND?
? OVAL ? ?It?s a Rugby ball?. I explain that yes, it?s the same shape of a rugby ball. X isn?t sure of the name of this shape so I tell her.
? TRIANGLE ? ?It?s a triangle?
? RECTANGLE ? ?Hmmm, it?s like a square but it?s not, I don?t know? I explain that she?s right and that 2 sides are longer than the other 2 sides. I tell her the name of this shape.
? STAR ? ?It?s a star?
? SEMICIRCLE ? ?Don?t know? I explain that it?s half of a circle and tell her the name.

Next Steps ? continue to look at shapes and colours in the environment

X July 2010
Whilst playing in the garden I take the shapes book out and have some one to one time with X, seeing if she can remember the shapes. X remembers correctly the shapes she knew last time we looked and this time is very excited to correctly say ?RECTANGLE?, ?CIRCLE? & ?DIAMOND?. X enjoys lots of praise and cuddles and we discuss ?SEMICIRCLE? and ?OVAL? again.

I haven't done the linking yet, I'm trying to decide if the observation is ok first?

Anyone????

Bump for later and actonchildminder, I hope you don't mind me hi-jacking!!

no not at all, it will answer my question aswell lol.

I tried to do one today on a 6 month old, that was really hard. The 3 year old I have doesn't talk, he joins in activities though.

Looney thats fab, nice that you have noted activities outside too as they are so important, also finding shapes / colours in the environment as well, mindees can continue this with parents when out and about, so includes other carers as well, lots of good points and nice that you have noted the one to one time as well.

acton don't worry about what they can't do (in this case talk) children communicate in so many ways, I bet you know exactly what your mindee wants / needs etc from their actions, facial expressions and formative speech. One of the key points to remember in obs is to note positives not negatives, so I would put something like.

X showed that he / she was excited by pointing, babbling and jumping up and down, X came running over to me and caught my hand to take me to see the rabbit etc...

I wouldn't put

X's speach is not fully developed yet so was unable to talk about the rabbit or join in with the other mindees when we talked about our day at circle time.

An obs can be just one word or line, it doesnt have to be a massive report quite often if you put in a picture it says it all, you cn then link these little obs to bigger ones as next steps this way you arn't doing masses of paperwork. I also find parents are much happier with smaller snap shots of what their child does rather than great long written things with lots of codes and references to manuals that they have a) never seen b) have little or no interest in ever seeing c) don't understand (not that they couldn't, just that they havn't read the stuff IYSWIM)