CMs - I am having a NIGHTMARE with my planning

[lollipopmother]

Please, someone help me . I have spent the last 6 hours doing paperwork and all I've got out of it is two observations out of it, with next steps, and half a planning sheet for an 8m/o. I am working myself into a tizz because I just can't get my head around how to show I'm planning for an 8m/o - or for any baby really. I've been a CM for 3 months and I have never tried to do a planning sheet (blush) and now I know why!!

What I've tried to do is a Mon-Fri weekly plan. Each day has the same eating and sleeping routine. I have planned to go to the Children's Centre on Mon and Tues, soft play on Thurs (this is our normal weekly routine too).

Each morning I've planned a song/rhyme/story as 8m/o tends to be severely grouchy and not up to much all morning until her sleep at 11:30.

Do I literally have to plan every minute of my day? Can I get away with putting one game/activity etc in after lunch which would bring my planned activities up to two per day??

I think I just pulled out half of my hair over the last 6 hours because I definitely feel balder!!

Plan in retrospect

What did you do?
How did it work?
What did the child get out of it?
What will you do with the child next?

You don't need a weekly plan or even a daily one

Just go with it - take a photo add an obs, plan next steps

Oh, I should add that I also intend to make a plan for my other mindee that comes 3 days a week, he's 18m/o and my DD is 21m/o and the baby quite enjoys joining in with small world play (eating the figures etc) so I can link the two plans, but should I really be planning to let a baby chew on a wooden train??!

Yes - it's textural - the track might be better - depends upon the age of the baby

Have you got a treasure basket?

KatyMac - We x-posted. Now that's what seems reasonable to me and what I've been doing because baby is a new recruit (started last month) so I'm just getting to know her.

How old does a child have to be then before you have to do weekly plans?

Thank you for your input by the way, very much appreciated, I might be able to sleep a little easier tonight now!!

Never done one in 7 yrs (actually I think I did for my NVQ but only for that)

Damn more x-posting!

Yes I have a 'sensory box' that is full of all sorts of crap sensory items. She really likes rummaging through it and I do tend to do that in the afternoon when the other babies are asleep.

The problem is that she's so bloody miserable in the morning, she refuses to sleep but she's badly in need of it so she's horribly clingy - so much so that I can't even sit her between my legs without her crying, she has to be on my legs. After her lunch and sleep though she's an absolute diamond and I could litterally leave her all afternoon to get on with what she's doing.

oh for God sake, the crap was supposed to be crap, I really need to turn my pc off and go to bed!

So should you go for a walk to get her to sleep in the buggy?

Does she need more (or less) breakfast?

crap sensory??

Wooden spoons, and sieves, and bits of rope, and wooden blocks, and a sponge, and a stone??

Oh Katy, I've tried everything. It's because she normally has a 45-60m nap at about the time they're putting her in the car to come to me, she sleeps for 15mins whilst they're driving and then wakes up when they're getting her out of the car and refuses to go back to sleep again for me. Some times I can get her to have a short morning nap but that just puts her afternoon sleep back and she's miserable until she finally sleeps properly.

I walk to the Children's Centre just before 10am and she'll try to sleep but every bump I go over she starts to scream her head off. Personally I think she'll probably start to feel better as she gets used to not having a bigger morning nap, I think she's slowly dropping it hence why she won't sleep after arriving in the morning, as there's really no reason to not sleep when we're walking to the Children's Centre.

My sensory box is actually quite extensive and not at all crap, it's just that it looks like a junk box because of all the odds and ends that are in it!

lollipopmother, you are doing exactly what you should be doing in the mornings which is meeting this baby's needs. Write down what you did and why. There will be bits of the EYFS under PSED (building secure relationships, etc) that it covers beautifully. Then do a line of how well you think it worked and what your next steps could be.

E.g.: She cried but stopped when you sang a particular song so you will do that again tomorrow.

Or: You asked mum what her favourite music or tv programme was and listened/watched together. It worked so you'll do that to settle her each morning.

or: she sat on your lap banging some toys together - next step could be to give her a wooden spoon and a pan to sit on your lap and bang (ok - perhaps you're too sane to do that but you get my drift).

When you've done that write it down, take a photo (close up?) and hey presto you've linked her learning to your planning!

You don't have to make it complicated or in depth and you can use meals and nappy changes in a similar way, not just play activities.

You may find it easier if you split your daily routines away from planning then you wont get to bogged down.

This is what I do I have a laminated list on the wall with our daily routine.

I have a topic that runs with the childrens interests so atm its the farm, next will be dinosaurs etc.

With the topic I don't plan as such, we go with the flow each day and fit our normal routine around the theme, so story time would be animal stories, rhymes old mcdonald, playdoh animal shapes, painting crops, flowers, you get the drift.

I then observe from what the mindees do during these things, I have blank obs sheets in the playroom and if I can I do it straight away, otherwise I go through the day books later and do a batch.

For actual planning for the individual child I do termly, then I link to the obs sheets and carry forward any missed or areas that I feel can be covered more thoroughly.

If you like I can email you some bits.

You can just put a couple of notes about next steps on the bottom of her observations. I have never yet written a detailed plan, because the children would change it anyway.

Just wanted to say,that dropping a morning sleep in 8 months old baby is not something you should aim for.Some children have a morning and afternoon sleep until 18 month,and it is perfectly normal for a healthy developing.

Obviously every child is different,but I wouldn't rely on the fact "she will be better if she drops a morning sleep".Children needs a lot of sleep at that age and maybe she is not sleeping enough in the night,so perhaps speak to her parents how long did she sleep at night,is she teething,waking up and so on.

You are doing all the right things and just starting to get to know her,so fingers crossed for you.

Alison - I've had a better morning this morning, firstly dad said she slept for 30mins in car due to awful traffic rather than her normal 15mins, and I also planned 30mins uninterupted(ish!) time for her to sit on my lap and do 'stuff', mostly singing and action rhymes with the older kids. She was still miserable when I put her down but it did seem to be a bit less! So I should write this down ...... how? As an observation and then say next steps is to do this every morning? Do I have to have a seperate sheet called 'planning' which shows singing every morning?

Atwork - If you would email me I would be eternally grateful, your planning sounds good but my brain is not functioning so I really need to see it before I can get my head around it! My email is lorna at lornaslittlecherubs dot co dot uk. Thank you thank you! And thank you in advance too because I know i'm going to be bogged down in paperwork for ages so I might not get to email back straight away but be assured that I am reading everything you send and am very grateful!

HSMM - I have a next steps bit at the bottom of my obs but as I only do an official obs once a week or so is that enough to show planning? In the daily diary I often write obs on about 3 things a day but I don't go the whole hog and put it into the official obs sheet I've got iykwim.

Julinka - Obviously I would much prefer it if she was to sleep more in the morning, I don't think that my post suggested that I was trying to get her to drop it - quite the opposite infact seeing as I'm frantically trying everything in order to get her to sleep! The issue is that she sleeps in the car, gets woken up when she's brought in and then won't go back to sleep even though I do everything that I can think of to get her back to sleep, which is why I was wondering whether she might be slowly dropping the morning nap, something that is her choice and certainly not mine!

Well I think I might have an idea that could work. I have just made a sheet with the headings 'observation' 'development' and 'next steps' across the top, Mon-Fri down the side. I will choose one thing that I've noticed and I'll write it down in the obs bit, the development bit is linking it to the EYFS and the next steps is basically what I will do next because of what I've observed.

Is that enough for planning for the 0-2's? It'll mean I don't have an actual plan as in at 9am we will be doing singing, at 10am we will be playing with the train set, at 11am we will be painting etc but that sort of plan is completely unreasonable and unworkable anyway isn't it??

sent some stuff over give me a shout if you have any questions.

I have a sheet which I complete each day as my planning.

I pick about three activities from each day which I write up. This includes mealtimes and nappy changes because they are great learning experiences. I have one box for a few sentences about what we did and why. A column to tick the areas of learning that were best supported and a box for evaluation and next steps. This shows that I am following the children's interests, linking to the EYFS and planning next steps in response to their learning.

That is the sum total of my planning because I don't see the point of planning in advance.

I have a list of ideas for activities to draw on at moments when I'm struggling for inspiration but rarely use it because the children choose that activities each day and I follow.

I also fill in a learning journey for each child which is basically EYFS Development Matters with boxes to fill in with little details and dates. This was provided by Worcs EYCS. I put photos in there but rarely use formal focussed obs. I don't see the need unless there is a concern because as a childminder you have a small group of children and observe them closely all day every day anyway. Ofsted thought this was a great system because it meets the ethos of the EYFS perfectly.

I hope this helps you.

my planning goes a bit like this:

yearly broken down into seasons then broken down to things or events to celebrate, birthdays/mothering sunday/fathers day/diwali/chinese new year, that kind of thing

This is the very basic framework on which I hang everything

Each child has obs sheets that I fill in, maybe one a week, maybe more or less depending on lots of things (time, are they having an explosion in development, are they here every day) and at the bottom I write the next steps and stick in a file

then at some point we do the next steps I suggested on the prev sheet and I write an obs sheet and carry on

Also I use the sticky pad system, brief notes that I stick into a form divided into the 6 areas of learning. I collate these over a 2 month period and then assess using a grid provided by the early years team and pass the whole file to parents for comment. This is a very clear indicator of whether any areas of development are being 'missed' because you might have say 20 on physical and 2 on KUW (exaggeration but you get my drift)

I follow the children's interests and don't do topics AT ALL

This works because I care for a small amount of children all part time

sorry for essay

Boysarelikedogs - That sounds like a very easy system to maintain, I like it! I have also done the yearly seasons, holidays and birthdays etc thing so at least I've started something right!

I like the sticky pad thing, sounds very easy and useful. I think the sheet I made this afternoon is similar, it's on a weekly basis but I could summarise it every month or so to make sure all the areas are getting covered regularly.

One more question for everyone - in the 6 areas they're all broken down into smaller catagories that have a couple of points each in them - do I have to show that every single point has been covered? Obv this would take quite some time but is that what the planning is aiming to do, cover every single bit on the EYFS?

No you don't have to show they have covered every point. I review the activities I do to make sure I cover all area of learning regularly. I make notes of each little bit of development matters I have seen evidence of on that particular child's learning journey. I don't worry about covering every bit - it is a guidance not a tick list.

You need to try out a few different formats and see what works best for you. Just bear in mind that you need to keep it as simple as possible and only write down what is actually useful. You won't get brownie points from Ofsted for writing things down for no purpose.

Alison - Thank you for your reply, I'm happy that I don't have to cover every point as I had been worrying that I would have to. I have been showing each point that has been covered during my observation but I shan't worry about making a specific observation just to cover the points I hadn't got iykwim!

I also have lots of issues with planning, as when I try it gets thrown out of the window - when mum says "we went to the seaside this weekend and collected lots of shells" BYE BYE planning, as while the child is interested they will learn loads more, so I go with what they enjoy.

Like BALD I do have a general yearly plan, as mentioned, and fill in other areas with children's personal likes, then do observations, to put in their learning journeys, ensuring I am covering all the areas of learning and development.

I do a basic weekly plan including the basics, such as park, playgroup, soft-play, walks, messy play, library, look in the learning journeys at what areas I would like to cover with each child.

I am trying to learn to become less stressed, I have recently done a questionnaire for parents to gain feedback (for future OFSTED inspection, and for the same reason the local nursery and I swapped learning journeys, and quite frankly mine were much better . Everyone is happy, I do the best I can with the time and resources I have and am trying to let some of the stress go.

I basically do not do any planning - personally I think too much emphasis is put on childminders to 'plan' for this and that.

The only planning I put down on my paperwork is when I do a monthly (yes a monthly) observation. Then I do the ob, assess what the child is doing, likes to do, and then put planning - i.e. what I plan to do next.

If the child is learning to walk, I plan to help him/her with that etc.

If child is interested in trucks, plan to get the books, cars, trucks out.

Yes, I do probably do a lot more other stuff like a daily diary which is a whole page for each child, but I would be tied to planning for four children every day.

I just don't do it and I'm sure Ofsted wouldn't be that worried.