Tips for running Nursery class

[muminthesun1]

I'm teaching Nursery class this year for the first time, moving from KS2. Anyone got any tips for how to organise the settling in period? Some questions I have are:

• Do you do set carpet spaces from day one or do they sit anywhere on carpet until you create seating plan when you know them?

• How do you teach lining up? Do you do Choo choo trains or something?

- What do you do on the first morning in order to introduce yourself and each other?

• Do you do a story every day at a particular time?

Any tips gratefully received!

Taught in EYFS FOR 10yrs alongside other year groups.

• Ive never had carpet spaces, additional adults sit near children who need support. Also, encourage children to make 'good choices' about who they sit next to.
• Depending on the set up of your school and where you are moving to is there really any need to line up? Obviously as the year goes on this is a skill to develop but not at the beginning.

To answer your other questions I would need to know how your children enter into Nursery.

This is what I do:-
-Visits to Nursery so I already know majority of the children and families
-Staggered starts into Nursery so that there are small numbers at first and children can settle into a calm environment.

• Do you encourage families to stay for first session/part of first session? This will impact your first day/week

-Spend time playing with the children and showing them all of the resources/areas in the classroom. -Some years I have gathered children together to sing songs/listen to a short story/play games just depends on the cohort.

Feel free to PM me x

Thanks Twinkle, lots to think about there. I'll PM you. x

I could have written your post myself op. I too am going to be starting in nursery in September. I am really worried about it to be honest!! Questions keep popping into my head in the night, where do I get "next steps" from? Do I make them up? I will be working with a very "old school" nursery nurse who likes to have milk time and set outside times, she doesn't believe in free flow and child led. All they have outside is bikes and a climbing frame/slide. Don't know how to start making changes.

Have you read Development Matters Jojo? Lots of ideas for what next steps might be in there, for eg. if a child can currently follow simple instructions their next step might be following instructions with two part sequences.

I would leave the organisation of the nursery class to teh nursery nurse and just concentrate on the teaching.
If the nn has been there a while then there should already be a routine in place . This obviously has the potential to be tweaked but you need the nn on side for it all to run smoothly, so the children get the best out of it. Good luck, sounds like you are going to need it.
It might be an idea to visit other nursery classes to get a feel for how it is done.

Yes I have read development matters hettienne. I just feel like I should instinctively know what next steps should be like everyone else seems to do. Am sure I'll get used to that sort of thing, mainly worried about how (as a totally non confrontational person) to bring in the changes needed to get the place up to date. I know the nursery nurse will be reluctant to change anything and I don't want to offend her, I know nursery nurses are worth their weight in gold and she is very experienced.

I wonder how other teachers have found it working with this young age group, particularly having similar age children at home. Is it exhausting? Do you feel like you are dealing with lots of tantrums and constantly tidying up?

Have a look at this website there is lots of good ideas for EYFS

abcdoes.typepad.com/new/ (Sorry cant do link thing!)

Yes EYFS is exhausting (especially when you have young children as I have) But its no worse than any other year group and its very rewarding.

With regard to NN- change things gradually and ask her for her ideas and opinions and listen to them. Ive worked with lots of different staff and I usually find they have an area that they love and that they are strong in I normally give them full control of it. Also, remember to say thank you all the time and at the end of every single day. Everybody wants to feel valued and when your stressed and busy its easy to forget.

Good luck xx

www.twinkl.co.uk/ (This one is good for resources as is the TES website.)

Will post when I think of others x

I didn't know nursery could be run by someone with no experience of nursery. Will there be just the two adults?

Our preschool had lots of very experienced pre school leaders and the inexperienced or younger ones learnt alongside. There were lots of staff in the room!

I am also teaching Nursery for the first time this year; having never even taught EYFS before. I am very about it all.

Some useful ideas on this thread.

I am also quite surprised at so many teachers being put in nursery without any EYFS experience/training - it's quite a leap.

Thanks for all your ideas everybody and links. It is quite a leap indeed, have done some shadowing of last teacher and read a lot. Also the other teachers and the nursery nurse I will be working with all very experienced and great attitudes. The PGCE qualifies you to work across the primary age range. It's great to work in a school where they give opportunities to teacher to try a completely different age range to the one they have experience in.

Pink Sippy Cup, I have found the EYFS stage has really grown on me, it was a surprise for me to be moved. Think it may have been because the marking load for KS2 in our school is ridiculous and would be difficult with young children at home - no surprises that all the teachers are young and single! I do admire the teacher mums on here who settle back down to work at 9pm and go to bed at 11. Personally, I'll be trying to head to bed shortly after 9pm so I've got energy to deal with the day! Poor DH - working week will be all about work but hopefully we can enjoy the weekends together.

Thought it might be useful to someone if I posted my daily routine in Nursery (Once all the children are settled in of course, large class with intake throughout the whole of September.)

8.55am- Welcome children and parents (Three staff one on the door, one doing self registration and other floating around children)

Continuous provision indoors (9-10am approx.)

Adults in the room to extend play/model language. One adult may be making observations on children who are engaged in child initiated play.

Adults taking turns working with the children in their key worker group doing activities. (Three groups)

10am- Whole group
Sharing visual timetable. Sharing stories, songs and rhymes and topics etc (short amount of time especially at the beginning.)

After whole group- indoor and outdoor continuous provision- adults moving between the two areas.

11.20 appox- whole class snack (Ive also tried continuous snack and sometimes alternate between the two.)

11.30 approx.- Getting ready for hometime (Which takes ages!!!) Sing goodbye song/prayer and go home.

Repeat for afternoon Nursery :)

Not suggesting this is perfect and I've tried lots of different things but this has worked well the last few years.

This is really great Twinkle, thanks for sharing.

My daily schedule goes something like this....

8.50 - parent and children arrive. Parents welcome to stay until approximately 9.20

9.20 ish - carpet for all (we sit in a circle) - visual timetable, register, counting, introduce any particular activities or areas.

9.30 ish - continuous provision plus focus groups (free flow from this point onwards)

10.30 - snack time (continuous snack never worked for me as we like to use it as a social time for rehearsed and supported talking)

10.50 - continuous provision plus focus groups and free flow

11.35 - getting ready to go home

11.50 - children either line up for lunch or get ready to go home.

11.55 - Morning children leave, afternoon children arrive, children go to lunch.

12.30 - back from lunch, quieter time - stories, songs, register etc.

12.45 - continuous provision, focus groups, free flow

2.00 - snack

2.20 - continuous provision, focus groups, free flow

2.40 - getting ready to go home

3.00 - go home

3.05 tidy up and collapse