Eyfs nursery

[Wanderlustnearorfar]

Hi all,
Looking for help. Due to start running an early years nursery class, have been out of the field a while and was wondering whether it's still advisable to arrange the room via areas e.g. Construction (would also place pens paper scissors etc) homecorner, creative etc, I would obviously try to integrate all aspects into each area. I'm unsure as on a training course someone mentioned this is now not done and the environment is not organised via "areas"
Sorry for waffling. Can anyone share how they organise their environments thank you

Following ... I’m in exactly the same situation! We can help each other x

@scooby23 yay!! It's good to know someone is in the same boat,you can start to question your own decisions arghh

It sounds like you're on the right track, have a look at the Keeping Early Years Unique page on Facebook, buy the book 'Nursery Year in Action' by Anna Ephgrave, have a look at Early Excellence and other classroom at up ideas on Pinterest.

I have worked to have more of my areas to be set up like Early Excellence over this year and I'm hoping to continue it, i.e. all basic resources out for children to access independently then we add enhancements based on their interests. This is in contrast to how it was done before when staff would choose e.g. the water wheels in the water tray one week then put these away in a cupboard and get the boats out the following week. It's worked well so far and means the children return to the same activities with new ideas and skills throughout the year.

Sorry I rushed reading the question and missed the last part of your post. Which training course did you go on?

I think there has been a move away from having signs everywhere labelling the various areas but from what I've seen and read most people (me included) still have- blocks (wooden), construction (plastic), sand and water trays, painting, dough area (I want to move towards children making their own dough more often), role play area, junk modelling (I call ours the making table).
We also still have a book corner, I tried having books in all areas but the children just ended up taking them back to a particular corner so that became the book corner. We also still have a writing table which gets used a lot as well as writing opportunities in other areas. And we have a maths area which I need to have a bit of an overhaul of but we also have maths in other areas, e.g. numbers to say how many blocks need to go on each space on the block shelves.

@Mistoffelees sorry for the late reply, thank you for your detailed reply, I have requested to join the Facebook page,and have looked into the book,would you say it would be helpful to me, I've been in early years for around 11years? Sorry for the confusion, the course was a safeguarding course, these comments were made through general chatting at our table about our newly allocated rooms classes. And you have to love a bit of pinterest thank you for all your suggestions. I think I will stick to the same principals as before, as they have always worked well and adapt as and when needed. I'm quite excited to be back in early years

I think the usefulness of the book depends on how you've approached things before and if you feel like you need to try something different. It's all about 'planning in the moment' which I could ramble on about but won't if you're happy with how you've done things before

@Mistoffelees I am more than happy to hear your views on planning in the moment, as I've been reading up on it and it's really making sense.
Last time I did planing for early years, it was very much planned activities and when interest was noted this would be added and followed on with.
so would you say a core focused activity would work on the plan and then leave all other areas free for in the moment. So sorry to be picking your brain, you seem very clued up

There are some people who are more into the 'in the moment' journey who would say that wouldn't work because it would inevitably mean that some opportunities to teach and respond to children's interests would be missed but it's what I'm working towards currently, away from all adults having a focussed activity.

Setting up the environment is a huge part of it as if you get it right it should mean the children are able to be much more independent leaving adults free to actually teach. I feel like I've got one area exactly right so far but I've only been at my current setting a year so I've got some tweaks to do over the holidays which should mean another 5 areas are sorted. That will also mean less time spent on turning round the environment every week for the sake of a change in topic so we can spend more time looking at observations, reviewing the week and planning for children's interests and for carpet sessions, again some people barely do any carpet times, we'll be keeping one at the beginning and end of each session for the foreseeable future.

I think it also depends on your staffing level, we have 2 adults for 26 children whereas in Anna Ephgrave's book she bases it on her school nursery where the ratio is more like 1 adult to 7 children. When I read that part my heart sank thinking there's no way we could manage it and to be fair we probably won't go down the 'focus child' route that's in the book. That is where you have a selection of children each week who you follow their interests and do longer observations and a bit more time spent with them to pursue their interests (the book explains it better) Although that does sound appealing I just don't think we'd manage it with only 2 staff.

I’ve bought the ‘in the moment’ planning today which I hope will help me plan room and start thinking about the way we will offer provision to children.

@Mistoffelees you have raised some very good points, various aspects worry me the staffing levels obviously are a factor and various other activities that occur throughout the day, also the level of experience and awareness in the support staff as I worry about some of those being able to provide rich experiences in the moment. I'm also confused can we still introduce subjects and interests such as Chinese New Year visits from police etc as these have always provoked lots of excitement and participation this is why I would still like to implement the focused activity. I feel like I have lots of reading up to do, to get up to speed, thanks for all the helpful insight much appreciated, I think this approach is seeming more popular with some, as others I have spoken to don't seem that enthused

@scooby23 that's great let me know your thoughts. Are you also in nursery?

Of course you can! It's not a prescribed way of doing things as such but some people will argue that their way is the best and it's wrong to do it any other way which can make it feel like you have to get it right or else! I think everyone I've spoken to who's been successful with changing to in the moment has talked about it being a journey and something you pick up, adapt and grow into along the way.
I'd really recommend the book, visit some settings who are already working that way if you can and just get inspired to do what you feel is best for the children.

Wander ... bit of a unique setting for pre school chn with Sen. I’ll let you know how I get on when get book xxxx