Planning in Early Childhood

Resources are selected as part of my formative observations and planning system and reflect the requirements of the EYFS curriculum (Early Education/DfE,2012). When observing children’s play, it allows me to identify the child’s interests, how they learn and what is required to develop their learning further. As a practitioner I can then provide varied opportunities within my planning to support development.(KS1)

The pediatric observation assignment allows me to observe not only about the children but also about myself. While doing this assignment, I have observed myself that I can understand the theories better when I can able to apply them practically. The developmental theories I have learned in class are reflected in this process of observation and documentation. Also, the observation assessment tool, Hawaii Early Learning Checklist helped me to observe specifically about developmental signs of the child of the assigned age range. Together with the knowledge I already have and the assist of HELP Checklist, I documented the skills, and patterns of development of the 30-months-old-preschooler-boy Isaac.

The observation tool provided monitors and records a variety of developmental milestones. These observations are used later as a reference to better plan the curriculum for the class. Accurately collecting this information includes an honest, unbiased record of behaviors, regular updates, and a review by other staff members trained in the observation

In order to apply theories and models of child development to support children’s development we must get to know each individual child by building a good relationship with the children through play, communication and answering to their personal needs. Observation and assessment is also key so that we know what each child is capable of and what they are working towards/could be encouraged towards. Good communication with parents is also beneficial as it helps the carer to see what the child is doing at home and to identify if there are things they do or don’t do at nursery that is different from home. It also helps to work out ways of encouraging development at home and at nursery.

Chapter two discusses various theorists that helped to mold and shape early childhood education to where it is today. There are several different theorists that contributed to the development of early childhood education. Some of these theorists include Alfred Adler, Jean Piaget, Lev Vygotsky, and John Dewey. Each theorist developed a unique theory that has caused early childhood guidance and education to flourish like it has today. Without learning and building on these theories, early childhood guidance and education would never develop or change. The chapter explains how some theories may seem strange to the contemporary families, but these theories are the foundation of how early childhood education got to where it is today. The book goes

*Enabling environment- children learn best in positive surroundings when the activities are set out for their personal requirements and there is a good relationship between practitioner and parents of the children.

engage effectively with children to encourage the child’s participation and involvement in planning their own learning and development activities.

I believe that each child is unique individual who needs a secure, caring, and stimulating atmosphere in which to grow and mature emotionally, intellectually, physically, and socially. It is my desire as an educator to help students meet their fullest potential in these areas by providing an environment that is safe, supports risk-taking, and invite a sharing of ideas. There are three elements that I believe are conducive to establishing such an environment namely, the teacher acting guide, allowing the child’s natural curiosity to direct his/her learning, promoting respect for all the things and all the people.

“Early roots of play as a best practice for early learning was documented by Plato, a Greek philosopher, who insisted that play is considered a natural activity of childhood.”(Ingrid Crowther, 2011, Pg. 2) Early Childhood Education is a term that refers to educational programs that are devoted to children from birth to the age of eight. “Children of this age learn by exploring and investigating; therefore, their environment should support and encourage this process.”(Rebecca Isbell and Betty Exelby, 2001, Pg. 11) Early childhood environments should be attractive and exciting. These environments should allow children to work and play using proper resources, materials, and tools.

After observing a nine month old child for this Child Observation paper, the author of this paper has taken copious notes during the session. The purpose of this paper is recognizing the biological, cognitive and psychosocial development of the child. The author of this paper identified the background history of the child, the observation made and the development process of the child.

The early childhood are the most vital time for learning, therefore observations, assessments, planning and evaluation are an important part of the curriculum for children’s

It is imperative that practitioners are able to observe and assess each child’s development in order to gain a full understanding of their development and how they can build upon this in order to cater to the needs of the child and allow them to fulfill their potential. This is highlighted by Wheeler (2009, p.63) in stating that ‘Observations are fed into family worker and team planning so that future activities can be based on an individual child’s interests and patterns of behavior and thereby enhance their learning’.

Observations are important tool to Social Work practise as it lets you identify any milestones that haven’t been achieved that the child at the specific age should be meeting. It also lets the observer know if the child is exceeding their milestones and is developing faster than their peers (Fawcett, 2009, pg. 3, 2nd Ed). It’s always essential to observe as a social worker as you do many assessments and observing helps you stand back and reflect on how far the child has come from the first observation you did and report on it. This could be to do progression with language development or fine motor skills. Fawcett (1996, pg.3) states that observing is important because it helps ‘notice what might otherwise be overlooked’.

In this assignment I am going to describe a child observation that I have done in a nursery for twenty minutes in a play setting. I will explain the strengths and weaknesses of naturalistic observation through the key developmental milestones based in Mary Sheridan (2005) check-list and provide a theoretical explanation to support the naturalistic observation.

Teachers are aware of what they should do in the classroom when teaching young children. Teachers should provide opportunities to develop positive dispositions toward learning when working with young children to make sure they are using their knowledge and skills. Teaching young children, the skills that need to learn about is the big key of understanding what the information that you will need when you are assessing the young children. In this paper, the reader will read about observation and documentation as assessment and why is it important? The reader will also read about the difference between looking at and authentically or genuinely observing a child, the types of documentation, two types of documentation that relate how teachers use the documentation in the classroom and how documentations would be useful as assessments.