EYLF PROGRAMMING AND PLANNING DOCUMENTATION

[Lorina]

Hey Everyone,

I'm sure many of you are aware that the Early Years Learning Framework has been released in Australia. I know a lot of you are trying to find documentation (such as curriculum plan, child observations, daily diary etc) to help you get started on implementing the Early Years Learning Framework at your early childhood setting and also trying to find out how to design a new curriculum, whether you need to change your programing style, what supporting documents you need to meet the EYLF requirements and more. Therefore, I have written an article called "EYLF Curriculum Planning & Documentation"(you can find this on our "Resources" page under "Childcare Professionals"). In this I have designed a curriculum according to my style of the curriculum plan and I have tried to explain how you can create your own curriculum in simple terms. This article also shows how you can use your Daily Dairy and Child Observations as part of your curriculum plan. I've also included the various learning environments and how you can incorporate this within your room which supports children's play based learning (this is one of the key elements in the EYLF).

I have also included printable versions of the Curriculum Plan, Daily Reflections and Child Observations in pdf formats. If you would like you can certainly use the documentation I have provided at your centre. If not, I hope this will atleast give you an idea on how to design a curriculum to suit the needs of your centre.

Please be advised that I am still following up with various senior childcare professionals to make sure that this article (including documentation) meets the requirements of the EYLF Framework. As I find out more, I will keep the article updated and also add further updates and suggestions in this forum topic.

I'm hoping this helps you all out and please share your comments/ feedback/suggestions or your own style of the curriculum plan since this will support all Childcare professionals.

Click here to read this article,

Cheers
L.A

[catchmeifucan]

Hi L.A,

I just read your article and I want to say a big Thank you..! I was trying to figure out how to create a new program now that the eylf is out and thanks to your article I now I have some idea on how to go. I really like your sample and your style of curriculum plan. Also your explanation is simple and easy to understand..

So thank you v much for taking the time and sharing your ideas with others..

You're the best! Cheers....

[LeahSteindl]

Great explanation....
cant wait to change my programming to suit the EYLF, I'm getting excited, I have even booked my self into one of the EYLF workshops, to be sure I can put it to use in my day care centre!

[Lorina]

Hello Leah,

Thanks so much for your feedback I really do appreciate it ! I’m so happy to hear that you are excited to begin implementing the EYLF at your centre…YAY!!!

It’s a good idea to take the documentation samples to your EYLF workshop to see if you can put it to good use. Can you please update me on how you went with that? I’ve also emailed a few to find out if I need to update anything further on my curriculum plan. I’ll keep you posted as I learn more and thanks once again for your feedback .

Hello Catchmeifucan,

I really appreciate your comment . It makes me very happy to know that I am able to help others.

I’ve also noticed you have been busy in our forum…Awesome .

Cheers
L.A

[LeahSteindl]

No a worry, I will not be attending my workshop until May, but will let you know ASAP how it all goes!

[LeahSteindl]

Do you think a Daily Plan is better or a weekly Plan?
I have a very open range of children aging between 6mths through until 5years, I run a daily plan, but would like to to know what other centres run.

[catchmeifucan]

L.A,

By the way, will it be possible to provide some completed written samples of the curriculum plan, reflections of our day and child directed obs?

Just thought I'd ask...

[LeahSteindl]

I agree, would love to see some completed samples...

[Lorina]

Hey Everyone,

Just a quick update...I have received a number of requests from our members regarding written samples of the curriculum plan, reflections of our day and child directed obs. These written samples are now available in the article called "EYLF-Curriculum Planning & Documentation". Click here to view the article.

As you read through the "Reflections of our Day" you may have noticed how much detail that I've written in the sample. It's important to write up in detail the learning experiences the children are involved throughout the day... whether or not the learning experiences are contributed from the curriculum plan or an entire spontaneous experience takes place on that particular day. In the "Extended Learning Opportunities" I wrote briefly, the extension and learning opportunities the children will participate in the following day. However in the curriculum plan I have added more details to this stating exactly what resources and equipment to use. The way you write up your reflections of our day is completely up to you... everyone has their own style to write this up.

In the "Curriculum Plan" I have also added the extension ideas for the child directed obs. In the learning outcome instead of writing one particular learning outcome for each of the experiences I have added the child's code. The reason for doing this is because there may be more than one learning outcome in which the child displays through the experience you provide for your observed child. I find it easier doing it this way.

While reading through the child directed observation, I try to write it as a learning story, so when you read it you can visualize what play experience exactly took place. Once I have completed the learning story I find the best learning outcome that describes the child's learning and write it up in the Reflection of Learning. Once you identify the learning outcome it's a good idea to refer back to the educators guide and include the "evidence" the child displays for the particular learning outcome.

I hope the written samples provide you with a guide on what to write and how to write it up!

If you have any suggestions, comments or feedback I'd love to hear from you...so please write your thoughts in this topic.

Thank you all for your comments and feedback...I really do appreciate it...

Now the journey of the EYLF continues...

Cheers
L.A

[LeahSteindl]

I'm from OCC, with a very open age group (birth to 5)
My program never seems to work...everyday my reflection is on why we didn't do the activities planned...and it so hard to fit enough activities into cover all the age groups. any-one got any idea's on how I can make it work. I hate paper work, is there an easier way...

[Lorina]

Hi Leah,

How are you? This week has been so busy and I'm glad my weekend has finally started! Just a few questions I want to ask to get some more info to try and help you out:

1) How many children do you have? And how many in each age groups?
2) Do you currently use one program plan for all children?
3) Are all children in the one room/area?

Cheers,
L.A

[LeahSteindl]

Hi L.A
We are one roomed centre, having 14 children each day. Between 2 carers, some days we have a third caring depending on the ages. As we can only have 2 children under 2 per carer.
I use 1 program for all the children, as I try and make my paperworker easier... (I just try and make sure that I have at least 2 activities to suit each age.)
Cheers,
Leah

[Lorina]

Good Arvo Leah,

You don’t have to worry about fitting enough activities into your program to cover all the groups. That’s probable one of the reasons why it isn’t working too well. Try not to get caught up in filling up your program with useless activities that the children aren’t even interested in.

Start with a few simple activities that the children could engage in which covers all the groups and then work your way from there. For e.g. if you have Lego available for the older kids you can also make it available to the toddlers too. Just think of a more challenging experience that the older kids can do with the Lego. Like adding those little Lego construction booklets along with it so the older kids can build the Lego construction in the booklets.

Sensory and tactile activities such as play dough, goop, sand and water play are also activities that can be available for your range of age groups for all to enjoy. As you start observing the kids and playing with them you will begin to notice what they are interested in and it’s a good idea to try and extend on their interest and add those activities onto the program.

Also it’s a good idea to set up your room into interest areas, such as block corner, dramatic area, puzzle corner, writing centre etc. because it can really make it a lot easier for you and it encourages the older kids to work along with the younger kids. Since you do have babies, you could also set up a little area that is only for the babies to play in. You can lay a mat on the ground add some comfy pillows, baby toys and mirrors along the wall (if possible) so all children know that this area is a special area for the babies.

Have you got a daily or weekly program? If you want to reduce the amount of paperwork you could also think about doing a fortnightly program. Have you begun to implement the EYLF in your centre? On your program is each of the headings taken from the child developmental areas such as cognitive development, gross motor development, fine motor development etc? Another way to make your program easier is to change the headings into the time of day. For example:

Free Play
Transitions
Music & Movement
Group Time
Quiet Time
Stories

By doing it this way you don’t have to worry about making sure there is enough activities to cover the range of age groups however, you can incorporate activities together that all children will engage in.

Hopefully this gives you a few options in helping you to develop your program plan,

Please let me know if you require further info…

Cheers
L.A

[kasey]

Hi everyone, I am new to this group and found the site from a google search for EYLF info. I am a family daycarer trying to get an understanding of using the EYLF in my workplace. I think it is scary at first - most change is to me anyway - but also exciting giving me a new focus on obs and planning.
I REALLY, REALLY, loive the info and templates L.A, thank you so much it has given me more ideas on HOW to do all the documentation without duplications etc.
As we all have enough paperwork to do, I want to get it streamlined so I can enjoy the children and the time we spend together. I think I will try to do a weekly plan (as I do now) but the daily reflections to use with the next planning session. I will see if this will work anyway - thanks for the documents etc, it makes the whole thing seem easier to grasp and get a handle on than looking at the big picture of change which was overwhelming,
Cheers

[Lorina]

Good Evening Kasey,

Welcome to the Site… Happy to have you on board !

I’m so happy to hear that the EYLF documentation samples have helped you out! Yes, you are right…even I was a little afraid about how the EYLF Framework will fit into place. However the more I understand it and the more I implement it at work the more I love it… It brings a whole new perspective to children’s learning that’s for sure.

Using the daily reflections for your next planning session is a great way to go. That’s what I am doing at the moment. Once I write up my daily reflection, I add the extended learning opportunities and link these experiences onto my program. It’s simple and easy…it works well for me right now, so I’m sticking to it… Play around with it then you will get an idea on what works well for you.

Paperwork --- does it ever really end? Of course not! The thing I like the most about the EYLF is that you can easily link the learning outcomes with observations & programming without having to rely on a developmental checklist. In my opinion it’s not so much the paperwork we have to do… it’s finding the time to do it. Sometimes it seems like there isn’t enough hours in the day to finish everything…BUT since using the EYLF it makes the whole process a lot easier because I understand it so much more and the learning outcomes are the same across all age group which is a big bonus. .

Thank you once again for your comments Kasey , it’s great to hear comments and feedback from our users. Keep working through the framework because there is so much more to learn… I’m still finding out new ways and coming up with new ideas on how to put the EYLF into practice. I will keep updating more as it goes. The learning never ends…

Have a great day at work tomorrow (I can’t believe it’s already Wednesday)..the week has flown by…

Cheers ,
L.A

[LeahSteindl]

I take a lot of photo's for my observations, they are quick and and easy. And the best part of it all I set them up on my laptop each afternoon, so the parents can view what their children have done during the day.
I then put each photo taken into the child's file (if it is only of one particular child) or in group file (if there is more than one child in the photo)
Do you think I require to write what is actually happening in the photo, or is the photo good enough. (I understand if a conversation is taken place I write what the child/ren is saying.)

[catchmeifucan]

Hi Leah,

Just add the learning outcomes, principles and practice to explain the photo. I don’t think you have to write a full explanation of the photo itself.

@ L.A, Thanks for the samples. Great and helpful!

[Lorina]

Hey Leah,

Taking photo observations it’s a lot quicker and simpler because "a picture tells 1000 words”. I suggest that when taking photo observations just add a few sentences talking about what you observed the child doing and then add an interpretation in which you can describe what learning took place through the child’s play (this is basically which EYLF learning outcome, principle and practice best fits into the observation). It doesn’t have to be so much detailed because you already took a photo...just a couple of sentences is sufficient enough.

If you are putting photos around the room that’s when you can just add the EYLF Learning Outcome, Principle & Practice below it. For the photo observation it’s better to provide some info that lead up to this particular experience for the child you observed…

Cheers ,
L.A

[Lorina]

Hey Everyone,

Just wanted to update you in regards to my "Curriculum Planning Documentation" that I had designed in relation to the Early Years Learning Framework.

I recently went to an EYLF workshop where I was able to confirm my "EYLF Curriculum Planning Documentation". The facilitator did mention a few suggestions which I would like to share with you.

1) There are many ways in creating a curriculum plan and the design in which I had come up with focuses more on a learning story style. By doing it this way, it needs to be done as a daily curriculum rather than a weekly curriculum. This is due to the fact that through the daily reflections it documents any spontaneous/ planned/child interests or experiences which happened on that specific day. Any spontaneous experiences and child interests need to be extended upon preferably on the same day (or the next day), rather than a week later. This basically means that if a spontaneous experiences emerges or your group of children become interested in something (such as a spider web or the leaves falling off the tree) focus more on that than the planned activities you have available. Then through writing your daily reflection document what spontaneous experiences(if any) took place.

2) With the Child Directed Observation the facilitator suggested to simply take a photo of the child you are observing and ask open ended questions in whatever experience that they are engaged in. Around the photo simply write the child's answers. This is an alternate way you could do rather than writing a learning story style for your observations. Some open ended questions can include:

a) Tell me about it…
b) How did you…
c) How do you think we could…
d) What else can we use this for…
e) Why do you think this happened

In the reflection of learning another way of documenting the learning that took place is by simply listing the learning outcomes which fits into place (there can be more than one) and providing examples of how the child displayed this. For example:

Learning Outcome 3.1: Children become strong in their social and emotional wellbeing.

Sarah recognizes her individual achievement by saying "Look, I did it, I made it by myself" after making her bed.

3) On the Curriculum Plan it is possible for an experience to have more than one learning outcome. Yes, when you think about it an experience cold probably fit into all the learning outcomes if you wanted it too. However, for some of the experiences it's important to identify more than one of the learning outcomes. So I suggest if you want to add more than one learning outcome to a particular experience just add in the L/o Box on the Curriculum Plan.

4) On the curriculum plan I had suggested that you add the child's code for an experience specifically for an observation child. You won't need to add a code, instead you could just write the child's name.

So far, that's all the information I have gathered. I still have a few more EYLF workshops to attend and I'll keep updating in this post as I discover more. If you have recently been to an EYLF workshop, or have developed your own curriculum plan I would also like to encourage you all to share your ideas, thoughts or feedback in this topic.

If you would like to subscribe or bookmark this topic please scroll down to the bottom of this page (in the red box) and click onto the "Subscribe Topic" or "Book Mark" icon . Please note that you will have to be logged in to view this option. If you have posted in this topic before you are automatically subscribed. Once you have subscribed to this topic, every time a post is made in this you will receive an automatic email, informing you of the new post.

Before I go a big "THANK YOU" to all our members who have posted their thoughts and comments in regards to the EYLF!!

I will keep in touch,

Cheers ,

L.A

[LeahSteindl]

Hi,
I went along to the EYLF workshop over the week-end, I did find alot of interesting points. Although I'm still a little unsure on somethings.
Does any-one know with the learning cycles, how many should you do?
As my centre only has 14 children and its such a wide age group (0-5) I find that the younger children (toddlers) seem to follow what ever the older children are doing. I have 5 children aged 4-5 and they are the "LEADERS" what ever they do the younger ones do...so alot of my observations are group ob's.

Another thing is...it seems soooo much paperwork, when and how are you meant to do it all...

Has any-one implemented the EYLF 100% and got any ways of documenting it so that you do have time to enjoy the children!

I am really lost!