EYLF PROGRAMMING AND PLANNING DOCUMENTATION

[agctsaunders]

The whole point of the EYLF is that it is about getting back to the basics of interacting with the children. There are no right or wrong ways to document your experiences and observations - no set cycles you need to follow. So long as you can show the 'journey' of the children's learning in your documentation and how it links to all the EYLF outcomes, etc then you are doing it right! You don't need to be doing it perfectly, just showing that you are continually reviewing your practises based on the needs and interests of the current children in your care and improving on these. Good luck....we have a long road to get our heads around all these changes but I do think they will be fantastic for the children and our industry as a whole.

[darmodina]

Hi LA,
I,m using your EYLF formating, since i knew it. I like the Input icons. At the moment i used testas to indicate icons on my curriculum plan. Please help me where could i find the post icons you are using, much appreciated your help
thanks
Daisy

[Lorina]

Hi Daisy,

Weekend is already almost over... it goes so fast doesn't it??

Ok, with the input icons I am more than happy to give you a copy of them. But how do you want them? I can send them to you as an image file and you can use them to copy and paste them into your curriculum plan? Or I can send them to you and you in a word document so can cut them out and place them next to each of the planned experiences?? I'm just trying to work out the best way to send them to you... I usually just draw the icons (although I'm terrible at drawing ).

Let me know so I can private message the icons to you...

Cheers ,
L.A

[Lorina]

Hi Leah,

How are you?

This is just in regards to your post about how implementing the EYLF is taking too much of your time and you feel that there is too much paperwork involved. There are a number of our members who also feel this way and another forum topic has been established called: "Too Much PaperWork". This topic can be found in Childcare Professionals Lounge ---> Supporting Childcare Workers At Work. Here is the link: http://www.aussiechildcarenetwork.com/v ... f=31&t=189

I have also responded to members concerns in the above topic about how to reduce the paperwork. I've explained ways on managing your time, completing programming and child observations and tips and hints on how to finish daily evaluations. Check it out and see if any of the tips can help you out.

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.

In this case, try and set up experiences for the various age groups. On a couple of tables set up experiences for the older children and in another area set up experiences for the younger ones. You could also incorporate experiences which both the older and younger children can enjoy together... just extend on the materials or equipment available so it fits into the various age group. For e.g. In the writing centre you can provide textas, crayons, pencils etc for all age groups. However you could also add glue, scissors, boxes, sticky tape, hole punch etc for the older children to construct with at the writing centre. You will need to monitor this especially when adding scissors so the younger ones don't end up hurting themselves. Since you do have the mixed age groups you can also set up different creative experiences for the children. Try and have separate group times for for each of the mixed age groups. The preschoolers will enjoy more stories, group discussions etc which you can also add during your group time for the preschoolers. It's also a good idea to use your preschoolers as helpers throughout the day... such as setting up beds, playing games with the younger ones, helping with lunch etc... It's a great opportunity for your preschoolers to be the "leaders" by being responsible and caring to the younger ones. Also try and think about the set up of the indoor environment. Have you got learning areas set up for e.g. "sensory area, block corner, book corner, home area" etc... you may need to re-arrange these areas, or add more Resources or equipment to these areas to get the children involved in experiences that suit their age group.

At the moment it's all about trial and error and seeing what works best for you in your setting.

Let me know if you need any more help,

Cheers ,
L.A

P.S Does any-one know with the learning cycles, how many should you do? Are you referring to learning stories??

[rebsmith5]

Hi
I just noticed that the 'f' is missing on your sample pages for the reflections of our day

[Lorina]

Hi I just noticed that the 'f' is missing on your sample pages for the reflections of our day

Thank you so much for bringing this to my attention... I really appreciate it... no matter how many times you edit and re-read something you sometimes miss the most simple mistakes... thanks again for letting me know. 

How embarrassing our entire team missed it...

Good on you, you've got a keen eye !

I have fixed up the misspelt word and it is good to go now. 

Also for those of you who are using this template, remember to download the new "Reflections of our Day" with the correct spelling.

Click here to go to EYLF Curriculum Planning Documentation (if you can't see the changes just make sure you refresh the page).

Cheers :geek:,
L.A

[jrw60]

An idea for using Input Icons on your Curriculum - I use stamper marking pens, available from discount shops at a very reasonable price. Works for me!!

[Sonja]

Hi L.A.,
Thank you! Thank you! Thank you! Finally a programming format for EYLF that is is practical and easy to follow! I only recently discovered this site and what a gem. I am currently sharing all this information with my collegues at work and we are eagerly trialing it at our centre at the moment. We just made a few minor adjustments to suit our learning areas and off we went. Only been a week so far!

Like many of our collegues out there, we too are finding that the paperwork is taking up a lot of time! Hopefully as we work through the various methods of observing, planning and reflecting we will learn some shortcuts along the way...I hope!!

Cheers,
S.D.

[Lorina]

Hi Sonja,

Welcome to the forum and Thank You so much for your feedback... I really appreciate it !

I'm glad to hear you are finding my curriculum planning documentation practical and easy to follow. That's one of the main reasons I've come up with this style is because we need to spend less time focussing on paperwork and more time engaging in children's learning. There are a lot of different EYLF programming styles floating around and some are way to complicated then necessary... it doesn't have to be so hard!

Let me know how your doing with the EYLF documentation. If you find any changes or have any suggestions on ways the EYLF documentation can be improved please let me know... I'd love to hear your thoughts about how your implementing it at your centre and how other staff are finding it!

Thanks Again,

Cheers ,
L.A

[Sonja]

Hi L.A,
So far curriculum planning is going well however I have a question. At our centre we have always had a separate curriculum plan for indoors, outdoors and our music and language groups with evaluations for each of these different areas. Do you have a separate curriculum plan for outdoors and your group times or do you incorporate these under the one "CURRICULUM PLAN" and then just evaluate these in your "DAILY REFLECTIONS" ? At the moment, we seem to be doing copious amounts of writing up and evaluating in all these different areas and I feel we are just doubling up a lot...apart form the fact that it's sooo much writing that we don't have time for!!
I would appreciate some feedback on how you document your groups and outdoor experiences.
Thanks,
Sonja

[Lorina]

Hi Sonja,

With outdoor, indoor, music and language experiences it's best to incorporate them into one "Curriculum Plan" and like you had mentioned evaluate these in your "Daily Reflections". If you are doing a program for each area that wastes a lot of unnecessary time and definitely requires a lot more paperwork than required. When incorporating outdoor experiences onto the Curriculum Plan you could do this by using an input key. With music and language experiences just use the group experience input key.

Hopefully through these changes it will be easier to incorporate activities onto your curriculum plan,

Cheers ,
L.A

[Lorina]

Hi All,

I have received a lot of feedback from you guys regarding the Input Keys on the EYLF Daily Curriculum. At the moment I'm working on how to make the Input Keys a lot easier and more simpler to use. I'll also be adding 2 new input keys (outdoor play and spontaneous experiences). I let you all know once I have these ready.

Also in the meantime I have created a poll in this topic. This is so I can find out if you are using a daily, weekly, fortnightly or monthly curriculum plan at your centre. This will also give me an idea on if I need to provide you with anymore EYLF Curriculum Plan Format samples. The poll will remain active for the next 1 month.

So can I kindly ask that you take a quick second to vote on this poll! I really appreciate it…Please note that you need to be logged in to vote!

Click here to vote

Thanks Everyone!

Cheers ,
L.A

[Sonja]

Hi L.A,
Thanks for the feedback. It's much appreciated! The girls wait in anticipation for the latest updates from your site via me, as we continue our EYLF planning and documentation trial! So far the girls are all embracing it with a positive attitude. So THANKS again...until the next question arises!!

Cheers, Sonja

[LeahSteindl]

Does any-one use the Raise Learning Program? To me it looks like it will make documenting childrens observations, and programming etc, a breeze, but just wanted to get an opinnion if other centre's are using it and what they think of. Or if any-one knows of any others that are similar.
Cheers
Leah

[Lorina]

Hi Everyone,

Just a quick update...I now have included editable versions of my EYLF Documentation so this should make work easier for those of you using my template. The editable files are in "docx" format that can be viewed by using MS Word 2007 and over. The editable regions are highlighted and you can simply click on the relevant boxes to type in your program. This should also help out those of you who were after the input key icons. It's going to be a lot simpler, all you need to do is click on the input icon, copy it (ctrl +c (or) right click copy) and paste it into the input column. I've also added two new input icons to the curriculum plan (outdoor play & spontaneous learning). These files are now available to download in my article "EYLF Documentation and Planning".

Click here to view these files.

P.S Thanks for those you who voted on my poll!! I would also like to mention that I'm currently working on an article on how to cut down paperwork and managing the time you spend writing up documentation...I should have it available on the site by this weekend! I'll let you know...

Cheers ,
L.A

[arti]

Hello Everyone

this is my first post as I can't resist myself to say thank you and importantly I find this forum very useful.

cheers

[jrw60]

Hi L.A.

Learning lots from this great site, and looking forward to your next article about cutting down paperwork as I always seem to be doing way too much!!

Thanks heaps for sharing some really great ideas, I'm all for spending more time with the children and less on the documentation.

[Lorina]

Hi Everyone,

This is just a quick update to let you know that my article called "Managing Paperwork – How to deal with too much Paper Work" is now available on this site. This article will give you various techniques you can use to cut down on the time you spend in doing paper work everyday and how to manage your time in completing daily documentation. You can find this article in Resources, under Childcare Professionals or simply click here to read...

Hi Sonja: Hows are you and your team going? How are you finding implementing the EYLF at your centre? I hope you all still have a positive attitude and embracing the change !

Hello Arti: I'm happy to hear you are finding this forum very useful! It is a great place to share information to eachother... thanks for your feedback !!

Hey Jrw60: I'm hoping the article I've wrtten will give you a few ideas you can use to try to cut down your paperwork and thankyou for your comments !

Hope you all have a great weekend,

Cheers ,
L.A

[hwalsh]

Good Evening,

How excited was I when i was refered ur site from a friend last night, i wasnt happy as i was up all night. So i have a couple of questions, so would love to hear what others do

1. Do you link your learning stories with the learning outcomes, princplies and practices?
2. do you still do observations?
3. how many learning stories/observations do you do per child?

Do you have any information regarding the different style/types of play, wanting to do some staff training to add with observation and what staff need to be looking for while observing.

Thank you for your effort and the free resources, i have come across alot of sites wanting hundreds of dollars and as you know child care workers we arent on the best wage.

Happy weekend to all.

Heather

[Lorina]

Hey Hwalsh,

Welcome to our forum !

Just wanted to share my thoughts on the questions you have about the EYLF...

Do you link your learning stories with the learning outcomes, principles and practices?

Yes, all your learning stories should be linked with the EYLF Learning Outcomes/Principles/Practices. I normally add these at the bottom of the learning story. I use sub headings and I write what I believe were the relevant Learning Outcomes/Principles/Practices are. When adding the EYLF Learning Outcomes it's a good idea to list 2-3 different outcomes for your learning story because most of the time the children achieve more than one, so you can list a couple. For Principles and Practices I normally add only one for each.

do you still do observations?

Yes, child observations are still maintained however it does change a little to fit into the elements of the EYLF.If you haven't already take a look at the article I wrote called "EYLF Documentation & Planning". At the bottom I write about Child Observations. This should give you an idea about how to do Child Observations using the EYLF... Click here to read...

how many learning stories/observations do you do per child?

At my centre I do one child observation a month which I believe is sufficient enough. In regards to learning stories there isn't a set limit I would necessary do per child. I write learning stories about events/spontaneous/interest that emerge. Sometimes this happens once a week or a couple times a week... Learning stories could be about a group experience or an individual child experience. If using a group experience I will include all the children involved in that experience and individualize the learning stories to each particular child, I also include what they said, photos etc..

You can also include a learning story as part of a child observation and use the learning story itself as part of an assessment tool. For e.g. this month you could use a child observation format and then next month you can use a learning story.. as long as the learning story is individualized to that particular child and you add the EYLF Learning Outcomes as well as "extended learning opportunities" then it should be fine!

Do you have any information regarding the different style/types of play, wanting to do some staff training to add with observation and what staff need to be looking for while observing.

I had a look through my Resources and I did find some information you can possibly use to help train your staff... I've attached them below.. If you require more info let me know and I will try and get my hands on some more info for you... Feel free to let me know...

[attachment=2]Importance_Of_Play.pdf[/attachment]
[attachment=1]Play_In_Early_Childhood.pdf[/attachment]
[attachment=0]Value_Of_Children's_Play.pdf[/attachment]

Thank you for your effort and the free resources, i have come across alot of sites wanting hundreds of dollars and as you know child care workers we arent on the best wage.

I really appreciate your comments... I am very happy that you noticed this... I've also realized how much profit is being made in regards to EYLF Documentation and Information..I believe if you have the knowledge then it should be freely shared not bought... Our team believes that you can't put a price on knowledge...

Thank you once again for your comments !

Cheers ,
L.A