Points to note:
Watch the play, and exactly when to step in
Note that your assessment of play is the observation and the noticing. It is the tool to assess the LTP
Sarah will give us a template as a scaffold into what to look for. Temporary tool.
Notice, recognise, respond
Sometimes to respond, is not to respond. This is a good look!
At Beckenham, we have strong indoor play
Outdoor play is going to be our next step
Use the community once we have outdoor resourcing
Outdoors, we will see sides of the children that we don’t see inside
Next step - looking at specific teacher behaviours in play. We are ready for this.
Environment - we have got this. This is ongoing for resourcing. We have got the setup.
Timetable - going well with a good rhythm.
Teaching the theory of play - step in/back, direct, observe what unfolds.
Being intentional, and planned for teaching the social behaviours. Explicit teaching in behaviour and practice in play. Acknowledge this in the play (social commenting).
Work at class-based or team level. Over the course of the week, nothing dealing with, e.g., taking, and we would then create a plan for the following week. We are all going to learn to share, what might this look like, how are we going to deal with ‘no’, etc.
Have this after morning tea, e.g., Sesame Street has good clips on social problems. Use these for what we might do…. Get a shared understanding as a group. The key is to give a chance to practise then and there, e.g., practice the phrase “Can I join your game, please?”
This can be used with social problem-solving.
This age - it’s a problem - that triggers a logical, step approach to dealing with it.
Socio-dramatic play taking in data. When to drop it - how to do it, the language we use. It’s crucial to use positive feedback, as opposed to questioning.
It’s ok to leave and come back to it later.
Say, “I noticed…”
Play not sure about going in to is the one not to go in. Go back to it later - I noticed??
Assessment:
Once we have accepted that observation is our assessment tool, it’s important to make time for that observation. It’s ok during the week to take photos, record the student voice, the story of the play.
Narrative assessment is the only way.
It can be presented in various ways - for individual children, small or large groups of children...
Two individual assessments per child a term would be achievable and appropriate.
The way to start this would be to practise taking photos and then to start to make links to the curriculum.
This will affirm that rich learning is going on and will validate what is taking place in the play.
A copy of the curriculum can be laminated and used to show coverage of the various AOs.
The important thing is that the children have been exposed to the curriculum and that this is what happened, or not.
The KCs can be tied into the curriculum areas.
Using an overall sheet, any gaps can then be used to investigate provocations.
Planning
Is planning to respond?
Assessment data - notice the urges that children are displaying first. That’s in line with…. “What can I do with this environment for planning for play?”
Interests.
Types of play language, explorative, inside, etc.
Once we have got our data, we can then look at our invitations to play. We should have our core resources (what are these going to be?), and then provide 1-2 invitations which will be specific to what we are seeing.
Planning is more how to resource the play until that play dies a natural death.
We should be gifting our kids language during their play. The language can and should be specific to particular areas of the curriculum and can be quite advanced and challenging for the children, e.g., in experimenting and playing with ramps, the children should be hearing us use words like momentum, forces, weight, rate of speed, etc.
Solitary or parallel players - these children need to be supported as you would a toddler in a playgroup.
