As the holidays enter the final few weeks (in England and Wales) and you start to turn your attention back to your new cohort, I have some tips and ideas to get you preparing for September in EYFS.
Some of you may prefer to stay switched off until September, some may have been ready before they walked out of the door in July, but I know that many of you, will be like me, and now starting to think about your new children and new class. Remember there is no right or wrong here… #youdoyou ????
Setting up your environment
Start to think about your environment (even if you’re not planning on returning to it until September). Plan out the areas of your provision and get a skeleton provision in mind ready for when the children enter the classroom.
If you’re wanting to improve your environment, are setting up for the first time or new to EYFS, you will find my CPD Bite on “Learning Environment” useful. LEARNING ENVIRONMENT CPD
Once you have clarity about your environment you can begin to plan out some “skeleton” CP. By this I mean- basic provision. Continuous Provision should be what is available to children all of the time, so make sure that you map out what resources you will have available linked to the skills the children are building. Check out the CP blog for more information and support.
Planning
What do you need to be preparing for September in EYFS in terms of planning? It of course depends on your approach. For me there are three key things that you should have in place to be prepared…
- Curriculum Map/ Long Term Plan. This gives you an overview of the learning journey and keeps the learning goals at the forefront of your mind
- Continuous Provision Plan. A plan of the areas of your provision, the resources in them and the skills you plan to build.
- Medium Term Plan. A plan that gives an overview of the knowledge and skills you plan to teach in the first half term and the learning experiences you plan to provide.
You can download all of this planning via the website if it is of interest to you…
In addition, it can be helpful to get your phonics planning ready and your maths overviews sorted. I know that for many of you that is linked to your chosen scheme who will lay out the requirements.
Alongside this, a weekly plan for some short teaching inputs (usually story and circle time) is a great provision to have in place ready. Over the first few weeks, a great text Is “The Colour Monster” and “The Colour Monster goes to School” by Anna Llenas. These stories help with discussions around regulating emotions and start a conversation about the way children might feel about starting school. They are also great texts to have as part of an “All about me” theme which can really enhance the first few weeks as you get to know your new children. This can also help you to have a few key “theme based” enhancements set out ready for the first few weeks.
Again this is all available for download from the website (and all these downloads come with a FREE editable enhancement plan)
Organisation
For me, this was always the key. Get whatever you need to organised. It saved me stress in the longer term knowing that certain resources, ICT and some planning were in place before September. I love a “to do” list and it helped with any anxieties and my overall workload when I returned to the classroom. It can even go down to things like meal planning for the first few weeks ????
As always, its about you. Your approach, your children and how you want to run your classroom #youdoyou. So however you are preparing for September in EYFS, it’s got to be right for you!
Have a relaxing rest of the holidays and a positive start to the new academic year!
Emma x