Learning and Children

065 promote learning and development in the early years
Outcome 1 understanding the purpose and requirements of the areas of learning and development in the relevant early years framework Assessment criteria 1
Carry out some research into the seven areas of development set out in the foundation phase * Personal and Social Development, Well-Being and Cultural Diversity
The children are taught that they are all different and all have different needs and abilities. They can learn through role play, talking to different people and where they come from. They will also learn what they can do as an individual, there skills and personality. * Language, Literacy and Communication Skills
In our nursery we encourage children’s language skills through songs and talking to them. We also do role play with all the children to encourage communication with other children and staff and to use there imagination. We also have writing and craft time to encourage there literacy skills. This is all done on a daily basis through our planning. * Mathematical Development
We use math’s in rhymes, counters, pictures and puzzles to encourage the children to count and learn abut numbers * Welsh Language Development
We talk welsh to the children to give them a knowledge and understanding of a different language. We introduce this while doing our daily register and singing songs * Knowledge and Understanding of the World
We teach the children about different things in the world. Different people, animals and wild life by going out on visits to the local supermarket and exploring different foods and learning where they come from. We have also been to the forest to learn about different wild life, plants and trees and how they grow and how the wild life live and how we can help protect them. We also do this through books and talking making different collages and paintings. * Physical Development
In our nursery we have a large play area to allow the children to keep fit and explore their creativity outside. Their natural curiosity and disposition to learn should be stimulated by everyday sensory experiences. Our children are engage in creative, imaginative and expressive activities in music, dance and movement to allow them to stimulate their energy and work on their motor skills to allow them to develop.

* Creative Development
Our children are encouraged to be creative through art and craft, dance/movement, singing, reading and imaginative play. We do this every day in our planning and depending on the topic depends on the type of craft or play we do.
A.C1 Describe how the above areas of learning are interdependent
It is important to remember that these six areas of learning do not work in isolation but are in fact interlinked. Good quality activities will cover more than one area of development. For example, allowing children to access the outdoors will not only support their physical development, but encourage their communication and exploration of their environment as well as their imaginative play. Where a child experiences a delay in one area, it is likely to limit their learning and development in the other five For example, if a child is struggling with his/her speech, this could slow down the development in the other areas because of the lack of communication. The health visitor would recommend mouth exercises, and we could encourage this when giving him/her things to play with, I.E passing him/her a car and saying “car”.
A.C.1 Think about your day to day working with children. Give examples to show how the seven areas of learning are interdependent in the activities and experiences that you provide
In our nursery we have a “home corner”, this encourages the children to use their imagination as well as interacting with other children to practise there speech and roll playing with them. It also gets them to use their motor skills and coordination to pretend to make things, I.E a cup of tea. It allows them to recognise a kettle, understand what it is used for and how to use it. The cup, what it is used for and how to use it and connect the two together to make a cup of tea.
We also do craft. We have been making Easter bunnies and getting the children to count how many eyes a bunny has from a picture and getting them to pick up 2 eyes and placing them where they think the bunnies eyes go. If they get it in the wrong place, explaining to them where the correct place is and why the eyes go there. We have also explained that rabbits are many different colours, shapes and sizes. The children are also encouraged to write their own name in the card to encourage there pencil skills and hand eye coordination. All these are linked by doing one exercise.
A.C.2 describe the documented for children that form part of the foundation phase
Personal and social development, well-being and cultural diversity outcomes
Children’s skills are developed across all Areas of Learning through
Participation in experiential learning activities indoors and outdoors. They develop an
Understanding that others have differing needs, abilities, beliefs and views. We do this by celebrating different events and religions. To interact with different people and children of different backgrounds.
Language, literacy and communication skills outcomes
Language is a form of communication to express thoughts, ideas, feelings, emotions and information. Language forms the foundation for literacy and communication skills, allowing children to learn to read and write. This can be enhanced by singing, reading or play.
Mathematical Development outcomes
During the Foundation Phase, children develop their skills, knowledge and understanding of mathematics through oral, practical and play activities. We do this by doing puzzles or using counters and encourage counting this way
Welsh Language development outcomes
Welsh is taught as a second language in most main stream nurseries and schools. It can be taught through songs, books or play. Some simple words are used first, ones that would be used every day that the children recognise easily then it is gradually increased.
Knowledge and understanding of the world outcomes
Children should be taught about the world through exploring, reading or computers. This will allow them to gain knowledge of the world around them and how everybody is different. The different places and different languages. We teach this through computers allowing the children to see and hear different people and the way the look. We learn about the world through books by showing them what the world looks like and where all the different places are.
Physical Development Outcomes
They should develop their gross and fine motor skills, physical control, mobility and an
Awareness of space, using large and small equipment, across all Areas of Learning, indoors and outdoors. Our play area allows them to do this outside. We play games inside to allow the children to be aware of their indoor space and the difference between the two. It is very important to do exercise every day to manage our weight and keep us healthy.

Creative Development Outcomes

Children should be continually developing their imagination and creativity across the curriculum. We can encourage this through art, craft, design, music, dance and movement. In our weekly planning we make sure all aspects of this area are covered. Creative is used in everyday life and is very important to stimulate this area of development so they can use it in future jobs.

A.C.3 Explain how the documented outcomes are assessed and recorded in your setting.

We plan all our activities through weekly planning to make sure all of the seven areas of learning are covered every week. We do this through computers, craft, play and stories. We assess all areas of development through our development record book. This allows us to keep a record on each child’s development and progress. It also shows where the children need to improve or need more practice doing e.g. pencil skills

Outcome 2 Be able to plan work with children and support children’s participation in planning

A.C.1 Complete the table below to show how the possible sources listed can inform your planning and why the information they give you is important

POSSIBLE SOURCES | INFORMATION THEY MAY GIVE | WHY IS THIS IMPORTANT | CHILDREN’S INTRESTS AND PREFRENCES | What there likes and dislikes are | To keep them interested in the activity you are doing with them | OBSERVATIONS AND ASSESSMENTS | How they are developing | If they need help in areas they are struggling in or what they are really good at | MOTHERS/FARTHERS AND CARERS | If they have been unwell or things have changed at home | It is important because it might cause a change in behaviour | COLLEAGUES IN SETTINGS | Passing information on to you | So you know how the child has been if you haven’t seen the parent yourself | PROFESSIONALS SUCH AS HEALTH VISITORS | Special requirements for the children | Dietary requirements, if they have an allergy to certain foods or need medication or we need training to deal with the children’s medical condition |

A.C. 3 What are the three stages of the assessment cycle?
1. Planning
2. Observation
3. Assessment
Explain your role in this cycle
We plan all our activities around the seven areas of learning and observe the task being done and record all the information and assess all the evidence to give us an idea of where the child is up to in there development. All information is recorded in there development books.

Outcome 3 Be able to promote children’s learning and development according to the requirements of the relevant early years frame work
A.C.1 Complete the following table explaining how each of the points can promote children’s learning and giving examples from your own practice METHOD OF PROMOTING LEARNING | HOW IT PROMOTES LEARNING | EXAMPLES FROM YOUR PRACTICE | ORGANISATION AND MANAGEMENT | Preparing and planning activities in advance and managing the activities | We plan all our activities in advance so we have organisation and structure in out setting. This allows us to manage the activity that is going on and observe our children doing the activity | SENSITIVE INTERVENTION | Learning with little or no input | Allowing the children to play and learn at the same time with little input from adults to lead the play in the right direction. For example asking who is the mummy and who is the daddy in role play | FOLLOWING THE CHILD’S INTREST AND STAGE OF DEVELOPMENT | By learning about things they like and bringing that in to everyday life | If the children like bob the builder for example we would teach them about his job and how it affects everybody when he builds buildings etc | SUPPORTING AND FACILITATING | Supporting what the children do and facilitating the activity | Supporting the children with their ideas or in the activities they are doing and facilitating the imagination or leading the role in play | MODELING | Building | Building models use the children’s imagination, Building a tower that ‘spider man’ lives on is what the children love to think of. This allows them to think of a tall building that he would sit on so recognising different high’s and levels | COACHING | Better support from the staff | Having a clear understanding of coaching and goals, building relationships and trust and being able to keep the children at ease. Seeing what they are doing and ways to improve on what they are doing wrong | PROVIDING A BALANCE BETWEEN CHILD-INITIATED AND ADULT-INITIATED PLAY AND ACTIVITY | Shared time between child play and adult play | Adult initiated play is taken up most of the day from registration, circle time snack and story time. We do try and encourage child initiated play as much as we can so they have lots of time to develop there seven areas of learning both structured and free play . We try to do a 50-50 split between structure and free play both indoors and out doors |

065 Outcome 4 Be able to engage with children in activities and experiences that support their learning and development
A.C.2 what is the importance of engaging with a child to support sustained shared thinking?
It is important to get children to work together on activities and play as when they get older and get a job this becomes more important to work together and as part team. They learn this by us teaching them to play together or do activities that require two or more of them to do it
065 Outcome 5 Be able to review own practice in support the learning and development of children in their early years (link to unit 052)
A.C.1 How do you reflect on your own practice in supporting learning and development of children in their early years?
When we choose an activity we observe the activity being done and how well the children do the activity and where we need more practice or to improve on.
A.C.2 Give an example of how you have used reflection to make changes in your own practice
In our setting we did an activity with the children about autumn. We went outside and looked at all the different trees, leaves and flowers that were out. We asked the children to find leaves, grass, flowers and sticks to make a picture with. All the children picked there things and we went back to the room t look at what we had collected. There weren’t many flowers and the children couldn’t understand why. We explained why there weren’t many flowers and we made our picture of outside. On reflection we realised we needed to do more work on seasons so the children had a better understanding of what goes on in each season.