How I plan for the start of the Autumn term

Sep 09, 2021

When it comes to planning for the first few weeks of the Autumn term with your new children I would focus on prioritising the following:

Making sure new children feel safe and settled
Building positive relationships with all children
Establishing rules and expectations
Getting children used to the daily routine

If you take a re-watch of my video from my Hygge Summer School you can see that I share the ways I would plan and organise the daily routine at the start of the year in Reception or nursery.

When the time feels right for you and your children you can then start to spark new curiosities and interests by introducing these to the children. As much as I believe lots of what we teach from should come from the children I also understand that there needs to be a balance of us as educators offering the opportunity to broaden the children's knowledge through the exposure to different and new experiences. These might be linked to seasonal changes, festivals or celebrations.

You might find it useful to follow (or dip in and out of) my Wanderlust Child Nature Study Programme or go with your own ideas.

I would begin by setting up a nature study shelf or table in the provision that can be added to and changed frequently by the adults and children.

I would also offer a seasonal basket of books around Autumn that will spark an interest to young leaners. Take a look at this link to see my 50 favourite nature based books.

Then begin your day with the children by creating a hook! This is something that will grab their attention and get them wanting to hopefully know more. If we look at the Wanderlust Child Nature Study Programme we can take the suggestion of Week 1: Owls. I've included an example of that page of the study for your reference below.

I might read the children the story of the Owl Babies by Martin Waddell and Patrick Benson. This could even be done in your outdoor area in a woodland area which would really bring the story alive!

I would then set up one area of provision (inside or out) that would allow the children to follow on this input of owls. The children can choose to work here if the want to. While other children may choose to investigate their own lines of enquiry and interests.

I like to keep the provision set up's nice and open ended to allow the learning to then take the direction of the child. Setting them up in this way also allows children to learn holistically and all areas of the curriculum can be met.

As the week goes on the provision will be adapted daily in response to the way the children use and show interest in the area. It might be that you have some bird spotter sheets in your outdoor area, set up a woodland small world area or go outside and collect feathers.

When planning in this way we are not enhancing each and every area of the provision around the hook. As educators having the time to reflect daily on how the children have responded is important and then making tweaks and changes for the following day.

I also like to add child voice cards to my set ups to show how the area is responsive to the children's needs. You can download my child voice cards here.

I would then use a daily reflection sheet to show what we've done that day and the changes that have been made to the provision and teaching based on my observations from the children. You can download a template of this sheet here.