​​The children are observed throughout the day, and staff respond to their interests, using them to expand their play and support their learning and development. We follow in-the-moment planning, which allows us to follow the child, support their learning through play, and develop that play and learning more. Following the children's interests makes each day different and engaging for all of the children.
 
When documenting observations, we use an online journal called eylog, securely uploading videos and pictures of the children for their parents and careers.

In the moment planning and focus child
EYFS Curriculum Information
Each day we are unsure of where the day will go, or exactly what learning will happen resulting in a sense of excitement and anticipation throughout the day. Children’s interests are very much ‘in the moment’ and this is why here at Little Learners we very much teach in the moment and our planning is often spontaneous. Planning in the moment is all about capturing the moment for children to progress based on what the children are already deeply involved in. From this we are able to see the ‘teachable moment’ from the child’s perspective and know when to intervene and when to stand back and observe. It is all about capturing the moment of engagement and running with it to make sure the children progress.

The teachable moment
From the teachable moment the child feels valued, interesting, important, capable and able to learn as well as gaining knowledge, skills and understanding therefore making progress in one or even several areas of the Early Years Curriculum. We are able to gain a good understanding of the child’s knowledge, skills, attitude, understanding and progress.

Planning
This way of working means that most of our planning is in the moment (there is little forward planning as we are following the child’s lead). We use our observations and knowledge of the children to adjust our provision and ensure that activities and resources available are of interest to the children. We also have our resources available for children to be able to self-select.

Observations
All observations made of the children are based on quality interactions between children or children and us teachers or record ‘wow moments’ when a child does something new for the first time. They will include any teaching that has taken place or progress that a child or group of children have made. Emphasis is highly placed on using ‘I wonder...’ statements e.g., ‘I wonder if...’, ‘I wonder what...’, ‘I wonder how...’. We feel that this approach to questioning is a lot less pressurising and allows the children to open up more readily. Parents are also asked to share any observations of ‘wow moments’ of their child(ren) at home by completing an observation on Famly or sending us a message which can then be added to a child's journal.

Focus Children
Instead of having focus activities, each week we have three or four focus children. Each child is a focus child at least once per term. We love for parents to contribute by sending us photos and wow moments from home. During each child’s focus week, they will noticeably have more observations in their journals on which quality interactions and learning experiences are recorded.

For more information on in the moment planning check out this post:
https://www.famly.co/blog/in-the-moment-planning-how-to-get-started