EYLF Programming

EYLF Guide is helpful it gives you examples of other workers putting it into place. You can find it here on the site it's a big read. Go to the section with examples on putting EYLF into practice page 61 and on. Hope that helps

In regards to implementing EYLF in my current centre, each week we have been focusing on a specific part of the EYLF. Last month we got our program and daily diaries sorted and this month we are working on learning stories. With the learning stories I just try to focus on a couple of experiences during the week, the children were interested in or were really involved in and write a learning story about it. For e.g. I have a cooking class with my group once a week so I write a learning story based on that. I just make sure that at the end I write the EYLF Learning Outcome, Principle and Practice and I also write what the children have learnt through each of the cooking experiences. I put them on a wall for display and the parents have commented on them, which also adds to parent input. So far, this is what we have done in terms on documentation...

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L.A

Rikkay85 is right...have a read through the EYLF Curriculum Planning article in this site. it will help you to get started: EYLF Curriculum Planning & Documentation

Hey L.A, Yeah I have been having a read through the EYLF, still taking me a bit as I have heaps to catch up on in my room (the last group leader let is slip a bit). So at the moment we do one learning story a day, on a big A3 book. Which sounds similar to yours, excpet its in the book, not on the wall, the parents at our centre love it also, but it is lots of work to do it daily. What do you's do for your daily dairy? I dont think we do one of these yet? We are still inbetween the old standards and the new ones which I think is confusing me even more! Thanks L.A!

for our daily diary, we have 5 boxes with one Outcome in each box.
Then, based on what happens during the day, we write about the children's experiences in a box so the outcome matches what they were learning.

i.e. "This morning Cinthia, Jack & Simon were looking for and finding snails in the outdoor area...etc etc... & putting them in a glass tank with dirt, rocks etc." goes into the 'children are connected with and contribute to their world' box.

there is a 6th box at the bottom for parent contribution (even though they dont use it lol)

at the end of each week, we use the childrens experiences to plan for the following week program. Our program is a similar format, with 5 boxes saying the outcomes, and whatever activity we're planning based on childrens interests goes into the box.

essentially, the daily diary is our reflection and evaluation of our program. the daily diary is then photocopied & put into chidlrens portfolios as observations. we also do learning stories and posters to put up, which end up being copied and put into portfolios as well.

I am, however, looking at slightly changing this a bit because atm it is in a folder, but i want it on a wall so everyone can see it... bit tricky devising a way ill be 100% happy with!

good luck

btw, i just thought i'd add I dont really like the 'curriculum plan' sheet on this site... my understanding of EYLF is that its moving away from developmental areas, and taking on a more holistic approach to childrens development, with the core of that being attachments. i dont see the point of having 'sensory/creative/gross motor' etc in boxes, as it limits you.

while a child making animals out of playdough, for example is a sensory experience, it ties in with children being connected to and contributing to their world... you can add the 'sensory' component when you write a reflection/evaluation perhaps.

dont let developmental areas (which are part of the old NSW Curriculum) limit your thinking and your ideas for planning and programming!

i also think the 'reflection of our day' sheet is too much writing!! who has the time to do that, EVERY day? i dont!

this is my opinion though, each to their own. i really appreciate whoever has done these sheets though and made them available for educators, as noone else will! it's all about trial and error - trial it, and if you dont like it, scrap it.

Hi Beaut_butterflies,

Thank you for your feedback regarding the EYLF Programming Documentations. It’s great to hear another point of view from one of our members !

You are 100% right in saying that the EYLF is trying to move away from the developmental areas because it limits the children’s learning in a whole lot of ways. The headings I have used on my “curriculum plan” is taken through play based learning approach rather than developmental areas. Each of the heading I have used in my curriculum plan is a type of play that the children are involved in throughout the day. For e.g.: Sensory Play (learning through senses), Exploratory Play (Learning by finding out) Manipulative Play (learning by touch, feel, handle & mold) Creative Play (learning by creating) and Dramatic Play (learning through role taking and pretending). It is said that “play is the medium by which children learn about the environment through: exploration, manipulation, trial and error, improvisation and acting out”. Play based learning is part of a holistic approach to children’s learning which is stated throughout the EYLF.

Parent involvement is a crucial part of the EYLF Curriculum Plan and like you said yourself, parents don’t contribute much to the curriculum plan. Could it be because they just don’t understand what is happening and what the curriculum plan is about? As childcare professionals we have workshops to attend and information being given to us about the EYLF but for parents it’s something new. In my opinion when I use the Types of Play as part of my headings in my curriculum plan, the parents still grasp an understanding of the experiences the children will be involved in throughout the day.

I understand the way your centre is currently using the EYLF curriculum plan, using each of the learning outcomes as headings. If you think about it this also is “limited” because a learning experience can fit into more than one of the learning outcomes as well. With the experience you have given “while a child making animals out of play dough” it does tie in with Children Being Connected to and Contributing to Their World however it can also be tied into Children are Confident and Involved Learners or even Children are Effective Communicators. That’s why we need to think about each of the learning experiences we are providing to the children and which of the learning outcomes best fits into place.

I completely understand that you think the “Reflection of Our Day” Sheet has too much writing. How much you write and how much detail you provide is completely up to you. As for me, through my sample you can assume that when I write my daily reflection I use a lot of detail such as writing about the experiences took place, the conversations the children had, the learning the children achieved, and yes if you are providing 3-4 learning experiences for the children each day, not to mention spontaneous experiences, observations etc. as well….it does end up with a whole lotta writing. There are different ways to go if you don’t want to write so much such as adding photos onto the page and writing only about those experiences… It can be modified to suit your needs…but what can I say, I think if you are adding the daily reflection as part of a reflection and evaluation of the curriculum plan it needs to be detailed, it needs to show the learning experiences that took place during the day…..

Like you mentioned, each person has their own opinion and we can’t please everyone. I have had some people mentioning the same about ‘too much writing and when do you get the time to do it’. Well with time management, it’s a whole new thing. I normally try and get all the work done during rest/sleep time. This gives me at least an hour before the children start waking up so for me this is the best time to do it. Another way to find time to write is right after an experience has taken place, jot down some notes about what happened, what the children said etc. and when it comes to doing your “reflection of our day” you already have the content and you just need to write it up and extend on it if necessary. I find that the key is discipline and making sure that you arrange and manage to do the required work completed within that time every day. Eventually it will become a routine… At first, it might seem to be a lot. But once you get used to it, it will just be a part of everyday. Also I think, now the childcare industry is becoming to be a big part of a child’s life and early learning. Therefore the standard of professionalism and a child’s expectations of their learning have increased. I feel that now we are required to document a child’s experience and learning opportunities and provide these resources to parents so they are aware of their child’s learning and the importance of their child’s time within an early childhood setting….But like I said above, if you want to cut down the writing part, there are other ways you can change it. Try out a few things and please let us know on what works best for you…

Thank you once again for your comments and feedback since it helps me realize the parts that can be changed. I hope this gives you a clearer understanding of why and how I designed my “curriculum planning” the way I did. This is definitely not the be all and end all, there is still so much to find out and a work in progress….I will take your comment into consideration and I also have an EYLF Workshop to attend next month. I will see how else my EYLF Programming Documentation can be improved or modified in complying with the EYLF Framework.

Also check out this topic in our forum called “EYLF Programming and Planning Documentation” where our members have discussed how they are implementing the EYLF in their early childhood setting. The link is: https://acn-stage.aussiechildcarenetwork.com.au/community/topic/eylf-programming-and-planning-documentation-76

Thank you for your honest opinion,

Cheers
L.A

After discussions with staff and the director we decided for our daily diary to use the template that I have on this site. It’s easy for me and fellow staff to use and it easily links all the activities from the daily diary to the curriculum plan.

With the daily diary I try to write it as a learning story. Sometimes I write a whole page of the activities the children did and what they learned and other days I can only come up with half a page. I also make sure I add spontaneous activities and write down any changes that were made during the day or activities we didn’t do. When I have finished writing up my diary I stick it into an “Art Diary”, add photos of the children playing in activities during the day and have it available for the parents to read by the afternoon.

It doesn't take long to actually write it only about 10 minutes and that goes for all staff doing it as well. We tried other methods but for now this works well and it provides enough space for those busy days...

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L.A

Hi Rebecca,

I know you were confused of the big changed of our program & documnetation. At first, i said i was lost. but when i seen the sample of LA, i slowly walk inch by inch to get an idea and i am like a little toddler who crawl and slowly get up to start to walk. Through the sample of LA i used it weekly, not daily and changed the heading according to my gathered information, most especiallt photos, parent's news, my jot book, staff ideas/contribution & child ideas/contributions. eg. my assitant put book on her head, walking balancing, and when the children seen her, they slowly moved to the book rack and take book one by one and copy what my assistant did, with sponaneous conversations-( ohh it's going to drop now, look i can balance the book on my head, some said, i can't balance, another one said, it's ok try again, ect) i took photos of the actual happening and jotted some writings in my jot book, i put it as my intentional teaching in the input key (activity- bean bag on head walking balancing on plank). This activity was very popular to the children, each one wanted to have a go and lots of giggles while they were balancing. In this activity, in EYLF, it shown the outcomes (1, 2, 3 4, 5 ), principle-(secure, respectful and reciprocal relationships), practice-(intentional teaching)

Rebecca, honestly, i just only started this new curriculum last month, it is very new for me. As what LA said just cut down your writing, and use photos as what i am doing and write title about the photo. I also used learning story and child's art's work(like example a 3 & 1/2 years old girl shown me her curly lines of writing, saying "Miss Daisy, I wrote to my Mum about her birthday") I really actually use the templates in this site, and it helps me a lot to start the changes we are making towards the framework.

Rebecca tried to read the "Educator's Guide", it's really helpful, especially some of the examples in it.

Have a good long Weekends & Happy Easter

Daisy

i have been searching different resources about "EYLF" , and it come to conclusion for me that we do not need to do complicated work. it is much simpler that the previous method. I also use L.A template.. collecting foto's and now i have alots of feed back from the parents..then my curriculum has growing from there...

thanks L.A

Hi Dewi,

Thanks so much for your feedback in regards to the EYLF templates I designed ! Happy to hear that you are finding them useful and simple to follow ! It’s also nice to hear that you are receiving lots of feedback from the parents and that your curriculum is growing… 

Cheers
L.A

Hey Everyone,

Just to let you know that I recently went to an EYLF workshop and I found out some more information about the EYLF Programming which you may find useful.

I've updated my forum topic "EYLF Programming AND Planning Documentation". So click here to view this topic.

If you have any further questions or comments in regards to the EYLF can I please suggest you post them in the above forum.

Have a great weekend everyone!

Cheers ,
L.A

Hi All,

I have received a lot of feedback from you guys regarding the Input Keys on the EYLF Daily Curriculum. At the moment I'm working on how to make the Input Keys a lot easier and more simpler to use. I'll also be adding 2 new input keys (outdoor play and spontaneous experiences). I let you all know once I have these ready.

Also in the meantime I have created a poll in the topic "EYLF Programming & Planning Documentation" . This is so I can find out if you are using a daily, weekly, fortnightly or monthly curriculum plan at your centre. This will also give me an idea on if I need to provide you with anymore EYLF Curriculum Plan Format samples. The poll will remain active for the next 1 month and can be found on page 1 in the above topic.

So can I kindly ask that you take a quick second to vote on this poll! I really appreciate it…Please note that you need to be logged in to vote!

Click here to vote

Thanks Everyone!

Cheers ,
L.A

I have a question, with the new EYLF do we just do learning stories, daily diaries or do we continue with the old way of observing and do anecdotal records, etc.

With the learning stories, how long/short do they have to be? and do you have to do one everyday?

From each learning story you do, do you have to program from that

Our centre is in a community hall, so we can't hang learning stories or anything on the wall. I currently take lots of photo's through out the day and we have a digital photo frame which we put the photo's on at the end of end of each day for the parents to see. We also use the digital photo display as discussion with the children. They love talking about what they were doing in the photo.

Hi Leah,

do we just do learning stories, daily diaries or do we continue with the old way of observing and do anecdotal records, etc.

When observing children you can use any form of observation as long as you are linking the child's experience with the EYLF Learning Outcomes, Principles and Practices. You can always try to mix it up... one month a photo ob, the following month you can use an anecdotal record etc...

With the learning stories, how long/short do they have to be? and do you have to do one everyday?

Some of our members have discussed your questions about "Learning Stories" on this forum itself so I'd thought I would give you the links so you can view the responses. Just click on each of the links to view posts... Hopefully this should give you an understanding on what you need to do with the Learning Stories, if not let me know so I can help you out further...

Link 1: https://acn-stage.aussiechildcarenetwork.com.au/community/topic/group-learning-stories-204

Link 2: https://acn-stage.aussiechildcarenetwork.com.au/community/topic/how-many-learning-stories-195

Our centre is in a community hall, so we can't hang learning stories or anything on the wall

You could always try displaying them in a folder near where the parents sign in/sign out or put them all into one of those big A3 size art diaries. Try and place them where they can be viewed by everyone!! Oh if you type up your learning stories you can email them to the parents!!

We also use the digital photo display as discussion with the children. They love talking about what they were doing in the photo.

A really great idea to use a digital photo frame! If you have a video camera or a sound recorder use that with the children and see what reaction you get after they hear and see themselves playing !

Cheers ,
L.A