You may have heard the term 'in the moment planning' before. 

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It simply means that the practitioners working with your child are responding to their interests and extending their learning in the present moment. At Little Thetford Acorns, we do have some long term and shorter-term plans, however these documents are very fluid and will often change with the interests and needs of the children in the setting.

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Our environment is extremely important. It enables the children to play using their own ideas, to be creative and should spark curiosity. We try to offer as many natural and open-ended resources as possible. Doing this means that the children are not restricted in what they can do and can take the lead in their learning. For young children, learning is happening all the time: it is a natural desire for them to want to find out new things, explore new environments and ask questions about the world around them. We use open-ended questions with our older children. This is so that they are not giving just yes and no answers, but are being encouraged to talk about and describe things and use new language.

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Using in the moment planning requires practitioners to have an in-depth knowledge of each child and their individual needs. This is where working in partnership with parents and carers is vital. We take into consideration the interests and stages of development. This allows us to know how to extend learning and what the next steps for each child are. Practitioners will be looking for these teachable moments; times when we can follow the child’s spark and use that spark to teach something new.

 

The planning becomes the observations, the interaction is documented on the online journal, Tapestry, and the outcome is noted.

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