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Objective Led Planning

Objective Led Planning versus In the Moment Planning?

18th September 2017

Objective led planning or In the moment planning?  I have seen a few posts recently asking about the difference between these two planning models as a teaching method in Early Years so I thought it would be a good idea to explain the different methods.

Objective led planning

Objective led planning Is a term born from Alistair Bryce Clegg; Education Consultant and Early Years Author. It is where you target a small group of children who are heading towards the same objective. You enter their play, taking the objective that you want them to achieve and steer it into the play. It is an alternative to calling children to you, interrupting their play. For example, you want children to count to 20, so you develop a game that children are already playing like power rangers to incorporate that objective by playing with them. This might be suggesting they count to 20 while the baddies escape before they try to find them! We have created some an Objective Led Planning Template’s to use with this style of teaching. You can also use our targets for Maths to take into play as a prompt for areas to focus. The important thing to remember is to keep notes of your evidence and notes on where the children’s next steps are. This type of planning gives you an excellent knowledge of where all the individual children are and where they need to go. When children are displaying high levels of involvement and they are interrupted for a different activity and then go back to what they were doing can be detrimental to learning as it can take around half an hour to ‘get back in’ those high levels of learning. Think about a time when you have got into a ‘flow’ after a lot of procrastination and you are really involved and then someone interrupts you, for example, by knocking on your door, it then takes that same period of time to get back into the ‘flow’ and it is the same for children.

In the moment planning

In the moment planning is a term derived from Anna Ephgrave; Early Years Trainer and Author. In the moment planning is as it says, ‘planning in the moment’. To do this you need to have a really good grasp of the Development Matters and all the objectives for each area of learning before you start. It is essentially facilitating play, extending it, planning next steps and facilitating next steps at the time. Therefore, covering whatever objectives come up at the time which usually ends up being many. Therefore the learning is far greater than an adult led activity covering a single set objective.

Case Study: A child is outside singing on the stage, he is making up his own song, usually a reluctant writer (you can imagine what would happen if you called him to a table to write!) he would switch off. The Teacher sits and watches for a few minutes. She listens to the song he has created as he sings with confidence and passion into the microphone. He is testing out various words in the song. The Teacher asks him “How will you remember the words to your song if you are going to perform it to your friends?”. He ponders for a short time and the teacher suggests we would write it down. His face lights up and he gets a clipboard and pencil to start enthusiastically writing the song lyrics. As he sounds the words out the Teacher is there to support him. He later goes on to sing the song to his friends.

As you can see from this case study, many objectives are covered at the same time and the practitioner can continue on extending the play in a natural way and the child is learning in a purposful way.

Recording planning in the moment?

With ‘in the moment’ planning many objectives can be reached as well as the characteristics of effective learning. Children work with the adults to extend and develop themselves as they go. It is a good idea to do the retrospective planning so that you still have evidence for Ofsted when doing in the moment planning but it is not a requirement if you are particularly confident in explaining this approach.

Finally

Both approaches are far better for engaging children than calling children away to a table to do a completely different activity for example; writing a sentence about the latest topic. There is no right or wrong way. You must do what is best for your children and your setting.

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Yasmine
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These are beautifully made and really useful for extending my more able.
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Emma B.
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This training was fantastic. Really made me think and reflect on ways to improve. Just brilliantly honest and straight to the point.
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Charlotte K.
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This is great we have printed it out and we use daily for the Nursery children for a short Phonics activity. It has saved me loads of time and is really well thought out and each activity is clearly explained so the staff know what to do. Each time they teach Phonics they are becoming more...This is great we have printed it out and we use daily for the Nursery children for a short Phonics activity. It has saved me loads of time and is really well thought out and each activity is clearly explained so the staff know what to do. Each time they teach Phonics they are becoming more confident with presenting.
05/08/2022
Miss G.
United Kingdom
This is so helpful to give to parents. A great help. Thanks
05/01/2022
Mary
United Kingdom
This is so amazing thank you so much for making plans appropriate for Early Years!
03/14/2022
jane
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Very please with my purchase, brilliant phonics activities.
01/03/2022
amy
United Kingdom
Really helpful planning - good ideas.
11/23/2021
Jill.R
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Great Book, really helpful phonics planning. Would definitely recommend when teaching phonics to children.
09/20/2021
Mrs C.
United Kingdom
Highly recommend this informative phonics book. Everything you need to know about phase 1 and explained in good detail.
08/06/2021
Jayne
United Kingdom
This was absolutely brilliant, thank you x
04/30/2021
Candela M.
United Kingdom
I love this! Thank you very much, I was wondering if there was an editable version for this please? Does it have all of the development matters objectives?
10/22/2020
Mrs C.
United Kingdom
gREAT PLANNING FOR DIWALI, ESPECIALLY THE MUSIC THAT WE CAN PLAY DURING OUR PE LESSON OR PLAY WHILST WE MAKE OUR RANGOLI PATTERNS OR DIVAS. THANK YOU , A GREAT RESOURCE.
10/02/2020
Claire H.
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This training is superb! Such an important message that all schools need to hear with regards to behaviour management! The science of how the brain works really helps to show how crucial it is to build strong nurturing relationships and how we as adults need to self regulate before we can support...This training is superb! Such an important message that all schools need to hear with regards to behaviour management! The science of how the brain works really helps to show how crucial it is to build strong nurturing relationships and how we as adults need to self regulate before we can support children to do the same. Some powerful thought provoking messages about how we need to respond to children's emotions and behaviours and some great tips to try to support children's wellbeing. Thank you for this fabulous training.
09/16/2020
Mary S.
United Kingdom
I am an NQT and in Reception for the first time, this is so helpful for me to teach my children the basics and ease gently into phonics to ensure all of my children are ready before we start phase 2. Thank you so much for making my life easier!
08/26/2020
Debbie
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This PPT is great. Could you give me an idea of the tune to the goodbye song please. Thank you, Debbie
08/25/2020
Jill
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Great resource
03/27/2020
Jorgia H.
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I loved this and enjoyed making something for the birds in the garden. We watched them eat it and used the bird spotting sheet to see which type of birds they are.
03/11/2020
Jane
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This is a really helpful display.
03/07/2020
Claire
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Thank you for creating these. They look perfect for exploring pattern and loose parts play. I will be printing these to use in my class asap. I love the patterns use loose parts as well as natural resources too!
03/06/2020
Lisa
Hong Kong SAR China
Great sound mat. good detail
03/05/2020
Claire
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These statements are fab for using on display and save teachers so much time! I will be printing these and getting them up in my new displays asap!
01/17/2020
Rebecca
Spain
Lovely handout to give to parents , every parent should read this ! Thanks.
12/13/2019
Bonnie
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I love these cards, lovely pictures and great for my children to use with sentence writing.
11/28/2019
Zoe.H
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Thanks. Going to use these cards today.
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Rachel
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Thanks for creating this Bingo resource. Any plans to create more suffix word resources ?
10/23/2019
jenny
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Just download, got some great planning ideas. Thanks.
10/01/2019
Sara-Jayne
These are an excellent resource, as you can adapt for what you need in your setting. thank you.
08/28/2019
Miss G.
These are great, just what I've been looking for.
08/26/2019
Heather R.
would highly recommend this resource to any year 1 teachers. It's got everything you need.
08/26/2019
Zoe M.
Just printed this off, thanks - just what I was looking for.
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