E100

Supporting children’s learning through the curriculum.
Introduction
I have decided to observe Jake, aged four. He shows a preference for outdoor play, and therefore I have decided to focus my TMA around the learning area of Knowledge and understanding of the world.
The observations over a two week period demonstrate both adult and child initiated activities. I have gained permission from both Jake and his parents to use my observations within my TMA; his name has been changed to protect his identity to comply with ethical considerations.
Part one
I choose the observations listed appendices 1, 2, 3, and 4 because they show how I observe, assess and plan for the children in my care. Observing children and planning their learning opportunities is considered so important it is a statutory requirement of the EYFS (DFES 2008b).
Study topic 16 notes that the Early Years Foundation Stage practice guidance (EYFS) states “children must be supported in developing their Knowledge, skills and understanding that help them to make sense of their world” (DCSF, 2008b p87) Having observed Jake carefully over the last few weeks I was interested to see he appeared to have a trajectory schema – Athey, in Study Topic 3 page 57, defined a schema as a pattern of repeatable behaviour. A trajectory schema is where a child moves in or representing straight lines arcs or curves. In observation one (see appendix 1)Jake was riding his bike up and down the driveway, he carried on talking to Kate about going up and down and how they zoomed down past the tree. In observation 3 ( Appendix 3) when Jake was playing with the water he was pouring the water up, down, backwards and forwards into the bottles and sieves to see where the water comes out. These observations suggest a ‘trajectory’ schema (Arnold, 2010, p21).
As I was linking my observation 1(appendix 1) to the EYFS I could see he was Learning and Developing at the 30-50 months stage of the Knowledge and understanding of the world (KUW)...