As a dedicated practitioner, you want the very best for your children. You want them to grow up healthy, happy, self-reliant and confident in their abilities. That is why it is vital that personal and thinking skills underpin every aspect of the early years foundation stage. Personal skills enable children to manage stress, to bounce back after difficulties, to understand that mistakes are important for learning, and to communicate and cooperate with others. Thinking skills are about making decisions, solving problems systematically and thinking critically. Continuous Provision: Personal and Thinking Skills gives practical guidance on how to further children’s personal and thinking skills as you play with them, so that they continue to develop their abilities when you are not present. It includes: * Focused sections with a clear breakdown of personal and thinking skills, so that you have the knowledge and confidence to promote children’s development. * Open-ended questions to further each specific skill, as well as practical challenges to enrich children’s learning experiences. * Activity ideas and photocopiable resources to help you plan for continuous provision. Ideal for practitioners who work with children aged from 30 months onwards.

As a dedicated practitioner, you want the very best for your children. You want them to grow up healthy, happy, self-reliant and confident in their abilities. That is why it is vital that personal and thinking skills underpin every aspect of the early years foundation stage. Personal skills enable children to manage stress, to bounce back after difficulties, to understand that mistakes are important for learning, and to communicate and cooperate with others. Thinking skills are about making decisions, solving problems systematically and thinking critically. Continuous Provision: Personal and Thinking Skills gives practical guidance on how to further children's personal and thinking skills as you play with them, so that they continue to develop their abilities when you are not present. It includes: * Focused sections with a clear breakdown of personal and thinking skills, so that you have the knowledge and confidence to promote children's development. * Open-ended questions to further each specific skill, as well as practical challenges to enrich children’s learning experiences. * Activity ideas and photocopiable resources to help you plan for continuous provision. Ideal for practitioners who work with children aged from 30 months onwards.

In the original book – Continuous Provision, Alistair Bryce-Clegg covered what effective continuous provision should look like and how practitioners could achieve it by linking their provision directly to assessment. This new title: The Skills, demonstrates that in every area of continuous provision (like sand, water, role play, small world etc) there are 'pure' skills that children can only learn in that area and there are 'facilitative' skills that children can learn through that area. Each of these 'pure' and 'facilitative' skills needs to be acknowledged, assessed and taught and this is the premise of this new title. In The Skill of Continuous Provision Alistair: Revisits (briefly) the principles of effective continuous provision Looks at each area of continuous provision in turn and identifies a range of 'pure' and 'facilitative' skills Shows how the provision itself (resources) should be leveled 'top', 'middle' and 'emergent' to meet the development needs of all children irrespective of how old they are. Gives some comprehensive examples of how to break those skills down into top, middle, emergent e.g. in 'Paint' he identifies skills that children need to learn when using paint like texturising, application, printing etc. He then takes each of those skills individually and show how a skill like printing could be broken down into three broad stages. Asks and answers questions like: What would really basic, lower level printing look like? What sort of resources would facilitate effective learning in this area of development? By the end of the book the practitioner should have a really practical guide to differentiated skill development in continuous provision.

The Project Approach in Early Years Provision is designed to help early years students, practitioners and managers understand and manage project work with young children. The project approach is designed to enable early educators to ensure young children are learning in the best possible way by providing motivating learning opportunities. Put the project approach into practice, using the included resources with adaptable and printable planning and observation forms. Link the approach to the requirements of all four British early years curricula. Develop children's personal and social skills by encouraging collaboration with others. Provide a meaningful context for children to practice their literacy and numeracy skills. Promote sustained shared thinking by facilitating projects that involve children in active investigation, discussion and debate. Give each child the freedom to learn according to their individual needs, interests, aptitudes, and abilities.

This practical text supports early years students and practitioners to build confidence in planning for learning across all stages of the EYFS and in the many different contexts in which it is delivered.

An Introduction to the Foundation Phase provides a practical guide to understanding and implementing the Foundation Phase in any early years setting in Wales. The experienced author team discuss and reflect upon a play based approach to learning and the importance of collaboration between various members in any early years settings. Students are introduced to key topics including: key theories of influential thinkers within early years education, both past and present; international curricula and perspectives on play and how Welsh curriculum compares; effective classroom practice; observational techniques; methods of assessment and how to be a reflective practitioner. Through interviews with different stakeholders, including educational ministers, policy advisors, practitioners and parents, An Introduction to the Foundation Phase concludes by discussing the challenges and complexities of putting policy into practice and considers implications for the future of early years education. Making links between theory, policy and practice is vital for a future workforce and this core text provides a solid foundation for any student within early years. Illustrative case studies, activities, reflective tasks and suggestions for further reading are provided throughout. Online resources for lecturers and students are also included.