Help, I'm panicking!! : first assessment on unit 301

I had one assessment on 307, ran a PE session for pre-schoolers and then made snack for with the children when we got back from PE and assessor signed off 2/3rd's of unit. Knowledge questions were pretty straight forward as well.

Good luck.

[Nicknacks]

Hi, I'm new to the site and not long started level 3. My first observation is on 8th December and reading all your comments on your first observation was great. Feel much more confident now. Many thanks

how long has it been since u startd till now that this is ur first visit

[Nicknacks]

Started this September so very early stages, finished unit 302 and almost finished 307 so not doing to bad so far. First did level 3 in 1995 so its been a long time since I did anything like this but really enjoying it. You may have noticed the strange time of day I am on here, not completely mad but work nights on a children’s ward and trying hard to stay awake when everyone else is asleep.

[Nikinoo]

I have my first observation tomorrow, am really nervous as i am only a dinnerlady in the nursery but am doing the NVQ so i can hopefully get a better job out of it. I am doing an art activity and have decided to do leaf printing to coincide with Autumn. I have no idea what i am going to talk to the children about as dont know much except that the leaves change colour and fall off the trees. Anyone got any suggestions as to what i can say?

[Ruthierhyme]

Hugs and welcome. Try not to think too much about how you should conduct the activity, you'll find Children with the freedom to explore will enjoy and guide the activity themselves, including the progression to painted hands & print taking :) - all good for evidencing engaging material and promoting self direction.

What colour paint are you going to have? if this can be mixed to obtain different shades of brown/green/orange - red & yellow have some ready to offer. I'm not sure what age group you're with but maybe ask if they'd like to make a pot of paint lighter or darker - maybe have some sticks instead of brushes ready to stir the paint.

The leaf shade/pigment is to do with the chlorophyll in leaves, you could talk about how the leaves grow older through the seasons/year, changing ... until late Autumn when they fall from the tree, make food/compost for insects & worms on the ground and how some trees keep their leaves - Christmas trees and others lose them ... Horse chestnut/conker tree - Autumn leaves from wikipedia
I hope you have a great ob and enjoy it let us know how it goes.
xx

[Nikinoo]

Hi, thanks for your reply.
The age group is nursery, so 3 -4 yr olds.
I havent thought much about paint etc as was going to do potato printing up until today when someone suggested leaf printing. Thanks for your suggestions, i just need a bit of reassurance really as never done anything like this before and feel i lack confidence even though i've been told that i will be fine :)

[pip squeak]

Good luck - hope all goes well.

As advice further up this thread. Pretend the assessor is not there. I always tell my candidates to think of me as a piece of the furniture!! Relax and have fun with the children.

Best wishes

[Nikinoo]

Well i got through my 1st observation!! Phew!!! My assessor said could see i was very nervous at start but relaxed half way through, and its true, after a while you almost forget she is there!!

[pip squeak]

Well Done Nikinoo

I expect you gathered lots of evidence to use for other units too

Good luck with the rest of your qualification