These are designed to help you audit provision of literate role-play in your setting with a focus on engaging boys in writing.
You can use these to:
- examine the use of resources and the role of adults in your setting
- identify opportunities to develop boys' interests in writing through role-play areas
- to introduce different writing genres.
The downloadable blank audit is structured to provide prompts and key questions, and the evidence gathered will support you in prioritising your actions. The completed audit form (below) exemplifies this process.
You can use this example of a completed audit to support you in auditing provision of literate role-play in your Early Years setting, with a key focus on engaging boys in writing through role-play.
Literate role-play provision for boys: Audit (completed)
Resources
| Areas for consideration | Comments/evidence |
- How do you ensure adequate and appropriate resources are available when developing a literate role-play area to interest boys?
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- A wide variety of ICT equipment and resources
- Literature and print in the environment that reflects popular culture for boys, including for example superheroes, as well as general and specific interests, such as cars, rockets and minibeasts.
- A wide variety of clipboards, notebooks, and paper and card of different sizes, colours and shapes.
- A broad range of writing utensils.
- Access to where boys can 'lie' on the ground to make marks.
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- How do you enhance the literate role-play area with a print rich environment supporting boys' interests?
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- Daily modelling of forming letters and writing for a range of purposes and genres.
- Engaging with the children to form signage and labels for the role-play area, thus fostering ownership of the area.
- Making sure that the environment has suitable signage and talking points that
adults and children can refer to when playing within the area. This may
be from the local post office, fire station, etc. that the children
have visited, so that they have that first-hand experience.
|
- Think about the following role-play areas: café, builder's yard, postal
delivery van and post office, garage, DIY shop, rocket and space
station, vets, ambulance and hospital, fire engine and fire station,
aeroplane and travel agents. What literate resources could you include
to encourage and enhance boys' writing?
|
- Making sure that a broad range of writing utensils and stimulating
resources are available and accessible for all children, particularly
clipboards.
- Any signage, brochures, leaflets and/or any other literature from such places to enhance the 'reality' of the role-play area.
- An interactive SMART board with 2Simple or Notebook software.
- A
broad range of stimulating writing resources and utensils, for example
- clipboards
- paper and card of different sizes and colours
- notepads of
all different sizes.
- Voice recordings of the different
adults that take up these roles, for example a flight attendant
speaking over the 'tannoy' instructing passengers to fasten seatbelts.
|
- How do you include different genres/forms of writing within role-play? Consider functional resources that boys gravitate towards.
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- Making sure that the correct writing resources are available for children to make marks for different purposes/genres, and ascribe meanings to those marks. For example
- chalk for a blackboard 'specials' menu in a café
- marker pens for a whiteboard to record vehicle ‘book in’ times in a garage.
- Making sure that a broad range of ICT is available for the children to access. For example
- a digital microscope for the veterinary surgery or hospital
- a voice recorder for a travel agency, so children are able to record and then play back for their 'customers' where they wish to go on holiday.
- Daily modelling of writing for different purposes/genres, for example
- doing the register
- writing lists of what is needed for snack
- writing instructions of how to prepare the food.
|
- How do you stagger resources into the role-play areas over a period of time to enhance and sustain the quality of play for boys?
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- Encouraging all children to bring in resources to show and to share with each other, in order to enrich the role-play area(s).
- Speaking with the children (usually in small groups) to ask their opinions of which resources they would they like to have in the different areas. Taking the voices of the children into account is crucial.
- To extend this further, encourage children to write lists of what they would like/what we need in the café/builde'rs yard/vets, etc.
|
Adult's role
| Areas for consideration | Comments/evidence |
- How do you involve children in developing and setting up the role-play area each time it changes?
|
- Before considering what the role-play area will be, monitor and observe the current interests of the children.
- Speaking with the children (usually in small groups) to gather their views on what they think we need or what they would like to have in our role-play area
- Encouraging children and their parents/carers to bring in any resources that they think would enhance the area.
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- How do you encourage boys to engage in this process?
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- Ensuring awareness of children's interests, so that the resources made available are ones that will engage the boys and that they will gravitate towards. For example, having available a range of accessible ICT equipment and resources, and opportunity to take the resources and role-play can outdoors if and when desired.
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- What is the adult's role within the literate role-play area?
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- Primarily to act as partner to the child's learning and experience, whether observing their play which then feeds into enhancing specific areas, or whether the role involves taking a more 'active' approach – one that models writing for different purposes and genres. It is important that the adult scaffolds learning around the child so that his development is nurtured through his interest.
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- How do you consider the adult role would change over the time period of the literate role-play area with the boys?
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- Over time, the adult plays more of an observer role once the social skills and purposes for the role-play area have been established, but always engaging with the children whenever possible, in order to facilitate and foster development and education.
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- How would you introduce new resources to engage boys more?
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- Follow their interests and involvement within the role-play area in order to judge which resources are required to engage boys more, making sure that they are introduced by means of discussion as a whole class and/or in small group time, so that the children are aware of them and how they can be used.
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- How do you use the literate role-play area to support assessment towards the Early Years Foundation Stage Profile (EYFSP)?
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- As most children love to spend time within the role play area and there are so many opportunities for cross-curricular learning, it is an important area for observation, and collecting examples of children’s involvement, to feed into the EYFSP.
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- How would you ensure that all adults are aware of the importance of encouraging boys to engage in the literate role-play area?
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- Members of the staff team planning together and sharing knowledge of the boys and their interests. Discussing the language that can be used, and the different ways to engage with boys within a wide range of learning experiences. Making sure that weekly/daily planning clearly shows and states the purpose (with reference to the EYFS) for an adult working in the role-play area.
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Key priorities for development
When planning with the whole-staff team, identify:
- times and named adults to teach children to use the interactive whiteboard and computer programs as appropriate
- opportunities for daily modelling of writing
opportunities to involve parents and the home learning environment to consolidate and develop learning: key workers to action – staff discussions weekly - opportunities for children to apply developing phonic skills.
Identify somebody to take responsibility for making regular checks of availability, accessibility and condition of writing resources.
Make sure that all adults are clear about their role in supporting development of early writing, especially students. Identify any continuing professional development (CPD) needs.
Attachments
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