DIGITAL PRESCHOOL

Printed portfolios

At the conclusion of our projects we add a pictorial record of the project to each child’s individual portfolio.  The photos are presented in various formats all of which we design in Microsoft Word.

One of the advantages of Microsoft Word is that it allows you to copy and paste one page 20 times then make slight adjustments to individualize each child’s page.  This makes this form of documentation effective and efficient. 

Individual portfolios are updated regularly and record the child’s individual and group experiences and development.  Children and parents add work samples to them as they wish.  The children have unlimited assess to the portfolios, parents however are asked to only look at their own child’s portfolio. Hughes and MacNaughton state,  

‘A developmental portfolio should be more than a random collection of all the products a child happens to make. Ideally, it is the outcome of a process in which teacher, child, and parent are all involved in contributing to, selecting, and viewing its contents for the purpose of documenting both developmental milestones and this child’s unique ways of representing his or her experiences.’ 1

Our children often ask for photos of their play and accomplishments to be added to their portfolio. These are not necessarily product oriented.  Ethan was so excited the day he climbed to the top of a large tree stump that he asked me to record it with a photo in his portfolio.  Kalum asked for a photo of the first time he slid down the slide without using his hands.  Portfolios become a photographic record of each child’s individual learning experience.  They give real insight into how each child developed throughout the year reflecting what they valued.

Using this resource

The child’s progress and level of development can be documented within the various areas of the curriculum.  In the Queensland Early Years Curriculum Guidelines  2

Other states have similar groupings of the developmental areas and these should be used accordingly.

This table gives you an idea of the scope of experiences that can be documented photographically.

 Photos are excellent for recording interactions and creations, especially those that are packed away at tidy up time.  The specific level of development of the individual can follow a general statement about the learning area, photos are then inserted around the text.  General statements can verify your curriculum, describe learning areas and advocate for play.  The date the observation was recorded is of particular importance when documenting a child’s abilities as they can change rapidly. 

 Nimmo and Jones state: 

‘An important task for the teacher of young children is taking notes and making other representations of children’s spontaneous activity.  In the role of scribe for the group, the teacher becomes its keeper of memories…Documentation of ‘what happens’ in a school setting provides teachers, parents, and children with a storehouse of memories from which to research, plan, and understand.  Through documentation the often missed words and actions of young children are captured and made visible, and in so doing families and the community are invited into a relationship of reciprocity with the school’ 3