Lesson plans and observations
Weekly plans, observations and learning stories, and which of them a child's family can read.
Opening Learning
Go to More → Learning. It has three tabs, Plans, Observations and Forms; this article covers the first two.
If Learning isn't in the menu, or opening it says it's turned off, your center doesn't use it.
Weekly lesson plans
- Start a plan On Plans, tap +.
- Fill in the week In New Plan, set Week of and the Room (it starts as All rooms, so type your room's name), then the Theme and Activities.
- Save Tap Save plan.
Separate activities with commas or new lines. Because a comma starts a new activity, write paint and glue collage rather than paint, glue collage if it's one activity.
Each plan in the list has Edit plan and Copy to next week. Copying opens a new plan with the same room, theme and activities and the week moved on by seven days, ready to adjust and save. It's the quickest way to run a theme across two weeks.
Assessments
The clipboard icon at the top of Plans opens New Assessment. Choose the Child, fill in Domain, Level and Notes, and tap Save assessment.
Domain and level are free text; they start as Social-Emotional and Developing. Agree the words with your team. Developing in one room and Emerging in the next makes a list nobody can compare.
Recording an observation
- Start one On Observations, tap +.
- Choose the child and domain In New Observation, pick the Child and a Domain: General, Social-Emotional, Language, Motor or Cognitive, plus any others your center has already used.
- Write it Under Observation, write what you saw.
- Attach evidence Optionally add a Photo, a Video or a Voice memo (tap Stop memo when you've finished speaking).
- Save Tap Save observation.
RoundUp won't attach a photo or video for a child whose family hasn't given that consent. If you're offline, the observation is saved on the device and sent when you reconnect.
The child and domain buttons above the list narrow it down. Tap an observation to open it; Edit changes its domain and wording.
Learning stories
For a moment that deserves more than a line, tap Learning Story on the Observations tab. Choose the Child, give it a Story title, write The story (what happened, what you noticed, and what it means for the child) and tap Save Learning Story. It's saved as an observation with the domain Learning Story.
What families see
Observations about a child, learning stories included, are visible to that child's family in their app, along with any photo attached. Lesson plans and assessments are for staff only.
So write every observation as if the parent will read it, because they can.
Writing a useful observation
- Record what the child did or said, word for word where you can. Counted five blocks, then said "one more makes six" is evidence. Good at counting is an opinion.
- One child per observation. Mention other children as "a friend" rather than by name. Their families didn't agree to be in this record.
- Give the context. Where it happened, with what, and whether it was the child's own idea.
- Little and often. Short observations across a month show growth. One long one written the night before a conference shows a deadline.
More: All teacher guides