Making a Montessori Observation

To make an Observation, click Blossom Board > Make Observation.

Click Add Children.

You can select as many children as you would like. You can type their name in the Search Bar, select a room or click the individual children.

Once you have made your selection, you will see icons appearing under certain children. These icons let you know a child's specific photo permissions. For more information, take a look at our article on Photo Permissions.

Write your observation and select a Montessori Activity.

There are over 400 Montessori Activities within the platform linked to the EYFS by Montessori Creditors on our advisory panel. Select one of these or, you can input your own in the text box.

Once you have selected the activity, you can select the Progress Level.

Emerging:

The teacher has presented the activity and the child is just being introduced. When selecting a child’s next step, the platform will urge you to repeat the same activity.

Developing:

The Teach has presented the activity many times before and the child is becoming familiar. They are able to complete the activity aided. When selecting a child’s next step, the platform will urge you to repeat the same activity.

Secure:

The child can carry out the full activity unaided. When selecting a child’s next step, the platform will suggest the next activity to move onto.

You can of course, add EYFS links.

The EYFS will automatically take you to the age of the child.

You will also be able to choose whether you want to display secured statements or not. Some nurseries want to see secured statements when observing children as they will reinforce the learning over time, whilst other nurseries may on chose to evidence a secured statement once and therefore do not want these to show.
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You can also select Characteristics of Effective Learning, COEL.

Add Next Steps! You can add a Montessori Next Step and/or an EYFS Next Step.

You can choose multiple areas of learning and as many next steps as your wish. You have an open text box to write your own next steps tailored to each child’s development.

You will notice a box on the left hand side asking if you would like to share this onto the Parent App.

If this is ticked, once approved it will automatically be shared to the Parent App. If it is not ticked, it will remain in your platform until you wish to share it in the future.

If you want this tick to appear automatically, click more > Settings >General settings > Sharing observations with Parent App > Yes.

Have you chosen the Montessori activity from the drop down? The system links its suggestions to the drop down menu stored on Blossom.

Have you chosen whether the child is emerging, developing or secure in that activity? This is how the system creates the suggestions.

Blossom allows you to select which frameworks are visible on the platform. Go to More > Settings > Learning Settings > Curriculums to change your settings.

To switch a framework on or off, use the toggle. You can also set one curriculum as a default framework for the platform. To do this, click on the 3 dots, followed by ‘Make Default’.