Hey educator!

You know what an observation is. The hard part is the blank page.

This workbook gets you writing. Sixty-four pages of real exercises, real childcare scenarios and scaffolds that sit right beside you, so the words are there when you reach for them. You practise the skill by doing it, jotting by jotting, until objective documentation starts to sound like your own voice.

It suits educators new to EYLF documentation, those returning to the sector after time away, and anyone working in English as an additional language. Sentence frames, verb banks and EAL tips appear on every exercise.

What's inside: 40 exercises and activities

Part One: Build the fundamentals

✅ Fill-in-the-gap sentence builders using objective language

✅ Subjective to objective rewriting, stripping out labels and guesses

✅ Vague to detailed upgrading with time, materials and exact actions

✅ Linking observations to all five EYLF Learning Outcomes

✅ Jottings, anecdotal records, running records and learning stories, explained and practised

✅ A "what's next" forward-planning drill

✅ Word scramble, cloze passage and a strength-based checklist

✅ Verb banks, sentence starters and linking phrases you can use on the job

Part Two: Take it further ✅ Bilingual documentation, keeping a child's home-language words in the record ✅ A word map of a child's first words, in English and home language ✅ Growing a jotting into a full learning story ✅ Capturing the voice of the child with direct speech ✅ One observation for each EYLF Outcome, LO1 to LO5 ✅ The full EYLF V2.0 planning cycle worked through a single moment ✅ Observation as a mind map for project and inquiry documentation ✅ The same moment written three ways ✅ A show, do not tell drill that swaps labels for evidence ✅ Observing music and movement for arts-based documentation

Extension Pack: Language practice for EAL educators

✅ Spot the error, fixing tense, opinion and vague wording

✅ Circle the correct word for objective, past-tense writing

✅ Complete the sentence from supported starters

✅ Are these statements correct, a true or false concept check

✅ Substitution table for building dozens of correct sentences

✅ Sentence combining for fluent, flowing observations

✅ Complete the dialogue, then turn it into an observation ✅ Feelings and their opposites, matched to the evidence you would see ✅ Read the picture, building an observation from a photo ✅ Register makeover, casual notes rewritten as professional records ✅ What do we call the observation that, a terminology check ✅ Edit your own writing with a simple self-correction code

Finish with two puzzles

✅ A crossword of observation types and an EYLF word search, both with answers

🎯 Who it is for

✅ Certificate III and Diploma students practising for assessment

✅ EAL educators who need sentence frames, verb banks and vocabulary scaffolds

✅ Relief and casual educators who want a ready-to-go toolkit

✅ New educators and trainees finding their documentation voice

✅ Educational leaders and trainers running team practice

📋 By the end, you will be able to

✅ Write objective observations that stay free of assumptions and labels ✅ Move between jottings, anecdotal records, running records and learning stories with ease ✅ Link what you see to the EYLF Learning Outcomes with precision ✅ Turn any observation into a clear "what's next" plan ✅ Reach for scaffolds when the words do not come

Every exercise is built on a realistic childcare scenario, so you build the habit of high-quality pedagogical documentation by doing it. Many exercises link to short video tutorials on the Storykate YouTube channel through a quick QR scan, so you can watch a clip and then write. A free printable word bank is included through a link inside.

Format: 64-page PDF, printable or fill in on screen

Aligned with: EYLF V2.0 Learning Outcomes and NQS Quality Area 1

Beyond Australia: educators using the EYFS, Te Whariki or other frameworks will find the writing skills transfer.

About Storykate

Kate is an Australian early childhood teacher with eighteen years in the sector as a relief ECT, trainer and lecturer. Over the past 13 years, she has supported more than 1,000 students through their Certificate III and Diploma programs. Find free downloads, video tutorials and more resources at storykate.com.au.

Cheers, Kate / Storykate

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