Program Information

Developer and contact

Developed by Diane Trister Dodge, Laura Colker, and Cate Heroman, The Creative Curriculum^® is distributed by Teaching Strategies, Inc. Address: 7101 Wisconsin Ave., Suite 700, Bethesda, MD 20814. Email: CustomerRelations@Teaching
Strategies.com. Web: http://www.teachingstrategies.com/. Telephone: (800) 637-3652.

Scope of use

No information on the scope of use or the demographic characteristics of program users is available.

Teaching

The Creative Curriculum^® is an early childhood curriculum designed to foster children’s social/emotional, physical, cognitive, and language development and to enhance learning in literacy, math, science, social studies, the arts, and technology. The curriculum includes information on children’s development and learning, classroom organization and structure, teaching strategies, instructional goals and objectives, and guidance on how to engage families in their children’s learning. Intentional, teacher-guided learning experiences are provided in large and small group settings. Children are offered learning opportunities in the following interest areas: blocks, dramatic play, toys and games, art, library, discovery, sand and water, music and movement, cooking, computers, and outdoors. The curriculum describes the learning that occurs through play in each area, the corresponding stages of play, and teacher interactions to promote and scaffold children’s learning. The curriculum incorporates the use of “studies,” which are project-based investigations focused on meaningful science and social studies topics that provide children with an opportunity to apply skills in literacy, math, the arts, and technology. The Creative Curriculum^® also emphasizes the use of ongoing, observation-based child assessments to help guide instruction. CreativeCurriculum.net is a web-based application that enables teachers to link curriculum and assessment and streamline the assessment process. Adaptations in all resources are suggested for children with disabilities and dual language learners. In addition to the general curriculum guide, separate literacy, mathematics, and science and social studies guides can be purchased, and implementation and evaluation guidance and professional development services are available.

Cost

The curriculum materials can be purchased separately depending on program needs with prices ranging from $12.95 for an individual Study Starter to $49.95 for The Creative Curriculum^® for Preschool, 4th edition. Preschool assessment materials cost $114.95 for 25 children. The Creative Curriculum^® does not require any special materials or manipulatives other than those that may be found in most well-equipped preschool classrooms; however, a series of literacy and mathematics kits containing materials that align with curriculum activities are available for $499.95 each.

Teaching Strategies also offers The Creative Curriculum^® Classroom Resource Kit, which provides all the resources necessary to implement the program in a classroom. The kit contains the following materials: The Creative Curriculum^® for Preschool (2 copies), The Creative Curriculum^® for Preschool in Action DVD (1 copy), The Creative Curriculum^® for Preschool Implementation Checklist (1 copy), Setting Up a Classroom for 20 Preschool Children^® (1 copy), The Creative Curriculum for Preschool Developmental Continuum Assessment Toolkit for Ages 3–5^® (1 toolkit), 20 subscriptions to CreativeCurriculum.net, The Power of Observation, 2nd edition (1 copy), Literacy: The Creative Curriculum^® Approach (1 copy), Mathematics: The Creative Curriculum^® (1 copy), The Creative Curriculum^® Study Starters: A Step-by-Step Guide to Project-Based Investigations in Science and Social Studies (complete set of 12 topics and the Teacher’s Guide), Using The Creative Curriculum^® LearningGames With Families: A Teacher’s Guide (1 copy), A Parent’s Guide to Preschool (2 sets with 10 copies in each set), Reading Right from the Start (2 sets with 10 copies in each set), The Creative Curriculum^® LearningGames^®48–60 months (1 set containing 20 copies). The kit costs $1,595. Professional development costs vary depending on the type of service provided.