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3) The historical evolution of the program/model.

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3) The historical evolution of the program/model.

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The Creative Curriculum was first developed in 1978 by Diane Trister Dodge, the founder of Teaching Strategies, Inc.  With many revisions to date, this curriculum began to define the developmental appropriate practice in the 1992 edition.

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The third edition encompassed dividing the room up into interest areas and the introduction of the Child Development Learning Checklist.

This checklist ensures that learning is age appropriate and holds the facilitator accountable for early learning success.

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The interest areas are academic based to include math, literacy, science, social studies and the arts.

The children learn about these areas through play and guided instruction to be developmentally appropriate.

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Teaching Strategies has been assisting early childhood educators across the United States for over 30 years in designing and executing curriculum programs that are both content-rich and suitable for children's developmental stages.

These programs emphasize active learning and contribute to children's progress in various aspects of their development.

Today, The Creative Curriculum is widely recognized as an innovative and all-encompassing curriculum approach. It has been meticulously researched and is celebrated for its commitment to nurturing creativity. Moreover, it underscores the vital role that teachers play in fostering a stimulating and relevant learning environment for every child.

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1) What the model looks like in the classroom.

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1) What the model looks like in the classroom.

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The Environment is arranged into learning areas and large blocks of time are given for self-selected play. This model focuses on project-based investigations as a means for children to apply skills and addresses four areas of development: social/emotional, physical, cognitive, and language.

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4) What others have said about the model:  pros/cons - formal evaluations including critiques of its effectiveness and theoretical soundness.

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4) What others have said about the model:  pros/cons - formal evaluations including critiques of its effectiveness and theoretical soundness.

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5) Implications for the model across age levels in early childhood education (EC-3rd grade)

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5) Implications for the model across age levels in early childhood education (EC-3rd grade)

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6) An evaluation of this model in terms of its theoretical connections (or lack of connections) to state and national standards

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6) An evaluation of this model in terms of its theoretical connections (or lack of connections) to state and national standards

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Curriculum Models provide a framework to organize planning experiences for children. In previous chapters, the planning cycle has been introduced and in accordance with best practices, the models identified in this chapter represent a variety of ways to use the planning cycle within these models.

Bank Street Model

Lucy Sprague Mitchell founded Bank Street, an Integrated Approach also referred to as the Developmental-Interactionist Approach.

In this model, the environment is arranged into learning centers and planning is organized by the use of materials within the learning areas (centers).

Art

Science

Sensory/Cooking

Dramatic Play

Language/Literacy

Math/Manipulative/Blocks

Technology

Outdoors: Water and Sand Play

The Bank Street Model of curriculum represents the ideology of Freud, Erikson, Dewey, Vygotsky, and Piaget. This model draws upon the relationship between psychology and education. By understanding developmental domains and creating interest centers with materials that promote specific areas of development, children's individual preferences and paces of learning are the focus.

"A teacher's knowledge and understanding of child development is crucial to this approach. Educational goals are set in terms of developmental processes and include the development of competence, a sense of autonomy and individuality, social relatedness and connectedness, creativity and integration of different ways of experiencing the world" (Gordon).[1]

Creative Curriculum Model (Diane Trister Dodge)

In the Creative Curriculum model, the focus is primarily on children's play and self-selected activities. The Environment is arranged into learning areas and large blocks of time are given for self-selected play. This model focuses on project-based investigations as a means for children to apply skills and addresses four areas of development: social/emotional, physical, cognitive, and language.

The curriculum is designed to foster development of the whole child through teacher-led, small and large group activities centered around 11 interest areas:

blocks

dramatic play

toys and games

art

library

discovery

sand and water

music and movement

cooking

computers

outdoors.

The commercial curriculum provides teachers with details on child development, classroom organization, teaching strategies, and engaging families in the learning process. Child assessments are an important part of the curriculum, but must be purchased separately. Online record-keeping tools assist teachers with the maintenance and organization of child portfolios, individualized planning, and report production.[2]

High Scope Model (David Weikert)

The High Scope Model focuses on developing learning centers similar to the Bank Street Model and emphasizes key experiences for tracking development. The key experiences are assessed using a Child Observation Record for tracking development and include areas of:

Creative Representation

Initiative

Social Relations

Language and Literacy

Math (Classification, Seriation, Number, Space, Time)

Music and Movement

The High Scope Model also includes a "Plan-Do-Review" Sequence in which children begin their day planning for activities they will participate in, followed by participation in the activities and engaging in a review session at the end of the day. Teachers can use this sequence format to help children learn how to organize choices of activities and to reflect upon what they liked or would do different at the end of the day. The High Scope Model reflects the theories of Piaget, Vygotsky and Reggio Emilia by way of emphasis on construction of knowledge through hands-on experiences with reflection techniques.

Montessori Approach (Dr. Maria Montessori)

The Montessori Approach refers to children's activity as work (not play); children are given long periods of time to work and a strong emphasis on individual learning and individual pace is valued. Central to Montessori's method of education is the dynamic triad of child, teacher and environment. One of the teacher's roles is to guide the child through what Montessori termed the 'prepared environment, i.e., a classroom and a way of learning that are designed to support the child's intellectual, physical, emotional and social development through active exploration, choice and independent learning.

The educational materials have a self-correcting focus and areas of the curriculum consist of art, music, movement, practical life (example; pouring, dressing, cleaning). In the Montessori method, the goal of education is to allow the child's optimal development (intellectual, physical, emotional and social) to unfold.

A typical Montessori program will have mixed-age grouping. Children are given the freedom to choose what they work on, where they work, with whom they work, and for how long they work on any particular activity, all within the limits of the class rules. No competition is set up between children, and there is no system of extrinsic rewards or punishments.[3]

Waldorf Approach (Rudolf Steiner)

The Waldorf Approach, founded by Rudolf Steiner, features connections to nature, sensory learning, and imagination. The understanding of the child's soul, of his or her development and individual needs, stands at the center of Steiner's educational world view.

The Waldorf approach is child centered.[4] It emerges from a deep understanding of child development and seeks to support the particular developmental tasks (physical, emotional and intellectual) children face at any given stage. Children aged 3-5, for example, are developing a keen interest in the world, supported to a large extent by freedom of movement and must be supported to follow and deepen their curiosity through the encouragement of their sometimes endless asking of questions (Van Alphen & Van Alphen 1997). This approach to supporting children's naturally blossoming curiosity, rather than answering the teachers' questions. At this stage, children's play becomes increasingly complex, with children spontaneously engaging in role plays, as they construct and act upon imaginative situations based on their own experiences and stories they have heard. Thus, in Waldorf schools, ample time is given for free imaginative play as a cornerstone of children's early learning.[5]

The environment should protect children from negative influences and curriculum should include exploring nature through gardening, but also developing in practical skills, such as cooking, sewing, cleaning, etc. Relationships are important so groupings last for several years, by way of looping.

Reggio Emilia Approach (Loris Malaguzzi)

The Reggio Emilia approach to early childhood education is based on over forty years of experience in the Reggio Emilia Municipal Infant/toddler and Preschool Centers in Italy. Central to this approach is the view that children are competent and capable.

It places emphasis on children's symbolic languages in the context of a project-oriented curriculum. Learning is viewed as a journey and education as building relationships with people (both children and adults) and creating connections between ideas and the environment. Through this approach, adults help children understand the meaning of their experience more completely through documentation of children's work, observations, and continuous teacher-child dialogue. The Reggio approach guides children's ideas with provocations-not predetermined curricula. There is collaboration on many levels: parent participation, teacher discussions, and community.

Within the Reggio Emilia schools, great attention is given to the look and feel of the classroom. Environment is considered the "third teacher." Teachers carefully organize space for small and large group projects and small intimate spaces for one, two, or three children. Documentation of children's work, plants, and collections that children have made from former outings are displayed both at the children's and adult's eye level. Common space available to all children in the school includes dramatic play areas and worktables.

There is a center for gathering called the atelier (art studio) where children and children from different classrooms can come together. The intent of the atelier in these schools is to provide children with the opportunity to explore and connect with a variety of media and materials. The studios are designed to give children time, information, inspiration, and materials so that they can effectively express their understanding through the "inborn inheritance of our universal language, the language that speaks with the sounds of the lips and of the heart, the children's learning with their actions, their signs, and their eyes: those "hundred languages" that we know to be universal. There is an atelierista (artist) to support this process and instruct children in arts.[6]

Figure 4.3: Curriculum models.[7]

Figure 4.4: Curriculum models.[8]

Webbing

The Reggio Emilia Approach is an emergent curriculum. One method that many Early Childhood Educators use when planning emergent curriculum is curriculum webbing based on observed skills or interests. This method uses brainstorming to create ideas and connections from children's interests to enhance developmental skills. Webbing can look like a "Spider's Web" or it can be organized in list format.

Example:

Figure 4.2: An example of webbings.[9]

Webbing can be completed by:

An individual teacher

A team of teachers

Teachers and Children

Teachers, Children and Families

Webbing provides endless planning opportunities as extensions continue from observing the activities and following the skills and interests exhibited. As example demonstrates a web can begin from a skill to develop, but it can also be used in a Theme/Unit Approach such as transportation; friendships; animals, nature, etc...

Project Approach

The project approach is an in-depth exploration of a topic that may be child-or teacher-initiated and involve an individual, a group of children, or the whole class. A project may be short-term or long-term depending on the level of children's interests. What differentiates the project approach from an inquiry one is that within the project approach there is an emphasis on the creation of a specific outcome that might take the form of a spoken report, a multimedia presentation, a poster, a demonstration or a display. The project approach provides opportunities for children to take agency of their own learning and represent this learning through the construction of personally meaningful artefacts. If utilized effectively, possible characteristics may include: active, agentic, collaborative, explicit, learner-focused, responsive, scaffolded, playful, language-rich and dialogic.[10]

In the project approach, adults and children investigate topics of discovery using six steps: Observation, Planning, Research, Exploration, Documentation, Evaluation.

1. Observation: A teacher observes children engaging with each other or with materials and highlights ideas from the observations to further explore.

2. Planning: Teachers talk with children about the observation and brainstorm ideas about the topic and what to explore

3. Research: Teachers find resources related to the topic

4. Explore: Children engage with experiences set around the topic to create hypotheses and make predictions and formulate questions

5. Documentation: Teachers write notes, create charts and children draw observations and fill in charts as they explore topics/questions

6. Evaluate: Teachers and children can reflect on the hypotheses originally developed and compare their experiences to predictions. Evaluation is key in determining skills enhanced and what worked or what didn't work and why.

The benefits of a project approach are that young learners are directly involved in making decisions about the topic focus and research questions, the processes of investigation and in the selection of the culminating activities. When young learners take an active role in decision making, agency and engagement is promoted.

As young learners take ownership of their learning they, 'feel increasingly competent and sense their own potential for learning so they develop feelings of confidence and self-esteem' (Chard, 2001).[11]

Culturally Appropriate Approach

The Cultural Appropriate Approach has evolved over the years and the practice of valuing children's culture is imperative for children to feel a sense of belonging in ECE programs. Sensitivity to the variety of cultures within a community can create a welcoming atmosphere and teach children about differences and similarities among their peers. Consider meeting with families prior to starting the program to share about cultural beliefs, languages and or traditions. Classroom areas can reflect the cultures in many ways:

Library Area: Select books that represent cultures in the classroom

Dramatic Area: Ask families to donate empty boxes of foods they commonly use, bring costumes or clothes representative of culture

Language: In writing center include a variety of language dictionaries;

Science: Encourage families to come and share a traditional meal[12]

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Curriculum Models provide a framework to organize planning experiences for children. In previous chapters, the planning cycle has been introduced and in accordance with best practices, the models identified in this chapter represent a variety of ways to use the planning cycle within these models.

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2) The theoretical basis for the model/program.

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2) The theoretical basis for the model/program.

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teachers are better able to support children’s development

and learning. The Creative Curriculum highlights the important balance between applying a general knowledge of child development with the particular knowledge a teacher gains by forming a relationship with each child and family

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The Creative Curriculum helps teachers interact with children in ways that promote development and learning, foster children’s social competence, support children’s learning through play, create rich environments for learning, and forge strong home-school connections. By meaningfully translating research into practice, The Creative Curriculum gives educators the tools they need to help all the children in their classrooms succeed in school and in life.

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The Creative Curriculum      for Preschool

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The Creative Curriculum was first developed in 1978 by Diane Trister Dodge, the founder of Teaching Strategies, Inc. With many revisions to date, this curriculum began to define the developmental appropriate practice in the 1992 edition. The third edition encompassed dividing the room up into interest areas and the introduction of the Child Development Learning Checklist. This checklist ensures that learning is age appropriate and holds the facilitator accountable for early learning success. With constant development in research, such as Eager to Learn (2001), From Neurons to neighborhoods (2000), A Good Beginning: Sending America's Children to School with the Social and Emotional Competence They Need to Succeed (2000), Preventing Reading Difficulties in Young Children (1998), and the National Reading Panel Report (2000) the development team further defined practice to engage active learners in everyday learning experiences. (Dodge, 2002) Below is an example of Objective #10 in the Child Development Learning Checklist.

According to NAEYC, developmentally appropriate practice provides children with opportunities to learn and practice newly acquired skills. It offers challenges just beyond the level of their present mastery and it takes place "in the context of a community where children are safe and valued, where their physical needs are met, and where they feel psychologically secure" (Bredekamp & Copple 1997, pp. 14-15) (Dodge, 2002, pg. 1)

The foundation of the Creative Curriculum is rooted in the great educational theorists such as: Abraham Maslow's hierarchy of needs; Erik Erickson's eight stages of man; Jean Piaget's cognitive development; Lev Vygotsky's social interaction and Zone of Proximal Development; Haward Gardner's multiple intelligences; and finally, Sara Simlansky's play based learning. The interest areas are academic based to include math, literacy, science, social studies and the arts. The children learn about these areas through play and guided instruction to be developmentally appropriate. The curriculum is research-based that is valid and reliable (Dodge, 2002).

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The Creative Curriculum was first developed in 1978 by Diane Trister Dodge, the founder of Teaching Strategies, Inc. With many revisions to date, this curriculum began to define the developmental...

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Considering The Creative Curriculum for Infants, Toddlers & Twos

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For over 30 years, Teaching Strategies has helped early childhood educators across the country to plan and implement content-rich, developmentally appropriate programs that support active learning and promote children's progress in all developmental areas. For more than a decade, The Creative Curriculum for Infants, Toddlers, & Twos has helped teachers understand developmentally appropriate practice and how to create daily routines and meaningful experiences that respond to children's strengths, interests, and needs.

Today, The Creative Curriculum is widely regarded as a forward-thinking, comprehensive, rigorously researched curriculum approach that honors creativity and respects the role that teachers play in making learning exciting and relevant for every child.
Teaching Strategies: The Creative Curriculum

The Theory Behind The Creative Curr

The Creative Curriculum's foundation is based off the findings of six main theorists. Through their views on children, the curriculum is constructed as a guideline for how provide the best possible care and education for young children.

T. Berry Brazelton and Abraham Maslow believed that children need their basic needs met, which include safety, belonging and esteem. Erik Erikson and Stanley Greenspan focused on the necessity of having supporting, trusting relationships with adults, which increases social, emotional development. Jean Piaget and Lev Vygotsky discussed how interactions with others are crucial in cognitive development.

The Creative Curriculum at Marquette University Childcare Center

The Creators of The Creative Curriculum for Infants, Toddlers & Twos

Diane Trister Dodge, MS, is the founder of Teaching Strategies, LLC. She is the lead author of The Creative Curriculum® and many other Teaching Strategies resources. She has been a preschool and kindergarten teacher; served as the education coordinator for Head Start and child care programs in Mississippi and Washington, D.C.; and directed national projects in education and human services. Diane served on the Governing Board of NAEYC (1990-1994) and the Center for the Child Care Workforce (1995-2002), and was a member of the D.C. Mayor's Advisory Committee on Early Childhood Development (1984-2009). In 2004, she received the Bank Street College Alumni Association Recognition Award for outstanding accomplishments in the field of education. In 2010, Diane was inducted into the Association of Educational Publishers Hall of Fame for her lifetime contributions to education.

Kai-leé Berke, MA, is the Chief Product Officer at Teaching Strategies. She has taught and cared for infants, toddlers, preschoolers, and kindergarteners in public, private, and Department of Defense programs. Before joining Teaching Strategies she was the program administrator for a multisite preschool organization. In addition to her local and national work as an early childhood trainer and consultant, she has served as an adjunct faculty member at Honolulu Community College and Pacific Oaks College. She is a co-author of many Teaching Strategies resources, including the Teaching Strategies GOLD® assessment system; The Creative Curriculum® for Preschool; The Creative Curriculum for Infants, Toddlers & Twos; and A Trainer's Guide to The Creative Curriculum for Infants, Toddlers & Twos.

Toni Bickart, MS, is co-author of Teaching Strategies' newest products: The Creative Curriculum® for Preschool and the Teaching Strategies GOLD® assessment system. She is also a co-author of Building the Primary Classroom; Math Right From the Start; Reading Right From the Start; and What Every Parent Needs to Know About 1st, 2nd & 3rd Grades. During more than 18 years at Teaching Strategies, she has been responsible for product development and production and provided professional development services, keynote speeches, and workshops at schools around the country.

Diane C. Burts, EdD, is a former preschool, Head Start, kindergarten, and university teacher, as well as professor emeritus of human ecology at Louisiana State University. She is former director of the LSU Preschool Laboratory, Grace Drews Lehmann professor, and division head of family, child, and consumer sciences. She was the endowed chair and director of the Emma Eccles Jones Center for Early Childhood Education at Utah State University. Dr. Burts is co-editor of the book Integrated Curriculum and Developmentally Appropriate Practice: Birth to Age Eight.

Cate Heroman, MEd, has worked in the field of education for over 35 years. She has been a preschool and kindergarten teacher as well as an administrator at the Louisiana Department of Education, providing leadership, training, technical assistance, and support in the areas of early childhood and elementary education. She is a co-author of many Teaching Strategies resources, including the Teaching Strategies GOLD® assessment system; The Creative Curriculum® for Preschool; The Creative Curriculum Developmental Continuum Assessment Toolkit for Ages 3-5; Helping Children Rebound: Strategies for Preschool Teachers After the 2005 Hurricanes; Building Your Baby's Brain; Literacy: The Creative Curriculum Approach, and numerous others.

Sherrie Rudick has more than 25 years' experience with early childhood and Head Start programs. During that time, she has been a teacher, child development center director, licensing specialist, trainer, reviewer, materials developer, and consultant. As a trainer, she has developed and conducted both individual training sessions and training conferences on the local, regional and national levels. Sherrie has developed materials that have been distributed nationally by the Department of the Army and the Head Start Bureau. At the American Institutes for Research, she helped develop the Head Start Bureau's PRISM process, and was one of the lead trainers for the project. She was project director for training on Head Start's Moving Ahead curriculum. She is co-author of Putting the Pro in Protégé, a Guide To Mentoring in Head Start. At Teaching Strategies, she co-authored The Creative Curriculum® for Infants, Toddlers & Twos; A Trainer's Guide to The Creative Curriculum for Infants, Toddlers & Twos; The Implementation and Planning Tool for The Creative Curriculum for Infants. Toddlers & Twos; The Creative Curriculum for Family Child Care; and Teaching Strategies' eCDA program.

Teaching Strategies: The Creative Curriculum Authors

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For over 30 years, Teaching Strategies has helped early childhood educators across the country to plan and implement content-rich, developmentally appropriate programs that support active learning...

# data[].attributes.body
The Creative Curriculum’s foundation is based off the findings of six main theorists. Through their views on children, the curriculum is constructed as a guideline for how provide the best possible care and education for young children.

T. Berry Brazelton and Abraham Maslow believed that children need their basic needs met, which include safety, belonging and esteem.

Erik Erikson and Stanley Greenspan focused on the necessity of having supporting, trusting relationships with adults, which increases social, emotional development.

Jean Piaget and Lev Vygotsky discussed how interactions with others are crucial in cognitive development.

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The curriculum is designed to foster development of the whole child through teacher-led, small and large group activities centered around 11 interest areas:

# data[].attributes.subject
The curriculum is designed to foster development of the whole child through teacher-led, small and large group activities centered around 11 interest areas:

# data[].attributes.body
blocks

dramatic play

toys and games

art

library

discovery

sand and water

music and movement

cooking

computers

outdoors.