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TEACHING STRATEGIES E-NEWSLETTER # 18 March 11, 2002 IN THIS ISSUE: FEATURE ARTICLE: A Message from Diane Trister Dodge: Why A New Edition? The Creative Curriculum® for Preschool, 4th Edition THE LATEST FROM TEACHING STRATEGIES Teaching Strategies Top 10 Reasons You Will Love The ALL NEW 4th Edition of The Creative Curriculum for Preschool The Creative Curriculum Connecting to You National Conference Series begins in June! FEATURE ARTICLE A Message From Diane Trister Dodge: Why A New Edition? The Creative Curriculum for Preschool, 4th Edition Dear Colleagues: I am thrilled to announce the summer release of 4th edition of our preschool curriculum. When we published the 3rd edition of The Creative Curriculum for Early Childhood in 1992, it was impossible to imagine that in ten years, the field would change so much. We now know a lot more about how young children develop and learn, and the expectations for teachers and administrators have multiplied. Our thinking has evolved as the field has evolved, and we have gained new insights into what teachers need to be able to provide dynamic and responsive programs for young children. In the past two years, we published two new resources for programs using The Creative Curriculum. Connecting Content, Teaching, and Learning describes how developmentally appropriate programs teach content in literacy, math, science, social studies, the arts, and technology. In this book we introduced the Developmental Continuum as a tool for teachers to plan instruction, assess children's learning, and report outcomes. We also introduced the Developmental Continuum Assessment System for Ages 3-5 with all the forms necessary to assess children's learning 3 times a year. And, during this same time, we were working intently on a breakthrough new edition of The Creative Curriculum--a book to bring together all we have learned. We believe that the single most important contribution that The Creative Curriculum has made, and can continue to make, is to translate new research and the best thinking in the field into a concrete, easy to understand approach. The changes in the 4th edition are based on reports and research such as Eager to Learn, Neurons to Neighborhoods, Preventing Reading Difficulties, The NICHHD National Reading Panel Report, and new content standards in all the disciplines. They reflect, as well, our observations based upon work with teachers and administrators that helped us understand what teachers need to support children's learning and achieve positive outcomes for all children. The Creative Curriculum's core approach has not changed. But, there are 3 areas in which our thinking has evolved. THE ROLE OF THE TEACHER: A common misunderstanding about developmentally appropriate practice and The Creative Curriculum has been that in a well-designed environment children would just learn through their play. While we knew that productive play experiences developed because teachers created interesting and challenging learning environments and then interacted with children as they used the materials, this guidance was not explicit. All play is not equal. Meaningful play takes place when teachers set up situations where children can explore and experiment on their own. They know when to intervene as appropriate to extend learning by asking questions and by direct teaching of specific skills. Different learning needs call for different kinds of teacher/child interactions. Because teachers have to be careful observers in order to know when to ask a question, offer new materials, or teach a particular concept, we emphasize the importance of observation, and define the many different ways teachers can respond based on their observations. THE ROLE OF CONTENT: Teaching content is nothing new to preschool teachers. When you make recipe cards so children can count the number of cups of flour needed you are teaching math. When you challenge children to find out what kinds of leaves a caterpillar likes to eat you are teaching science. When you plan a study of the jobs people do in your school you are teaching social studies. What is different today is that we offer more guidance in determining appropriate content for preschool children and higher expectations for what children can and should learn. In recent years, standards and research reports have defined what children should know and be able to do at several grade levels. While some of these standards begin at the Kindergarten level, they give us a perspective on the central components of each content area. In The Creative Curriculum for Preschool 4th edition, we now offer guidance on how teachers can appropriately teach academic content in interest areas, as part of daily routines, at large and small group times- all day long. THE LINK BETWEEN ASSESSMENT AND CURRICULUM: We have always believed that assessment should be an integral part of a curriculum. In the 3rd edition, we provided a checklist. About 4 years ago, we decided we needed to make a stronger link between curriculum and assessment. We wanted to give teachers a tool to look at children's development and learning and know how to use what they learned about each child to plan appropriate learning experiences. That's why we developed The Creative Curriculum Developmental Continuum for Children Ages 3-5. This tool is the result of 4 years of work and a reliability and validity study. The Developmental Continuum is the centerpiece of our curriculum which now clearly links assessment and curriculum for programs using The Creative Curriculum. We have also developed software (CC-PORT) where assessment data can be summarized to report outcomes, and have an on-line version of our assessment tool called CreativeCurriculum.Net. The 4th Edition includes the Developmental Continuum and shows how teachers use it in the classroom. The Creative Curriculum has always been a roadmap to providing direction in the preschool classroom. The fourth edition is a more detailed roadmap grounded in solid research and theory about how children learn best and how teachers can teach more effectively. We look forward to officially introducing 4th edition at our summer conferences beginning in June. We hope you will take a few moments to go to click through the related links to learn more about our approach and our materials. We appreciate your interest in Teaching Strategies. Warm regards, Diane Trister Dodge Related links: Introducing.....The Creative Curriculum for Preschool, 4th Edition The Creative Curriculum for Preschool, 4th Edition: Table of Contents Understanding The Choices: The Creative Curriculum Assessment and Outcomes Reporting Tools THE LATEST FROM TEACHING STRATEGIES... Teaching Strategies Top 10 Reasons You Will Love The ALL NEW 4th Edition of The Creative Curriculum for Preschool We are excited to announce the summer release of The Creative Curriculum for Preschool, 4th Edition. Since its inception in 1988, more than 200,000 copies have been distributed in almost every corner of the world. Now we are excited to build upon that strength with our new insights. The new edition answers the Early Childhood Educators' million dollar question: How can their programs support active learning and demonstrate children's progress in all developmental areas? This completely updated new edition of the country's leading research-based preschool curriculum model applies the latest theories and research on best practices in teaching and learning and the content standards developed by states and professional organizations. While keeping the original environmentally-based approach of earlier editions, The Creative Curriculum for Preschool also clearly defines the teacher's vital role in connecting content, teaching, and learning for preschool children. So what are the TOP TEN REASONS YOU WILL LOVE THE CREATIVE CURRICULUM FOR PRESCHOOL 4TH EDITION? 10) It features goals and objectives linked directly to a valid and reliable assessment instrument (The Creative Curriculum Developmental Continuum for Ages 3-5). 9) It includes detailed information about one new interest area, the Discovery Area. 8) The approach shows a range of teaching approaches from child-initiated learning in a well-designed environment to teacher-directed instruction, with an emphasis on responding to children's learning styles and building on their strengths and interests. 7) It provides clear guidance on the teacher's role in addressing content in literacy, math, science, social studies, the arts, and technology, yet never loses sight of the primary importance of social/emotional development in children's learning. 6) The Creative Curriculum for Preschool shows teachers how to:
5) It offers guidance on the countless everyday decisions teachers make:
4) It shows the steps teachers consider to plan in-depth studies and gives a detailed example of how a long-term study evolved in a preschool classroom. 3) It includes a detailed discussion of how The Creative Curriculum applies theories and research on learning to the preschool classroom. 2) It outlines strategies that help teachers meet the needs of all children, including those who have special needs or are second language learners. AND, DRUM ROLL....... 1) It's still the same practical and easy to use resource you've always loved-- and it also includes everything you need to appropriately meet today's increasing emphasis on academics, standards, outcomes, and accountability. ORDER YOUR COPIES TODAY! Prepublication orders are now being accepted in our online bookshop and by phone. Heads Up! We are coming to a location near you! The Creative Curriculum Connecting to You National Conference Series begins in June! We are taking our popular training conferences on the road! Our conferences are designed to support and supplement your program's ongoing training efforts right in your own backyard. Our next e-mail newsletter will include all of the details about registration and should arrive in your e-mailbox later this month. We will also mail brochures at the end of this month. For a sneak peek at the conference dates and locations, go to: ONLINE ONLY: Spanish Toolkit on Sale! Save 20% on "Estuche de evaluacion del continuo del desarrollo de El Curriculo Creativo:" The Creative Curriculum Developmental Continuum Assessment System Toolkit" in Spanish To get started ordering the Toolkit and browsing our other books, visit our bookshop DON'T FORGET: TSI OFFERS ONLINE DISCOUNTS EVERY DAY! Place your order online, to receive at least 15% off all titles When you place your order online, you will receive at least 15% off all titles Have you received your new TSI Catalog for 2000-2001? If not, let us know--we'll send one out to you ASAP. WHAT? YOU AREN'T ON OUR MAILING LIST? Shopping on the Internet is great, but sometimes you just want to kick back and thumb through information, rather than sit at your computer. To be included on the Teaching Strategies postal mailing list so you can lounge on the couch and catch up on our newest books and videos, send your request, your name and address to: Terri@teachingstrategies.com Once you are on the list, you will receive the latest information about our catalogs and product updates. Your privacy is of the utmost importance to us. We NEVER sell our mailing lists or provide your private information to individuals or other companies. TSI E-NEWSLETTER SUBSCRIPTION INFORMATION To SUBSCRIBE to this newsletter, please follow these instructions:
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