Planning Forms

Day-to-day teaching is done in the context of weekly planning. A weekly plan helps you to implement The Creative Curriculum^® in manageable chunks of time, to determine what will happen during group activities and in each interest area, to prepare the environment for that week's work, and to allocate time. Decisions regarding the week are based in part on what topic children are studying at that time. For example, suppose you are studying shoes and planning a field trip to a shoe store for the end of the week. On Monday, you might do an activity with children where they take off and sort their shoes. On Tuesday, you decide to read the fairy tale "The Shoemaker and the Elves" (The Brothers Grimm), and on Wednesday, you introduce a tool to measure feet so children can use it in their dramatic play.

Observation is the basis for weekly as well as all other planning. By observing children, you can find out if the activities you have been planning and the materials you have been providing are producing the desired outcomes. For example, were children able to come up with different categories for sorting their shoes? Do they know how to use the foot measurer? Have they incorporated it into their play? Should other props be added? Answers to these questions enable you to adjust your plans if needed.

The classroom teaching team should review the weekly plan every day to see that everyone is prepared. Each member of the team may have different observations of children to share and will have important suggestions for adjusting the plan.

The planning form developed for use with The Creative Curriculum gives you a structure for planning each week and preparing materials and activities ahead of time.

Weekly Planning Form

The Weekly Planning Form has two pages. The first page covers planning changes to the environment. The second page covers planning for groups. This sample illustrates how a completed form may look.

Download a blank Weekly Planning Form (pdf).