The Creative Curriculum provides wonderful resources and guides, but our team goes above and beyond to customize activities for our specific group of children. We often create our own materials or bring in unique items to enhance a study. For instance, if we’re doing a unit on “Pets,” a teacher might arrange a day for the class to meet a real pet (bringing a friendly dog to the playground for a visit, with all precautions) or set up a pretend vet clinic with real pet care items. These kinds of immersive experiences make the curriculum come alive in a way that store-bought materials alone couldn’t achieve.

A typical day in our curriculum has a predictable routine (morning circle, center time, story time, small group, etc.), but within that, children have choices. During center time, a child might choose to spend the whole time building an elaborate block city – and that’s okay! Our teachers are skilled at recognizing the learning happening in that play (perhaps math concepts like balance and symmetry, or social negotiation if building with a friend) and will even weave in curricular goals on the fly (“Tell me about your city. What letter does City start with? C! Maybe we should label it ‘City’ with a sign.”). This means our curriculum isn’t just in pre-planned lessons; it’s happening organically through teacher-child interactions all day. That level of responsiveness is something we pride ourselves on.

You won’t see kids being “tested” in the traditional sense. Instead, teachers observe and take notes while children play and do activities (maybe noting “Jasmine counted 8 blocks today without help” or “Arun identified all the basic colors during painting”). We sometimes take photos or keep samples of work (with your permission) to document progress. These observations are then used to guide future lesson plans – if many kids show interest in dinosaurs or need practice cutting, we’ll incorporate that. This cycle of observation, documentation, and planning keeps our curriculum effective and personalized. Many parents say our conferences and reports are really insightful because they include detailed anecdotes and examples, not just checklists. That’s a result of our thoughtful curriculum implementation.

The Creative Curriculum encourages building home-school connections, and we do this by sending home simple extension activities or conversation starters related to our themes. For example, during a “Five Senses” unit, we might suggest “Ask your child at home to find one item that is rough and one that is smooth and bring them to class for …(continued)…

We love to involve families in our curriculum. We’ll keep you informed about our themes and suggest simple ways to reinforce learning at home (like asking your child about the “letter of the week” or bringing in a favorite family recipe during our food unit). We also invite parents and grandparents to share their skills or culture in class if they’d like – for example, reading a story in your home language or showing the children a special musical instrument. This partnership makes the curriculum even richer and shows children that learning connects home and school.

We are excited about the results we see from The Creative Curriculum – children who are enthusiastic learners, who ask questions, experiment, and express themselves creatively. Our curriculum helps them develop the critical thinking and social skills that set them up for success far beyond preschool. We’d love for you to see it in action – come visit during project time or morning centers to observe how engaged the children are.

It’s guided by research and thoughtfully planned by our teachers, but it’s also filled with the laughter, wonder, and creativity that make childhood magical. We’re not just preparing children for kindergarten academically; we’re helping them develop a love of learning and the ability to think independently. That’s the power of The Creative Curriculum at Peppermint Stick Preschool.