Useful Tools and Techniques: Creative Curriculum
Creative Curriculum is a comprehensive learning curriculum that has proven very useful to staff at the Le'Lum'uy'l Daycare in Duncan, British Columbia.
The software and associated web-based tools focus on all the critical areas of the child's development, says Al Lawrence. "And it doesn't stop there. It also includes instructional strategies for introducing math, science, technology and art. The nicest thing we found is that it is based on scientific research about how children learn."
The centre found Creative Curriculum through the Internet. "We started by going to likely sites dealing with early childhood education," says Lawrence. "When that didn't work we went to Google. That gave us some threads that eventually led to Creative Curriculum."
Among the many useful tools is an online record-keeping system. "My staff can enter information about the various learning objectives and I can collect all that information together."
The check-box system for tracking children's progress was a major selling point for Lawrence and his colleagues. "There are four levels for all developmental areas: forerunner, which is just starting, step one, step two, step three. What my staff do is to check off, through observations, where that child is."
"When we sit down and meet with the parent, we can go over the progress of the child, and together set up the planning for the next two months both here and at home so we can support the child's needs."
The system comes with privacy protection that ensures only Lawrence has access to certain information. Conversely, he can share the information the system houses when he wants to. "There is a parent key I can give to each family. Parents can link not only to information about how their children are doing but also to activities they can use at home to complement what their children are doing here."
More information about Creative Curriculum is available at Creative Curriculum or Teaching Strategies.