It’s can be super overwhelming and stressful to plan for the entire year! I’m here to help. I’ve created a year long Curriculum Map for preschool, pre-k and kindergarten.
You will find a Year-at-a-Glance, monthly plans, resources and a book list for every theme. Yes, I mapped out the entire year for you! Each and every week is planned out for you by theme!
The 2020-2021 map was just added, and there is now an EDITABLE version for you too! There is a video tutorial to help you make your own using the editable PowerPoint file if you need some tech help.
Go grab the Curriculum Map & Reading List from my TpT store HERE (it’s a freebie)!
Year-at-a-Glance
This is a wonderful tool to see the big picture for the entire year. You can see that each month has two themes. Each theme lasts two weeks. I also added a column for holidays and events. Do you see the fun, new themes I have planned for this year? Coming in 20-21 are Pumpkins, Sports, Nursery Rhymes, Holidays Around the World, Hibernation), Summer Games, and Clothing!
If a theme isn’t underlined or linked, it means that it will be created soon! It will be posted in my TpT at least two weeks before you need it so you have time to print and prep it. The new dramatic play packs will be added to the Dramatic Play Bundle and the new center sets will be added to the Themes Center Bundle. The Holidays Around the World will be a separate unit because I will be collaborating with the amazing Jennifer from The Multicultural Classroom on it. You are going to LOVE it!
Once I create all the new center and dramatic play kits, I will be making Science Sets for each theme! I can’t wait to get all the new themes to you! I will announce when new themes are uploaded in my newsletter, on Facebook and in my FACEBOOK GROUP. Be sure to follow me and join the group so you know the moment it is available!
Monthly Plans
Each theme will last two weeks so there are two themes per month! There will also be a book list and sensory table suggestion for each theme. Each theme will have a matching Math and Literacy Centers pack, a Dramatic Play set, STEM Challenges, Science Unit, Character Topics (aka social skills) and Question of the Week. There is also a suggested science topic related to the theme. Science will be coming this summer!
A few months up close…
Go grab the Curriculum Map & Reading List from my TpT store HERE (it’s a freebie)!
Theme Sequence
Do you have to follow the theme sequence? No! It’s just a suggestion. You can move lessons around to meet the needs of your students and school as needed.
Summer Months
I added summer months to the 2020-2021 curriculum map to help the teachers that teach all summer long or teach summer school. If you don’t teach during the summer, and you want to use one of the themes, just switch it out with another theme.
What if I only do one theme a month?
No worries! Just pick one of two themes to do that month. Then the next year you can do the other theme that month, which creates a two-year theme rotation.
What if I want to teach a different theme each week?
That’s ok too! The themes are very broad so you could break it into more specific themes. For example, maybe of the two-week themes in January is Polar Animals. You can teach about a Penguin theme one week and a Polar Bear theme the next week.
OR you could try two week themes! I promise your students won’t get bored, and it will be less prep for you! Changing themes each week takes a ton of work. Students will be able to dig deeper into a theme and learn more about a topic. When teaching a theme for one week, it isn’t as much of a deep dive and just skims the surface of the topic. In my full day classroom, we would do a theme for 3-4 weeks, basically until the students were bored with the topic.
Every classroom is Different
Every teacher teaches differently, and I tried to create this year curriculum map with many different types of classrooms and teachers in mind. I know you may need to tweak this to fit the needs of your students, classroom and administration. That’s OK! Do what is best for the students in your classroom.
Sensory
Each theme has a sensory table filler and tool suggestion on the monthly plans. If you choose to do a holiday theme in the sensory table, I’ve got filler and tool ideas for you too!
Book List
The suggested book list is my favorite part! The book list will consist of 10 or more suggested books you can use for circle time during the theme. The Character Education and Math units in my curriculum also have an included book list as well and some books may be on both lists. Quality children’s literature enriches the theme, builds background knowledge, helps students make connections and builds theme specific vocabulary. This is only a suggested list; you are free to use your own favorites! Pick any fiction or non-fiction books related to the theme for circle time that best fits the needs of your students. The books are clickable links to Amazon or TpT. The Amazon links are NOT affiliate links.
I will be updating the curriculum map with the remainder of the book lists soon (before you will need them)!
Question of the Week/Day
You can choose to do the same question all week or change the question each day. Some of us teach five-day classes, four-day, three-day and even two-day a week classes. I wanted this map to work for all classrooms. At the top of each month, I put the Question of the Day packs. All you have to do is circle the pack you want to use that month on your map. You can read more about Question of the Day HERE.
Grade Level
These resources and curriculum map have been designed for preschool, pre-k and kindergarten. Many of the resources can be modified to fit the needs of both struggling and excelling students. Kindergarten teachers will need to add more to support their reading and math standards.
Additional Resources
You will find links to blog posts to help you set up amazing classroom centers, calendar, assessments and student portfolios, question of the day, behavior management, daily and visual schedules and infusing STEM into your classroom. As I create more blog posts, I will add to this resource list.
Print It and Put it in your Planner
Print the curriculum map, and PUT IT IN YOUR PLANNER! It will be there for you to use as a reference ALL YEAR LONG. It will make weekly and daily lesson planning easier and less over overwhelming.
Purchasing the Curriculum
The easiest and most affordable way to purchase the curriculum is by purchasing the bundle packs from my store. When you buy it as a bundle, you save at least 20% or MORE!
There are still a few new math and literacy center packs that will be added to the Themes Center Bundle and a few new dramatic play sets will be added to the Dramatic Play Bundle.
The Assessment and Portfolio Bundle is another teacher favorite! Based on your feedback, a few more new science units will be added to the Science for Little Learners Curriculum too.
The Math for Little Learners Curriculum will be completed in the fall (the virus completely messed up my plans so it was delayed a bit).
**If you purchase a product, you get ALL updates FREE. All you have to do is download the product again to receive the update. Super simple!
If you want the entire curriculum, you can grab the Giant Curriculum Bundle HERE! You will get everything in my store, PLUS everything I make until July 2021. All you do is download the curriculum document from TpT about once a month, or when you see I have posted a new unit. The new unit links be there in the new curriculum document!
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