The Creative Curriculum® for Pre-K - Criterion 1.2

The Creative Curriculum for Pre-K materials meet expectations for supporting teachers in adapting the curriculum (1.2a).

The materials include multiple resources to help teachers adapt instruction for diverse learning needs. The curriculum promotes differentiated instruction and frames adaptation as an ongoing expectation supported by intentional planning across daily routines and learning experiences. Through multiple means of representation, expression, and engagement, the curriculum responds flexibly to a wide range of developmental needs.

In Volume 1: The Foundation, teachers are guided to consider children’s developmental stages and individual interests when planning experiences. It emphasizes how children develop and learn, as well as the role of individual differences. There is guidance around meeting the needs of all children. It includes information for observing and assessing children, then adjusting teaching practices. It provides strategies for scaffolding routines and modifying expectations so all children can participate. The volumes also include guidance for adapting routines (e.g., using visual schedules and embedding multiple forms of communication) and reminding teachers to incorporate children’s home languages into greetings and routines, demonstrating support for children with varying language proficiency levels.

Across the foundation volumes, which address the four main developmental domains (social–emotional, physical, language, and cognitive) and five content areas (literacy, mathematics, science and technology, social studies, and the arts), teachers are offered a variety of strategies for including all learners, including children with special needs and children who are multilingual learners.

• Volume 4: Language & Literacy, Chapter 2: Meeting the Needs of All Children provides specific information on adaptations to learning experiences and the learning environment to support the language development and literacy learning of multilingual learners, including guidance on supporting children’s social–emotional development.

•  Volume 6: Science and Technology, Social Studies & The Arts, Chapter 2 offers guidance for planning the classroom’s science and technology program based on the strengths, needs, and interests of the children in the class. The section on “Including All Children in the Study” provides strategies for integrating a range of experiences that align with the abilities and interests of diverse learners in the classroom, with a specific focus on multilingual learners, advanced learners, and children with special needs.

The materials' Intentional Teaching Experiences (ITEs) further strengthen adaptability. Every ITE includes basic “how-to” guidance, often described in “teacher talk,” and a list of materials necessary for effective implementation. They also include detailed guidance for slight modifications a teacher can make to the experience (identified in a color-coded “Teaching Sequence”) based on the strengths, needs, and interests of the children, making it easy for teachers to individualize instruction. They also address multiple ideas for “including all learners” (such as children with special developmental needs) and for helping multilingual learners participate successfully in the experience.

The ITEs include an explicit differentiation section with scaffolding suggestions by developmental stage. For example:

• LL11 – Rhyming Riddles recommends visual supports and props for children developing phonological awareness

• M22 – Sorting Objects suggests offering larger manipulatives for children with fine motor difficulties. 

• SE08 – Character Feelings, which provides strategies using visuals or bilingual supports so all children can participate in conversations about emotions.

• SE15 – Making Choices: Additional experiences requiring children to make choices include using pictures, drawings, and objects to show choices 

Overall, The Creative Curriculum for Pre-K materials provide consistent and embedded supports that enable teachers to adapt instruction to children’s needs, interests, and developmental stages. Guidance across foundational materials and content areas, along with structured differentiation within Intentional Teaching Experiences, supports instructional flexibility for diverse learners. 

The Creative Curriculum for Pre-K materials meet expectations for supporting multilingual learners (1.2c).

The materials offer materials in English and Spanish, using transadaptation rather than direct translation to preserve cultural and linguistic meaning across all major components, including the Foundations, Teaching Guides, Intentional Teaching Experiences, Mighty Minutes, and Book Discussion Cards. This ensures that Spanish-speaking children can engage meaningfully with stories, songs, and rhymes that reflect their cultural context.

A total of 262 bilingual Intentional Teaching Experiences and a Digital Children’s Library with more than 200 interactive titles in English and Spanish provide ongoing opportunities for language development and equitable access to literacy. The Children’s Book Collection, which includes bilingual stories, original nonfiction texts, and selections from Highlights High Five, supports vocabulary and comprehension through Book Conversation Cards that prompt discussion and comparison in both languages.

Daily teacher guidance embedded in lessons helps educators scaffold content for multilingual learners through visuals, repetition, and structured vocabulary practice. In addition, weekly bilingual playlists—featuring books, songs, and videos aligned to classroom themes extend learning into the home environment and actively engage families in their child’s language development.

By integrating these linguistic and cultural supports across instructional, digital, and home–school contexts, the curriculum goes beyond simple translation to promote authentic dual-language learning. It systematically affirms children’s home languages as assets and provides concrete strategies for comprehension and participation.

Support for multilingual learners’ language acquisition is intentionally integrated into daily routines, including choice time, transitions, mealtimes, and both large- and small-group activities. Volume 1: The Foundation highlights that “small group is a perfect time to provide individualized reinforcement of new vocabulary introduced in English during large group” (p.84).

The materials include multiple embedded supports for systematic language development. The curriculum integrates vocabulary-building, sentence frames, and language structures into the studies, small-group work, and large-group experiences,  aligned with language objectives. There are 2 objectives directly related to English language acquisition:

Objective 37: Demonstrates progress in listening to and understanding English

Objective 38: Demonstrates progress in speaking English

Supports for vocabulary building, sentence frames, and language structure appear in large-group discussions, small-group experiences, and interactive read-alouds. The Intentional Teaching Experiences (ITEs) include some guidance for how to include multilingual learners in the activity.

Culturally and linguistically responsive teaching is emphasized across all classroom interest areas. For example, in the Foundation Volume 2: Interest Areas: Cooking Area: “Ask families to share their family recipes to introduce children to an aspect of people and how they live. Talk about food-related customs and regional differences. Invite family members into the classroom to make and teach a simple family recipe. This helps children learn about one another's families and the foods they eat” (p. 209).

Dramatic Play Area: When selecting props and materials, “ask families for suggestions rather than making assumptions about what is common in their culture” (p.39).

Research-based information on levels of English Language Acquisition can be found in an easy-to-read chart on page 59 of Volume 1: The Foundation. This information provides teachers with an understanding of the typical sequence of English language acquisition, describing what they might observe children doing at each level.

Foundation Volume 4: Language & Literacy (pp. 63-67) highlights cultural, social-emotional, environmental, oral language, literacy, and family partnership supports for promoting children’s English language acquisition.

Guidance on using culturally and linguistically responsive teaching strategies can be found in the Supporting English Language Learners section in each of the Foundations Volumes. Examples include:

• “Include bilingual directions during movement experiences. Show the movement as you give the directions. (Volume 3, p. xiii)

• “Learn and speak a few words and phrases in the child's first language. Let the child know that you are trying to learn a new language too, as he introduces you to new vocabulary.” (Volume 3, p. xiii)

• “Show and talk. For example, when examining the physical properties of objects, encourage children to look at, touch, smell, and or listen to the object by modeling the action as you describe it.” (Volume 6, p. viii)

• “Pose questions that you know children can competently answer either in English or in their first languages.” (Volume 6, p. viii)

• “Include bilingual audiobooks and videos for children to enjoy.” (Volume 6, p. viii)

In the Camera study (p.21), there is a call-out box which provides the following guidance regarding multilingual learners: “For children who may not be ready to engage in this activity independently, model what to do and then invite them to complete it with your support. When you notice the child feeling more competent, encourage her to complete it on her own.”

Foundations volume 7: Objectives for Development and Learning includes guidance for accurately assessing children who speak a language other than English, emphasizing observation across languages, collaboration with families, and documentation of development in both the home language and English. This helps ensure that language differences are not misinterpreted as delays and that progress is seen through a culturally and linguistically informed lens (pp. xix-xxi).

Overall, The Creative Curriculum for Pre-K integrates linguistic and cultural supports across instructional materials and home–school connections. Through transadapted English–Spanish resources, bilingual instructional experiences, embedded language objectives, and consistent scaffolding guidance to support comprehension and participation, the materials affirm children’s home languages as assets while supporting English language acquisition.