The Creative Curriculum® for Pre-K - Criterion 2.6

The Creative Curriculum for Pre-K materials partially meet expectations for promoting the core ideas of history, geography, economics, and civics (2.6a). 

The materials demonstrate core social studies concepts, including civics, history, geography, and economics, through a range of experiences. Civics is introduced early in the Building a Classroom Community study, where children explore the focus question, “What are the rules at school?” Students collaborate to create a class rules chart and discuss why rules are important. In this same study, children learn about the roles and responsibilities of school staff by participating in a photo scavenger hunt to identify and document school staff.

The materials include some opportunities for children to engage with social studies concepts through Dramatic Play, Investigations, and Routines connected to studies such as Grocery Store, Architecture, Seeds, Cameras, and Percussion. The materials also include some opportunities for children to practice talking about social studies concepts in civics, history, economics, and geography, and provide vocabulary and/or gestures to support their practice. While children may encounter social studies concepts through play, inquiry, and discussion, these experiences appear intermittently and are not consistently structured to deepen understanding of social studies ideas over time.

Themes of community, diversity, and inclusion are further developed in the Getting Ready for Kindergarten study. Read-alouds such as All Are Welcome support discussions about belonging and inclusion. The concept of history and the passage of time is introduced as children reflect on personal growth over the school year, respond to the question “How have we grown and changed this year?”, and create a Venn diagram comparing Pre-K and Kindergarten. This study also includes opportunities for social–emotional reflection, such as Question 4, Day 1, when children identify emotions using cards during Independent Library time and draw representations to explain why someone might feel that way.

Elements of daily life and family routines are incorporated in the Grocery Store study, where children make to-do lists for morning and evening routines, connecting classroom learning to home experiences. Additional opportunities for social understanding are embedded in literature discussions, such as during the Architecture study (Investigation 3, Day 2), when the teacher reads Strictly No Elephants and leads a discussion about exclusion, prompting children to consider the perspectives of both the elephant and his friend and relate those ideas to their own experiences.

The materials provide some structures for social studies vocabulary and play-based learning across studies, with some opportunities for children to deepen social studies knowledge through interest-area exploration, dramatic play, inquiry, read-alouds, and embedded routines. For example, the Foundations Volume 6 positions social studies as “people and communities” and identifies Dramatic Play as a primary setting for “introducing and reinforcing social studies concepts such as community jobs, home routines, and the roles of different people,” which necessarily includes purposeful language and terms children use in play (Vol. 6, p. 74). It further directs teachers to “introduce and reinforce relevant vocabulary during investigations” and to select vocabulary relevant to the current Teaching Guide (Vol. 6, pp. 8–9). 

Overall, The Creative Curriculum for Pre-K materials include meaningful exposure to core social studies concepts through inquiry, discussion, and literature-based activities. The examples provided highlight important opportunities for learning, though these supports are not always consistently or intentionally developed to build social studies knowledge and language across the curriculum. Play-based social studies experiences and explicit vocabulary development are incorporated in some instances, offering a strong foundation, with opportunities for more consistent and intentional implementation throughout the materials.

The Creative Curriculum for Pre-K materials partially meet expectations for supporting social studies through integrated and interdisciplinary learning experiences (2.6b).

The materials incorporate social studies content in a variety of ways, often embedded within other domains. Social studies learning is integrated throughout the day across studies. For example, in the Grocery Study, Investigation 1, Day 1, during an independent time–art session, students design money to support math connections. Resources such as Mighty Minutes 01: The People in Your Neighborhood, which addresses Objective 30, encourage engagement with concepts like community jobs through songs and movement. Similarly, in Building a Classroom Community, p. 77, during focused project learning time, the class discusses classroom rules and works together to complete a shared writing activity about those rules. On p. 73, during Choice Time, students are invited to dress up and act out the roles of various community members.

Read-alouds and book discussion cards further integrate social studies themes into literacy instruction. Books such as World of Families and When This World Was New allow children to compare their own experiences with those in the text, helping them build personal connections to broader social studies concepts. One example occurs in The First Six Weeks, Day 5 of Focused Question 3, when students listen to a read-aloud of World of Families. During the reading, students compare the families in the book to their own, and after reading, they create a family portrait and share their favorite activity with a friend. Another example is the book discussion card for When This World Was New, which asks teachers to have children think about a time that felt scary or new to them. As they listen to the story, students use these personal connections to relate to the character’s experiences. In addition, during literacy and read-aloud time in Building a Classroom Community (p. 94), students read The Neighborhood Song and retell the story's events.

There are some opportunities for unstructured exploration and play that connect to social studies content. In the Architecture study, p. 87, during Choice Time, students can freely build a city on butcher paper. During Outdoor Play on p. 97, students may use large boxes or blocks to build a city. In the Architecture study, p. 110, during the celebration, students act as tour guides as they take visitors through their classroom-created city. These activities allow students to engage through dramatic play, art, building, and movement, all of which are developmentally appropriate and accessible either independently or with scaffolded support.

The materials offer some guidance for teachers in social studies. The Year Ahead provides a broad overview of when social studies objectives appear throughout the curriculum and outlines which lessons address each objective. The Foundation Volume 6: Science and Technology, Social Studies & the Arts discusses the components of social studies.  In Chapter 5, strategies are provided for creating spaces for social studies experiences. For example, “Display references to class schedules, rules, members as well as school and community neighborhoods” (p.96). Chapter 6 provides guidance for teachers on integrating social studies learning into interest areas and outdoors. For example, for each interest area, a simple chart provides ideas on what a child might do in that area related to the Social Studies Objectives for Development and Learning, a list of suggested materials is provided, and information on how to use that area to teach social studies (pp. 103-130).

The materials include some opportunities for children to engage with social studies concepts such as identity, community roles, change over time, and awareness of familiar places. However, the indicator focuses on integrated and interdisciplinary experiences; the materials do not demonstrate that social studies learning is frequently developed in meaningful and rich ways in tandem with multiple content areas, which is required for a meets rating. Many of the cited examples occur within literacy-focused activities (e.g., ITE LL cards such as My Daily Journal or My Clothes Today), where the primary emphasis is on language and literacy rather than intentionally integrating social studies learning across domains. In addition, cross-disciplinary connections remain limited; for example, there is only one clear connection to mathematics and no explicit connections to social and emotional development.

Overall, The Creative Curriculum for Pre-K provides a range of opportunities to integrate social studies concepts within other content areas, particularly through literacy, play-based experiences, and daily routines that reflect real-world situations. Students engage in activities that promote collaboration, role-playing, and connections to their own lives, supporting early understanding of community, identity, and social roles. Teacher guidance is available to help embed social studies across interest areas and throughout the day, offering suggestions for materials, questioning, and classroom environments that support integration. While these experiences create a meaningful foundation, opportunities to more consistently and intentionally develop connections across multiple domains, where social studies concepts and skills are reinforced across the marerials, could further strengthen the frequency, variety, and depth of social studies learning.