Curriculum Map for Preschool, Pre-k, and Kindergarten

Planning for the entire year can be overwhelming and stressful! 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! I love to use this curriculum map for preschool to get my head clear and have a great idea for the whole year.

Curriculum Map for Preschool, Pre-k, and Kindergarten

The 2024-2025 curriculum map for preschool 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. Check out this video for the latest updates and more in-depth directions on how to use the curriculum map.

Go grab the reading list & Curriculum Map for preschool from my TpT store HERE (it’s a freebie)!

Year-at-a-Glance
This is a wonderful tool for seeing the big picture for the entire year. You can see that each month has two themes, each lasting two weeks. I also added a column for holidays and events. Do you see the fun, new themes I have planned for this year? 

Curriculum Map for Preschool- 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 suggestions for each theme.  Each theme will have a matching Math and Literacy Centers pack, a Dramatic Play set, STEM Challenges, a Science Unit, Character Topics (aka social skills), a sensory idea, a playdough tray idea, Question of the Week, and extra resources. 

Each month at a glance, is all clickable! For each theme, there is a blog post with ideas and activities and a booklist with my favorite books for each theme. Then each resource featured is also clickable and takes you to TpT to see the product listing. Another feature is the extra column! There are tons of resources that will enhance your lessons and learning, like directed drawings, name practice pages, letter cards, fine motor mats, counting stews, and butcher paper activities!

The months up close…

Go grab the reading list & Curriculum Map for preschool 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 curriculum map for preschool to help the teachers who teach all summer long or teach summer school.  If you don’t teach during the summer and want to use one of the themes, just switch it out with another.

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 that you could break it into more specific themes.  For example, maybe one of the two-week themes in January is Polar Animals. You can teach 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-long curriculum map for preschool, pre-k, and kindergarten 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.

The editable curriculum map is just what you need to plan what you need for your students! It features drag-and-drop resources, sensory pictures, and playdough tray ideas. Everything is organized by theme for easy planning, so you can grab the centers, science, STEM, etc for each theme and place it into your monthly plans.

Sensory & Play Dough

Each theme has a sensory table filler and play dough tray idea on the monthly plans.  If you choose to do a holiday theme in the sensory table or with play dough, 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, 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.

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 maps 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 , infusing STEM into your classroom, and classroom management ideas.  Let me know of other blog posts you need created for additional resources!

There are tons of extra resources that will enhance your lessons and learning, like directed drawings, name practice pages, letter cards, fine motor mats, counting stews, and butcher paper activities!

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 overwhelming. I print my curriculum map and booklist 2 to a page to save ink, paper, and space in my teacher binder.

POP Learning Standards

Also included are the Pocket of Preschool Learning and Development Standards. I have been hard at work researching various state standards, national standards, as well as current research to create this document for the curriculum.

This is a one-page chart that you can use as you plan and create lesson plans! I created it in an easy-to-read and use chart so you can use it daily. Print it and place it in your teacher binder or lesson planning notebook.

This is perfect for sending home with current families, placing in your enrollment folders, sending home at parent-teacher conferences, posting on your family communication board, and sharing with your administration to show what students are learning and working on through play in your classroom.

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!

**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 in the future.  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 will be there in the new curriculum document!

Want to see the curriculum map in video? Check it out.

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