A curriculum is much easier to teach when it is centered on a theme. Themed modules establish a commonality across the curriculum that significantly aids the overall learning process for preschool children.
The main theme of the curriculum is the focus for the entire school year. It should be a broad topic that leaves the possibilities for learning wide open. A description of the curriculum theme for the year is typically based on the school's mission statement. For example, a school based on choice would create a theme centered on decision-making such as "Choosing Our Own Path to Learning" or "Learning to Make Decisions."
After the main idea is chosen, the curriculum can be broken down into smaller monthly components of education. Monthly concepts will usually complement the time of year. For example, an ideal monthly theme for August is the beach. December's theme could be winter. Months that do not have an obvious choice are perfect for teaching about other important preschool concepts such as animals.
Monthly themes are broken down into weekly goals that reflect the overall concept. An August beach theme would include the ocean, sun and sand, and vacations as the weekly themes. A winter theme for December has a wide range of possibilities and can include snow, holidays and outdoor sports. All activities and educational ideas for the week are centered on the smaller theme but still fall within the main curriculum.
Each weekly theme is then reduced further by choosing a specific idea for each day. All of the day's events should correspond to the particular aspect of the curriculum that reinforces the theme style of learning. A beach-themed month that has the ocean as its first week could include one full day of starfish and another day of water vehicles. Each week's main theme therefore includes a smaller theme for each day.
To facilitate learning, all curriculum activities should coordinate. Corresponding projects and lessons help to emphasize learning objectives. Preschool-aged children also learn better through the repetition and reinforcement that a themed curriculum offers.
Each day should be full of events that revolve around the same focal point of the theme. During ocean week, the day about starfish should include various starfish-related lessons. Reading a book about starfish is suitable for language skills and the children can paint a paper starfish during art. Touching a real starfish in the science center is exciting and educational. Math skills are addressed by counting the legs of a starfish or a set made of construction paper. Keeping the theme the same across all of the daily activities makes it easier for children to learn.