First book in curriculum series for American Indian preschool children released

The National Center for Families Learning (NCFL) is proud to announce the release of the first book in a new curriculum series for teachers who work with American Indian preschool children.

CIRCLES: A Culturally Appropriate Curriculum for American Indian Preschool Children® is grounded in evidence-based practices and principles with a strong focus toward Native culture and language preservation. Using this curriculum approach, teachers are encouraged to implement a variety of teaching strategies to support American Indian learners while paying attention to child observation to inform instructional practices. Nearly three decades of work with American Indian preschool children and families has contributed to and shaped this unique curriculum approach created by NCFL.

Piloted and tested in American Indian preschools, the curriculum has received praise from teachers:

“[CIRCLES] helps us stay on task and children are familiar with our sequential routine.”

“Everything is aligned well. Able to smoothly transition circle, small group, work time. Everything just flows.”

“Children are more interested because they want to know what is coming up or how we are going to build on the lesson. They are more interested in circle time now.”

“They want to do their work. They actually request to sit down and explore materials. They enjoy learning and want to be challenged.”

Circles-Book-1-CoverThe first book in the series, CIRCLES®: The Core Curriculum Approach, shares the three foundational Frameworks and the seven Curriculum Elements that make up the CIRCLES curriculum. The core essentials discussed in Book 1 include: culture and learning styles, teaching strategies, the classroom environment, the morning routine, and planning for children.

Professional development opportunities for CIRCLES are available exclusively through NCFL. Participants leave CIRCLES Core Training with implementation strategies and tools to immediately incorporate the CIRCLES approach into the preschool day. NCFL has designed a suite of professional development opportunities for early childhood educators to support the needs of your preschool program, including: written curriculum materials, on-site consultation and professional development, online professional development and support, technical assistance and coaching, and family event support.

Two additional books in the series will release in 2018: CIRCLES®: Language & Literacy Development in Preschool, and CIRCLES®: Family Engagement in Preschool.

For more information about the CIRCLES curriculum or professional development opportunities, please contact Kim Jacobs, Senior Director of Education and Curriculum Development at kjacobs@familieslearning.org.