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Copyright ® 2023 by Teaching Strategies, LLC. All rights reserved. Teaching Strategies, GOLD, the open book/open
door logo, and MyTeachingStrategies are registered trademarks of Teaching Strategies, LLC, Bethesda, MD.
The Creative Curriculum® Cloud Getting Started Guide for Teachers
This guide will support you as you prepare to implement The Creative Curriculum® Cloud.
Accessing The Creative Curriculum® Cloud
Follow the steps below to ensure you have digital access to your curriculum resources.
Log in to MyTeachingStrategies®.
This is where you will access the Digital Content Library, create dynamic weekly plans, and engage with
families.
o If you are new to MyTeachingStrategies®, you will also receive an email that contains your
username and temporary password. Follow the instructions in that email to log in and set a
permanent password to MyTeachingStrategies®.
o If your license start date has not yet occurred, you will not be able to log in until that start date.
Set up your classroom.
This allows you to set up a virtual classroom space where you can create and maintain child records for
each child in your care.
o Check with your administrator to see if this step is your responsibility.
Create child records.
Creating a child record establishes a dedicated portfolio for a child in your classroom.
o Check with your administrator to see if this step is your responsibility.
o Note: You will need to have a class and at least one child record in MyTeachingStrategies® in
order to access The Creative Curriculum® Cloud.
Download the Teaching Strategies Teacher app on your classroom mobile device.
Use this app to easily communicate with families and access Mighty Minutes. If you also use GOLD®, you
can add documentation.
o Download the free app from the Apple App Store.
o Download the free app from the Google Play store.
Add family members to Teaching Strategies Family.
This allows family members to set up an account so they can access the free Teaching Strategies Family
app, which includes multimedia playlists, resources you have shared from MyTeachingStrategies®, the
Digital Children’s Library, and two-way communication.
o Share information with families about how they can access the Teaching Strategies Family app.
Browsing Resources in the Digital Content Library
Follow the steps below to access your digital bookshelves of resources from The Creative Curriculum®.
Access the Library area in MyTeachingStrategies®.
o Navigate the digital bookshelves to access Getting Started Guides, foundation volumes, Teaching
Guides, printable resources, and other components of The Creative Curriculum®.
o Based on the age or class/grade of your class, you will have access to infants, toddlers & twos
resources; preschool/pre-k resources; or kindergarten resources.
o If you have a preschool or kindergarten class, browse the Digital Children’s Library to view the
children’s books available to explore with children or share with families.
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Copyright ® 2023 by Teaching Strategies, LLC. All rights reserved. Teaching Strategies, GOLD, the open book/open
door logo, and MyTeachingStrategies are registered trademarks of Teaching Strategies, LLC, Bethesda, MD.
o If you are a preschool teacher and have Al’s Pals digital access, browse the Al’s Pals lessons,
songs, and other resources.
Using the Planning Calendars
Follow the steps below to create weekly plans, submit them to administrators for approval, and share with families.
Set your Weekly Template to reflect your classroom schedule before you begin creating weekly plans.
Customize your Month View calendar to account for holidays and other planned closures.
Reuse previously personalized plans by using the Copy Multiple Days feature on your Month View
calendar.
Populate your planning calendar by adding Teaching Guides.
Adding a Teaching Guide populates 4-7 weeks of your planning calendar with the content from any
Teaching Guide. This includes facilitation descriptions from the At-a-Glance charts, Intentional Teaching
Experiences, and Mighty Minutes® activities. Preschool teachers, transitional kindergarten, and infants,
toddlers, and twos teachers also have access to the facilitation guidance from Daily Plans.
o At the beginning of your school year, either choose your first Teaching Guide…
▪ Preschool Teachers: The First Six Weeks (Guided Edition) Teaching Guide
▪ Transitional Kindergarten Teachers: The First Six Weeks Teaching Guide
▪ Kindergarten Teachers: The First Six Weeks Teaching Guide
▪ Twos Teachers: any Teaching Guide for Twos
o …or, plan your entire year by adding a Teaching Guide Sequence.
Begin creating your weekly plans in the Week View calendar or the Weekly Experiences calendar.
o Edit times of day to personalize the suggested content from the Teaching Guides.
o Add custom activities that you can save to an activities library for future use.
o Plan for additional Intentional Teaching Experiences.
o Add additional Mighty Minutes® activities to your plan.
If you are a preschool teacher and have Al’s Pals digital access, add Al’s Pals lessons to your weekly
plan.
Submit your weekly plan to your administrator for approval.
Your administrator may provide additional guidelines for if and when your weekly plans need to be
submitted for approval.
Share your approved classroom plans with families.
Share family activities and at-home plans with families.
Use one of these two methods to share at-home plans with families to extend learning at home.
o Share all family activities for a planned week.
o Share an At-Home Guided Learning Plan from the family resources library to send families a pre-
populated plan based on the investigation week of the Teaching Guide you are currently
implementing.
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Copyright ® 2023 by Teaching Strategies, LLC. All rights reserved. Teaching Strategies, GOLD, the open book/open
door logo, and MyTeachingStrategies are registered trademarks of Teaching Strategies, LLC, Bethesda, MD.
If you are an infants, toddlers & twos teacher, begin creating your weekly routines plans.
o Create an Individual Care Plan for each child for each routine.
o Select strategies to use for each child for each routine.
o Plan for routine-specific Intentional Teaching Experiences.
Facilitating Instruction from the Day View
Follow the steps below to use the Day View to facilitate your instruction from the Teach area.
Use the facilitation views while teaching.
Quickly add additional resources in-the-moment of your instruction.
Use planned Intentional Teaching Experiences.
Use planned Mighty Minutes® activities.
Engaging With Families
Follow the steps below to engage in two-way communication with families.
If you are a preschool teacher, review the investigation playlists that are set to auto-share with families
on the first day of each investigation.
Regularly review the ongoing, two-way conversation with each child’s family.
o Begin a conversation, send a new message, or read and respond to a family’s most recent reply.
Send announcements to all family members.
Share activities from the family resources library.
o Share At-Home Guided Learning Plans.
o Share titles from the Digital Children’s Library.
o Share Development and Learning activities.
o Share LearningGames®.
o If you have Al’s Pals™ digital access, share Al’s Pals songs and Al’s Pals family letters.
If you are not sharing preschool investigation playlists, review the monthly SEL home playlists that
families have access to on the Teaching Strategies Family app.
Additional Considerations
Access The Hub and engage, connect, and share experiences with other early childhood educators, and
participate in the open sharing of ideas.
Access Quorum to review relevant professional development resources.
o Access the free product tutorials, such as Introducing MyTeachingStrategies®, as well as the free
10-hour Objectives for Development and Learning course.
o If you have the professional development Teacher Membership, complete live virtual classes and
on-demand courses.
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Copyright ® 2023 by Teaching Strategies, LLC. All rights reserved. Teaching Strategies, GOLD, the open book/open
door logo, and MyTeachingStrategies are registered trademarks of Teaching Strategies, LLC, Bethesda, MD.
Register for support webinars.
o Sign up for any upcoming live webinars.
o Watch on-demand webinars.
