As a preschool teacher, there are two options when it comes to curriculum: purchase a pre-planned boxed curriculum or plan your own.
I plan my own for several reasons, one is that by planning my own I can take into account my group of children, their needs, their development and their interests.
The other main reason is that most boxed curricula are not developmentally appropriate and do not include hands-on activities of real materials. For example of this, see below for how each type of curriculum would support the learning of a common preschool theme: apples.
Imagine a 3-year old who's learning about APPLES:
Pre-planned curricula:
Decorate pre-cut apple shapes
Play a file folder game where you match different colors of apples
Count pictures of apples
It's "A" week so we trace the letter A
At Oxford Family Preschool, we:
Cut open a real apple
Feel the smooth outside and the cool, wet inside
Smell each apple and compare their smells
Have an apple taste test, where we sample each kind of apple
Chart our favorite apple on a posterboard that we'll hang in the room
Cut them in half and examine the star pattern made by the seeds
Plant the seeds and watch them grow (we may just chart that too!)
Make applesauce for snack
This is why I design my own curriculum. Young children (as well as older children and adults :)) need real experiences, using real materials with the support of a teacher who understands their development and needs.
So...you don't use any worksheets?
I do not use worksheets with preschool children. Young children need to explore real materials, engaging their whole body and all of their senses in learning. Worksheets are static. There is one way to do them. There is very little (if any) meaningful learning that can happen from an activity like this.
Please see this fantastic discussion about the use of worksheet in a preschool classroom: Pre-K Pages.
But, just because we don't use worksheets, doesn't mean that we don't explore literacy. There are several things that I do to encourage pre-literacy skills (this is not to even mention all the ways we learn pre-math skills!). Here is just a sampling of those activities:
We have a print-rich environment. I have an endless supply of books that I rotate into the classroom. The playroom shelves are labeled with pictures and word labels. Children's artwork is posted, often with a written explanation of how they created the art, and/or what they said about their art.
We create child-made books. We talk about the parts of the book, the cover, the author's name, the illustrations and words, and the children are encouraged to re-create these pieces in their own books.
We create charts. A LOT! Some of the charts that we have created this year, include: Apple Taste Test, Chocolate/Strawberry/White Milk Taste Test, Animals with Tails and Animals without Tails, Zoo/Farm Animals.
We play games with our names, including matching them to our letter links, singing songs while I write their names and having them guess who's name I'm writing, Name searches, etc etc. Names are also prominently posted in the classroom and children who are ready are encouraged to write their own name on their artwork.
Each child has their own journal that we often write and draw in when we read some of our favorite books.
When we play shaving cream and other sensory activities, children are often encouraged to write their name in the materials.