Why Spiral Curriculum Works (And How to Implement It Without Losing Your Sanity)
If you’ve ever taught a concept once, brilliantly, might I add, and then been asked two weeks later, “Wait…what’s a noun again?” Congratulations! You’ve discovered why spiral curriculum exists.
Teaching something once and expecting it to stick forever is like brushing your teeth once and declaring yourself good for life. It’s not how learning, or plaque prevention, works.
Enter the spiral curriculum: education’s way of saying “We’re going to revisit this unit until it finally makes sense. And then we’re going to revisit it again, just to be sure.”
Let’s break down why spiral curriculum works, how to use it in real classrooms with real children who forget things daily, and how to build in repetition without sounding like a broken record.
What Even Is Spiral Curriculum?
Spiral curriculum is a fancy term for a simple idea: You teach a concept, then revisit it later…and then again…and then again…each time with more depth and complexity.
It’s like building a multi-layer cake. You don’t dump all the batter in the oven at once and hope for the best, you build it layer by layer, letting each part set before you add more frosting (or in this case, higher-level thinking). At least that’s what I learned from all the baking shows on TV.
You’re not reteaching because they didn’t get it. You’re revisiting because that’s how the brain builds knowledge.
Why Spiral Curriculum Actually Works (Science Says So)
Our brains are basically glittery filing cabinets. If you shove a new idea into an empty drawer and never open it again, poof! It’s gone. But if you keep going back to that drawer, reorganizing it, adding new files, connecting it to other things? Now you’ve got real learning.
Spiral curriculum:
Reinforces learning through spaced repetition
Builds connections between old and new knowledge
Supports long-term memory instead of short-term cramming
Helps students see growth over time, which boosts confidence
Prevents the dreaded “I’ve never seen this before!” Panic attack during review
It’s like planting a seed and watering it weekly instead of dumping an entire gallon of water once and walking away forever.
How to Actually Implement It (Without Crying into Your Planner)
Okay, so it works. But how do you pull this off in real life, where time is limited and your lesson plans are already help together by sticky notes and hope?
Map Out Your Core Concepts Early
Think long game. Look at your curriculum and ask:
What concepts NEED to be spiraled?
What skills build on each other?
Where can I naturally revisit past material in new ways?
Example:
You don’t teach fractions in September and never speak of them again. You start simple “half of a cookie”, then spiral back later with multiplication, division, word problems, and real-life applications (hello, pizza slices!)
Revisit with Purpose
This is NOT “Let’s do the same worksheet again but change the font.” Revisiting looks like:
New questions using old skills
More complex tasks with familiar content
Cross-curricular connections
Student-led discussions or projects using prior knowledge
Make it feel new, even when it’s not. “Remember when we learned this in Unit 2? Now we’re taking it further.” Boom! Spiral and flex.
Use “Do Now”s and Warm-Ups for Mini Spirals
Start each day with a quick question from past topics. Not as a pop quiz, but as a gentle “Hey, remember this? Your brain does too.” These tiny spirals take 3 minutes and do BUG things for retention.
Plan for Scaffolding (Not Just Repeating)
Spiraling isn’t about starting from scratch every time. It’s about scaffolding up a little more depth, a little more independence, a little more “you’ve got this.”
Think of it like riding a bike:
First time: training wheels
Second time: holding the seat
Third time: jogging besides them, pretending not to panic
Fourth time: they’re flying and you’re crying in a good way.
Embrace the Chaos (A Little Bit)
Kids will forget stuff. You’ll feel like you’ve said the same thing a hundred times. You have. That’s spiral curriculum. That’s teaching.
Take a breath, repeat the question, rephrase the explanation, throw a visual and spiral on.
What Spiral Curriculum Is Not
Let’s bust a few myths while we’re at it:
It’s not:
Re-teaching because they didn’t get it right the first time
Watering down content
Doing the same lesson over and over until everyone is bored to tears
A waste of time (especially not when the alternative is reteaching everything before testing season, which SPOILER, is a waste of time.)
Spiraling isn’t not a weakness. It’s a strategy. A brain-friendly, learning centered, teacher-approved strategy.
Final Thoughts: Go Ahead, Teach It Again, On Purpose
If you’ve ever thought, “I feel like I already taught this,” congratulations, you’re doing it right. Because learning doesn’t happen in a straight line. It loops, it zigzags, it spirals.
And when we teach in a way that honors how kids actually learn, we don’t just get better scores, we get better thinkers.
So yes, explain the difference between area and perimeter for the fifth time this year. Ask what a noun is again in March. Circle back to that tricky reading strategy in Unit 5, even though you introduced it in Unit 1.
You’re not going in circles. You’re going in spirals. And that, my friend, is how learning lasts.
