IT'S ABOUT TIME, TEACHERS, for SPIRALED CURRICULA - Critical Thinking

In 1960, Jerome Bruner advanced the theory of The Spiral Curriculum. His hypothesis was that "any subject can be taught in some intellectually honest form to any child at any stage of development*." The key tenets of his theory are:

1. "The student revisits a topic, theme, or subject several times throughout their school career;

2. The complexity of the topic or theme increases with each revisit;

3. New learning has a relationship with old learning and is put in context with the old information."*

*https://eric.ed.gov/?id=ED538282

In this modern era of instant information, with or without citation, I firmly believe our learners must become critical thinkers. So, in accord with Bruner's theory, I have created bundles of products that provide ample material for spiraled learning of higher order thinking skills. Even kindergarteners can exercise these skills.

A perennial favorite with my students is HINK PINKS, et al. These word riddles help children learn to problem solve, analyze, and create while exercising vocabulary skills (definitions, synonyms, parts of speech, rimes, syllables, ...).

SQUARE PUZZLERS are wildly popular in my classes. Like Scrambled Squares(TM), these differentiated, logic puzzles must be reconstructed so the images match on every interior side. They exercise critical thinking and problem solving, build perseverance and stamina, and stimulate the brain while disguising it all as fun!

TRIADS are fun-filled vocabulary developers that engage pupils' critical thinking while exercising the higher levels of Bloom's Taxonomy - analysis, evaluation, and creation. At the same time, your students will be forming word relationships.

ONE DOLLAR WORDS provide a lot of bang for the buck! Learners work on vocabulary development, computation/calculator skills, traditional and/or internet research, and grammar, while exercising critical thinking. Moreover, these products provide a wonderful extension to Rob Buyea's book series about Mr. Terupt.

With STORY SLEUTHS, students will enjoy great literature, learn about artistic media, and participate in collaborative thinking. The IDIOMS bundle provides frequent and enduring practice with vocabulary, figurative language, and critical thinking. The bundle of PUN TASK CARDS will provide lots of humor as your pupils learn about these literary devices.

I've spent the time creating these products to provide frequent and enduring practice with critical thinking for my learners. Save your precious time by sharing them with your students. As always, bundles from my store save you 30%.

Freebie February -- Day 11

As the enrichment specialist for my building, I'm charged with creating ways to challenge everyone.  That's no small task!  So, I try to come up with things that will cover multiple grade levels. Story Sleuths is one such activity.  Originally, I designed it for gr. 1 - 3. However, kindergarten classes and 4th graders begged to join in on the fun.  So, of course, they were included.

This project begins with students reading (or being read) a specific set of 6 Caldecott Award winning books.  Since these books were recognized for their illustrations, it's important to draw students' attention to the pictures.  Not to mention that 1 clue in every set makes reference to the artwork.

After all 6 books are read, I distribute the week's clues for my detectives to devour. And, devour they do! (Have I every mentioned how much I love this job? Or that I'm the most popular teacher in the school!!) 

Because there are over 600 students in my building and only 1 of me, I require that the classes submit 1 solution as a whole group. (No way I'm slogging through 100s of guesses.) This results in some pretty amazing collaboration among the students. 

Each Monday morning, I deliver a certificate to the classes that guessed correctly.  Just to further enhance the enthusiasm, I don a Sherlock Holmes hat and carry an over-sized magnifying glass. (Have I mentioned that I'm the most popular teacher in the building?)

Each set of Story Sleuths has 4 weeks of clues.  The classes read 6 books so that they still have to think as week 4 rolls around. Process of elimination will only take them so far in this challenge. Also provided are book icons that can be displayed in the classroom. Per my recommendation, the icons for the books that have been used are taken down, helping the students focus on the remaining books.

You need not be an enrichment specialist to make this project work. Classes within 1 grade level could challenge each other or do it independently. I've had some teachers form teams within their class so as to promote the collaborative thinking. This also works well for the school librarian, especially near the annual announcement of the Caldecott Awards. The art specialist can add great depth to this activity by exploring the art techniques associated with each book's illustrations. 

Inasmuch as it's Freebie February, today I am offering Story Sleuths III for free. So hurry up and claim your copy. It's only free for 24 hours.

There are 3 sets of Story Sleuths so far, plus an economical bundle of the 3.

Caldecott Books + Critical Thinking

Because I love Caldecott books and critical thinking skills, I combined them into a set of fun products -- Story Sleuths.

Here's how it works:

• Read a specific set of Caldecott books to your students.

• Post a set of clues that describe 1 of the books.

• Students have 1 week to submit a guess as to which book is described.
• On Friday, winners are announced and given a certificate.

• A new set of clues is given on the following Monday.
• Play continues in this way for 4 weeks/unit.

Story Sleuths are designed for K - 4 classes.  They are CCSS aligned.  Originally created for use by an enrichment teacher, librarian, or art teacher, they are readily usable by individual classroom teachers.

Students involved in Story Sleuths exercise many levels of Bloom's Taxonomy.  At the same time, they enjoy great literature, learn about artistic media, and participate in collaborative problem solving.  Better yet, they love these units!

Best yet . . . all Story Sleuth products are now on sale for 30% off the regular price.  Hurry!  They won't be marked down for long.

Even the bundle is on sale!!