Jayne J Posted May 29, 2009 Share Posted May 29, 2009 I am looking at the Critical Thinking Co. catalog (no! no! put that down!!) and wondering to myself if critical thinking skills at this age are "classical" or not. I don't remember if critical thinking resources were covered in TWTM at the grammar stage. Plus, I haven't gotten the coveted new edition yet... Regardless of their "orthodoxy" for this age, have you used their materials? (Especially the "Building Thinking Skills" and "Mindbenders" books) What did you think? Ok, now how about the PreK versions? Am I really jumping the gun on this? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
shehmeth Posted May 29, 2009 Share Posted May 29, 2009 Hi, I have used their products.... and I like them.. More importantly - My daughter likes them.. In Kinder we used: Can you Find Me? PreK and Mindbenders PreK-K - She Loved them!!! There were days that I had planned to do only 2 pages on the Can You Fin Me? and she would say "can we do another one? and then can we do another one? Now in 1st (Starting in September) - We'll do the 2nd volume of the Can you Find Me? K-1 and instead of Mindbenders 1-2, we'll do Building Thinking Skills - 2-3 Grade. Why the change - and not used Mindebenders? My daughter goes to her Dad's office Once a week, she has workbooks (the ones you can get at Home depot or office Max- Dora, Princess, etc - pretty general not curriculum based)/coloring books/activities there for her to do and keep herself entertained... Sometime during the middle of the "school" year the baby became very mobile and it got harder to do "school work" in set time... so we streamlined our scheduled.... So I sent the Mindbender to the Office - and kept the Can you find me at home... Now, because of the format is written (like little riddles) and because I'm not asking her to write on the book (circle the response) but just to point to the answer, I had the baby with us (he thought it was story time - LOL) - it worked. Because she had multiple selections at the office - she's still has pages to do in the mindbender - Plus because we do not write in the workbooks but rather my husband photocopies or we use the following Dry Erase Activity Center by Crayola (see link) [Link: http://www.crayola.com/products/splash/educator/dry_erase_activity_center/index.cfm ] - she can "write" on the page (safely under the "plastic" window) and she can redo it as many times as possible... Also, I guess... just to "change things up" - Once we're done with the Building Thinking Skills Book 2-3 and finish the current Mindbender, I can get the next Mindbenders 2-3... Now based on my understanding of WTM these skills are not really "covered" in the grammar years... But I picked them because she likes puzzles and riddles - so I got it as enrichment/enhancement and not really as curriculum... And the reason I picked two products to offer variety... (as much to her as to me)... I hope this helps. Kate Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JudoMom Posted May 29, 2009 Share Posted May 29, 2009 I believe they aren't officially recommended until 5th, but they are fun and my boys enjoy them. We use Mind Benders and Building Thinking Skills. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KAM Posted May 29, 2009 Share Posted May 29, 2009 WTM doesn't recommend them until 5th grade but I had DD start using them in 1st. She loves doing them and the beginning books are very easy and fun. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jayne J Posted May 30, 2009 Author Share Posted May 30, 2009 Thank you all for your help! I'm at that "everything I really need is already purchased, so now what do I spend my money on?" phase, and I really like the look of these books. Plus, I like to walk on the wild side a bit and am willing to throw caution to the wind and do something not specifically allowed by TWTM.:lol: If you had to chose between the Mindbenders and the Building Thinking Skills books, what would you choose? Buying both books for both kids rather breaks my "casual non-curriculum" spending.:D Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jayne J Posted May 30, 2009 Author Share Posted May 30, 2009 Kate-- What a wonderful idea--the Crayola Dry Erase center, I mean. So dd can eventually use ds's books!! Thank you! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JudoMom Posted May 30, 2009 Share Posted May 30, 2009 You can also use a sheet protecter or these Communicator Clearboards are nice. You get more bang for your buck with Building Thinking Skills (I want to say they run about 300 pages) verses 40 (maybe less) or so with Mind Benders. I think Mind Benders are more fun, but I think BTS has real value and my boys enjoy them. I've got one that looks similar to the Hands On Thinking Skills, BTS 1, and BTS 2. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
shehmeth Posted May 30, 2009 Share Posted May 30, 2009 JudoMom - Thank you about the idea of the Communicator Clearboars - I had never seen those.. I got the Crayola Dry Erase, 'because I saw it the last time I was Office max (and my DH had recently mentioned he was tired of the whole photocopies LOL)... But these communicator clearboards are a great idea for when we want to do work on the Park... Kate Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
shehmeth Posted May 30, 2009 Share Posted May 30, 2009 Uperdonmommy, Tyou're welcome... If I had to choose ONLY ONE Between Mindbender and the Building Thinking Skills... I would ahve to agree with JudoMom.. Choose the Building Thinking Skills... is has MUCH MORE A Tip for you - this is what they said (Critical thinking Rep.) about ho to use them: The Book is divided into sections - some sections focused on Figures and other on verbal... So for example you work one day on Chapter 1 "Describing Shapes" activities and then the next day/time you work on Chapter six - "Describing" things.. and so on... then when you get to Chapter 2: Figural Similarities and Differences - you do a page from that and then the next time you do one from Chapter seven: verbal similarities and differences and so on... This way you're working both sides of the brain.. You can do both verbal & figure activities the same day or alternating - either way - the practice of alternating is what is important... Best, Kate Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
shehmeth Posted May 30, 2009 Share Posted May 30, 2009 Uperdonmommy, Tyou're welcome... If I had to choose ONLY ONE Between Mindbender and the Building Thinking Skills... I would ahve to agree with JudoMom.. Choose the Building Thinking Skills... is has MUCH MORE A Tip for you - this is what they said (Critical thinking Rep.) about ho to use them: The Book is divided into sections - some sections focused on Figures and other on verbal... So for example you work one day on Chapter 1 "Describing Shapes" activities and then the next day/time you work on Chapter six - "Describing" things.. and so on... then when you get to Chapter 2: Figural Similarities and Differences - you do a page from that and then the next time you do one from Chapter seven: verbal similarities and differences and so on... This way you're working both sides of the brain.. You can do both verbal & figure activities the same day or alternating - either way - the practice of alternating is what is important... Best, Kate Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.