thinking

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Home : 2001 : August : 26

thinking
By Cathy-Dee

I know we often feel that the kids should just be able to think through the questions, but this is a skill that does need to be taught. I have found that although we do try to do as much as we can in the younger grades,
we are working on a lot of basic skills. A lot of the "deeper" thinking tends to begin in grades 3 upward, so grade 5 they are still learning a lot about the process of thinking. And of course it depends on what happened in the previous years.
The great thing about teaching is that we can take a step back - see what is missing and revise our goals and plans. I think it's a great idea

for you to begin to teach them "thinking skills". Plan for a problem solving time every day and not just math problem solving, but word puzzles. Put up a unique word puzzle of the week and make it into a contest.
Demonstrate and model how you think through problems.
Thinking is the fun part of learning - there are so many ways to challenge your kids and they will love being in your class.

And even us adults love to have the answer right there for us, it's less work. So the challenge now will be to have them realize that just because it is more work doesn't mean it is less fun.

Some other things you might want to try
- mystery stories - do a mystery novel study
- more science and math problems
- open ended questions where there are many "correct" answers
- a lot of discussion times
- games like outburst jr, makes you realize how many possibilties there are for answers

And don't let them get you stressed out. The first month of school is hard for everyone to get back into the mode of school. The kids are tired, they also are more into socializing with everyone they haven't seen since June. By October they will settle back into the routine of being in school and you'll find that their thinking skills will also start to return.