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| Didax "Class Ideas" Newsletter Archive |
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It may be a few weeks or right around the corner for you, but that time of year is sneaking up on us again. As we enjoy the late summer, it's time to start thinking about getting Back to School.
This month's Class Ideas features an article about the importance of thinking skills and how to help you get your students' minds working. Then there's a little bit of fun with some games to help break the ice with your new class. Don't miss our useful Internet links for more information about thinking skills and the free downloads taken from two of our newest World Teachers Press releases, Math Masterpieces and Mental Math Challenges. Of course, there's a great special for email newsletter subscribers.
So read on and hopefully this issue will get you excited about going back to the classroom. As always, if you have any comments or ideas for future newsletters, I'd love to hear from you.
Anna Mullen, Editor |
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| Developing Thinking Skills: Getting Young Minds to Work |
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 Why Teach Thinking Skills?
To a large extent, our world is centered around technology and information. The ability for educated people to obtain, make sense of and use new information is thought, by some educators, to be more important for the future than gaining specific knowledge.
It is important that teachers develop in students the ability to think creatively, to analyze, synthesize, apply and evaluate information, as these are the skills needed for both today and, more so, for the future.
The teaching of thinking skills provides students with structures that develop skills in problem-solving, creative thinking and higher-level thinking skills. It gives students a means of linking different areas of knowledge and develops skills that can be applied across all curriculum areas.
How Can Thinking Skills Be Taught?
Thinking skills can be taught in conjunction with some form of knowledge base?as part of an existing curriculum, theme, unit, etc.?as specific skills which are then applied to the curriculum or a combination of both.
A positive classroom environment is very important for recognizing and nurturing any developing skill. Children must feel accepted, feel free to express ideas and thoughts without fear of ridicule or rejection, and feel free to take risks. Ideas need to be encouraged and valued. Other attributes of a positive classroom climate include high expectations, teacher warmth and encouragement, and pleasant physical surroundings. These conditions should exist in the classroom of any good teacher, but particularly in that of a teacher whose aim is to develop thinking skills.
A positive classroom environment is achieved if the teacher sets rules in advance and makes sure they are understood, provides well-planned activities, shows respect for each student, provides non-threatening activities, is flexible, accepts individual differences, exhibits a positive attitude, models thinking skills, acknowledges each response, allows students to be active participants, creates experiences which ensure success most of the time for each student and uses a wide variety of teaching models.
The use of specific strategies may help develop thinking skills. These include open-ended questioning techniques, brainstorming sessions, specific skills such as comparisons, classifications, concept mapping, cause and effect, etc., specific structures such as Bloom?s Taxonomy and concept mapping, and the provision of a variety of activities across the multiple intelligences.
Which Activities Can Be Used To Develop Thinking Skills?
Problem-solving provides a major component of the learning of a young child. By learning to relate to other children and adults, by manipulating objects and learning to cope in social situations, children can construct ideas, try out new ones and accept or reject what they learn. Making mistakes and learning from them is a natural part of the process of problem-solving. Children need to explore, experiment, try out ideas and solve problems to make learning meaningful and personal.
Activities to develop thinking skills may include discussing a story (What happens next? Why did he/she do that? What do you think the character was feeling?), sorting and sequencing tasks, using play equipment, dress-ups or ?home corners? to develop imagination and creativity, providing opportunities for both solitary and social play, evaluation of a student?s own work, and creative activities such as drama, music and storytelling.
Many activities in the classrooms of preschool students focus heavily on fine motor skills such as cutting, pasting, construction and drawing. Often, the students work in groups. Many children with advanced cognitive development have poor fine motor skills, and may be physically and emotionally less developed than their peers. This needs to be carefully taken into consideration when selecting activities to develop thinking skills.
How Can Teachers and Parents Help To Develop Thinking Skills?
? Encourage students to ask questions about the world around them.
? When reading a story, ask inferential and applied questions, which require less obvious answers than literal questions.
? Listen to children and respond seriously to any questions that may arise.
? Ask students to express and explain their feelings.
? Ask students to find information or facts to support an opinion.
? Discuss television programs and movies.
? Discuss everyday activities such as shopping for groceries.
? Reward curiosity and those creative activities which are productive.
? Encourage students to talk about questions which may arise at school and at home.
How Important Are Questioning Techniques in Developing Thinking Skills?
Perhaps the easiest method of developing thinking skills in young children is by the use of a variety of questioning techniques. Different types of questions require the use of different levels of thinking. Using Bloom?s Taxonomy, thinking skills are classified into six categories?knowledge, comprehension, application, analysis, synthesis and evaluation. The first three categories are more concrete thinking skills, while the latter are known as critical thinking skills and are considered higher cognitive processes.
By introducing and developing thinking skills, teachers are providing students with tools to increase the depth and scope of their learning and give them the confidence to tackle challenges with creativity, innovation and a broad range of skills. |
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| Getting to Know You Games |
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 Heading back to school can be a challenge for many kids as they meet their new teachers and classmates. There's nothing like a little bit of fun to break the ice and get the new year off to a positive start. Use these games to get children laughing and talking while they practice teamwork and get some exercise.
Blanket Bounce
Divide the class into groups of 6-10. Each group will need a blanket spread out on the ground and several balls of varying sizes. Select one student from each group to retrieve and throw balls onto the blanket. Place the remaining students evenly around the outside edge of the blanket.
Instruct the group to lift the blanket by the edges. Place one ball into the center and encourage students to work together to throw the ball into the air and catch it, keeping it on the blanket. Try adding more balls. Which group throws the highest ball, keeps all the balls in the air, or can keep all the balls on the blanket moving.
Cone Ball Catch
Make a simple toy using a cardboard tube. Make a cone shape from cardstock and tape the pointed end to one end of the tube. To the other end of the tube attach a length of string or yarn at least three times the length of the tube. Scrunch up a foil ball and attach securely to the string with tape. Decorate using paint, markers, or colored paper. Can you catch the ball?
Animal Relay
Make a start and finish line about 10 yards apart in a safe, grassy area. Divide the class into groups of 4-5. Choose a leader to start the race and call out a type of animal that the students must move like; for example, a frog leaping, a crab (using hands and feet in a sitting position, lift the body off the ground), a spider (back bent, walking with hands and feet), an elephant, giraffe, or kangaroo. Before the races, discuss possible animals and matching movements. Change the game?s rules to suit; the leader calls different animals for each player in the team, or break the race into segments and students change movements when they reach markers.
Textured Rubbings
Send students in search of interesting surfaces on the school grounds. Using paper and the sides of crayons, rub over these surfaces to produce interesting shapes or textures. In groups, allow students to guess what the rubbings might be of. Back in the classroom, students can cut and glue their different rubbings to create a class or individual collage for display.
Balloon Fun 1
Divide the class into pairs (and then again into teams, if you like). Mark a start and finishing line or turning markers, depending on what suits the age group. Each pair stands on the start line with their inside arms linked. Each pair is given a balloon to hold in their free hands. The object is to move up to or around the markers, hitting the balloon to keep it in the air. If it drops, they can retrieve it but not unlink their arms. The team with all balloons and team members over the finish line wins.
Balloon Fun 2
Mark a starting line and position a marker several yards apart. Divide the class into groups of 5-8. The teams line up behind the start, and the first team member is given a balloon. Holding the balloon between his/her knees, each partner jumps around the marker and returns to the team. The balloon is passed on to the next person in the team. The game continues until everyone has had a turn. |
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| Thinking Skills Internet Links |
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 Do you want to learn more about improving your students' thinking skills? We've collected some great Internet links to get you started. Check them out for articles, lessons and case studies about teaching thinking skills. |
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| Free Activities from New WTP Releases |
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 To start off a fresh new year, here are some fresh new reproducible activity pages. Taken from two recent World Teachers Press math releases, Mental Math Challenges and Math Masterpieces, there are sets of pages in two grade ranges, from 2 to 5 and 4 to 6. Your students can have a great time creating their own art masterpiece after doing a set of math problems. Or maybe they'd like to practice their math facts while doing a dot to dot. Either way, these downloads are a fun way to get in some math reinforcement. |
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| September Newsletter Theme: Renewable Energy |
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 Using renewable energy sources is becoming more and more critical to our environment. It's time to introduce these clean, efficient forms of energy to the next generation. In September, Class Ideas will explore solar, wind and hydro power with useful class activities, Internet links and interesting background information. |
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