Enrichment News
by Kristi McMullen
May 13, 2009
Enrichment News
Kristi McMullen
Kindergarten students have continued learning about a
Detective Thinking (analytical thinking). Detective thinking
focuses on the following concepts:
• There is only one right answer
• Students may need to put together many
pieces of information in order to find the right answer
• Students may feel like saying "I have
it!" when they find the answer
• Students may not see the answer right
away but keep looking at the clues
• Patience is important so they don't jump
to wrong conclusions.
Students have listened to the book How Will we Get to the Beach by
Brigitte Luciani. This book gave picture clues as to who was going
to be left behind, and how they do end up going to the beach. The
last detective thinking activity students have done for the year
was a “Mystery Animal/Person” card game. Students had a set of 8
different animal cards. As clues were read, students put down the
cards that didn’t fit the clue. By the end of the clues, only 1
card was left—the mystery animal. The same thing was done using 8
different people cards.
First grade students have been learning about scientist
(analytical) thinking. Students have learned that:
• There are no pre-determined rules for
classifying. Scientists need to classify data that has not been
organized before, and it is up to them to sort the data.
• There may be more than one way to sort
the data
Students practiced their analytical thinking by classifying
creatures into 4 groups. Each group had to be alike in some way.
Students found many different ways to classify these creatures.
Things to do at home:
Ask your child the following questions that encourage
analytical thinking:
• Think of something that happened in a story. What caused it?
• In how many ways are ______________ and ________________
alike/different?
• In how many ways are you and ________ alike and/or different?
• What parts of the story may not be “real?” What parts are real?
How do you know?
• What do you think would happen next in the story if it
continued?
Have your child practice analytical thinking by:
• Giving them a sack with about 20 objects in it, and have them put
the items into categories.
• Have students decide how two things are alike and different, such
as the wind and a movie, a door and friendship, or different groups
of animals at the zoo.
Summer activities to help your children keep their school
skills
• Read, read, read. Before reading, have your child predict
will happen. Have them draw or write what the think will happen.
While they are reading, have them draw or write to complete the
following statements: In my mind I see …, This reminds me of…,
and/or I wonder… When finished reading have them complete these
statements: I think the most important thing … and/ or My favorite
part of the story/chapter was… Other things they could do is to
compare their prediction to what really happened and to try to
summarize the story in ten words or less.
• Include your child in activities such as cooking and grocery
shopping. Skills these activities help include making change,
weighing produce, measuring, and following a recipe.
• If going on a vacation, involve your child with the planning, the
routes, investigate things to do, etc.
• Involve your child in the summer programs at the Council Bluffs
Public Library ( www.cbpl.lib.ia.us ).
• There are numerous websites available to parents and students. A
few of these are:
o http://www.math-drills.com/
o
http://nrich.maths.org/public/index.php
o http://www.jigzone.com/gallery
(puzzles)
o http://www.thekidzpage.com/
(variety of topics)
o http://www.mathcats.com/
o http://www.aplusmath.com/
o http://www.mrsp.com/ (storybooks
online)
o http://www.rinkworks.com/brainfood/
(variety of topics)
o http://www.mathplayground.com/
o
http://www.brainbashers.com/index.asp (variety of topics)
o http://freerice.com (math,
vocabulary, grammar)
