6.1.11

Timberdoodle review of Building Thinking Skills Level 1


     For this review, we did not complete the entire 327 page book, but we did try most of the activities. Joseph enjoyed these, so I let him flip through the book and hand it back to me opened to a page he wanted to try out. There is also a 35 page answer guide in the back of the book, but I did find it necessary to refer to it. The only time I had difficulty with any of the problems was comparing similar shapes when the book was not directly in front of me.

     Joseph completed some exercises easily. His responses to others surprised me such as “Circle the second and the fourth shapes.” He circled the first and second shapes together and then the third and fourth shapes together, but quickly smiled and corrected his mistake when I read the instructions out loud again.

     As we completed most of the activities with me reading the instructions, this also addressed listening and following verbal instructions. This book is actually designed to be read and independently completed by a 2nd-3rd grade child, but I found our adaptation helpful and enjoyed the up close glimpse of Joseph’s thought processes.

     I did encourage him to read with me and sound out the words, but some words including figure, circle, and directions were advanced for him at first. As these were repeated on many pages, the book had the unintended benefit of helping build his reading skills. He enjoyed the activities (his actual response the first day was “This is fun.) We will be continuing to use this resource.  

from Timberdoodle: 
     "These thinking skills books are among our favorites because of their tremendous scope. They develop four basic analytical skills (similarities/differences, sequences, classification, and analogies) through both figural and verbal problems. In addition, there are problems dealing with deductive reasoning, map skills, Venn diagrams, mental manipulation of two-dimensional objects, and much more. Studies have shown that students using these books have raised their national test scores significantly in both content and cognitive tests! What's more, these books are never boring!"

     Disclaimer: Timberdoodle provided me with this resource for the purpose of this review. 

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