One of the most important skills to teach our children is how to think critically! One of our favorite companies- The Critical Thinking Co.™ has a full catalog of great books and programs to help you. We have been using Critical Thinking Detective: Vocabulary to help increase our vocabulary while giving our critical thinking skills a workout!
This book, available in downloadable ebook or softcover, is designed for grades 5- 12+ (I promise...it's fun for adults too!). We choose the physical book.Did you know that a robust vocabulary is one of the best predictors of success on the ACT and SAT tests? Helping boost vocabulary can have a huge impact on future opportunities. This book makes learning upper level vocabulary fun.
This book works on increasing vocabulary by solving short mysteries. There are 12 mysteries to solve in this edition. Each "case" to solve features around 20-25 vocabulary words that either "implicate or exonerate" the subjects.
Your job is to use your best thinking skills and vocabulary knowledge to read, analyze and solve each of the mysteries.
Each case also includes a second activity that allows you to practice using your new vocabulary in a new context, outside of the mystery. This is done with a word list and fill-in-the-blank questions using the vocabulary.
My testers and I loved reading the mysteries together and working to solve them. Mysteries are one of our favorites! With words like cogent, superfluous, and senescent in our first mystery - we knew we would need to keep a dictionary handy if we wanted to solve the case.
Not only did we learn new words, but we got to give our dictionary skills a workout. We learned synonyms and antonyms too.
This is a fun way to get our day started, and "warm up" our thinking skills. My husband loves them as well - and has even taken them to work for his team meetings!The book includes answers (but, don't look...unless you get completely stumped). Each vocabulary word is listed in the answers with the definition. You can use this area to check on their comprehension later.
I reward my students writing when they use new vocabulary - this is a great way to introduce them to new words.
I am a huge fan of Critical Thinking Company, and many of their products are staples at Bentz Academy. This is a fun one you do not want to miss!
They have two great offers for you - get Free Critical Thinking Puzzles!A $75 Value! Delivered weekly to your inbox. Choose PreK – Grade 8. Sign Up Now!
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Other members of the Crew reviewed different products - be sure to check them out!
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