Customer Reviews

Critical Thinking Activities in Patterns, Imagery, Logic

5 star:		(8)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

This is a workbook to work with an individual child. It is divided into three parts: Patterns, Imagery and Logic. I will list some of the primary exercises but not each one. Most of the Patterns are connecting dots to make repetitious shapes which become pretty complex, writing numbers to recognize patterns (all numbers ending in 5 etc.) and other exercises. The Imagery part involves figuring out if shapes are the same (slightly rotated, little different). The Logic has Venn Diagrams, some sequence, same or different. It progresses from easy to hard. Your child should be able to write out numbers from 1 to 100. I used this book with a bright 4 year old. She was able to do a few pages by herself, but for most of the book she needed extensive help from me, there are a few pages we left unfinished for now. This book will help your child to start thinking outside the box.

I supplement my math curriculum with this book in my 1st grade classroom. The students love doing them and ask for more. There is something for all types of learners-- the ones who aren't "math stars" and also the "math stars." I have used the other books by the same author for grades 5 and 7.

This is one of the few books that I have been able to use for high level kindergartners and in the second half of the year,and I've also used in first through third. I love it because the activities use so many diverse
critical thinking skills. This is not an arithmetic book. This book helps children develop basic thinking skills and problem-solving abilities. It fits nicely as a supplement to any math program.

This book is good for determining if your child can see patterns, recognize images that are oriented differently as well as recognizing slight differences. The last section is logic and is good critical thinking skills. My first grader loves the book and does not want to stop at two pages....he thinks of it as a game book. It's nice when learning is fun.

I am very disappointed in this book. First of all, many of the activities are way too easy for a kindergartener, let alone kids at first, second or even 3 grades. There are some activities that seems to be more difficult but I wouldn't call those "logic" activities at all. The content is poorly done. I have a very capable 5 years old child and I have been shopping and buying a lot of the logic or critical thinking workbooks for my child over the years, so I know what is good and what is bad. There are many good critical thinking (logic) workbooks on the market (try criticalthinking.com) and this is hardly one of them. I returned it the next day!

I started using this book as a supplement to our regular math workbook for my 6 year old who is doing mostly first grade level math. I cannot recommended this book enough! First off, I want to mention that some of it is most likely too hard for the average kindergartener. For example, I don't think most kindergarteners know all their numbers 1-100 and can write them in order ( at least at the start of kindergarten). But don't let that scare you! There are plenty of pages that a kindergartener can do and if you don't mind skipping around a bit you won't be disappointed. This book is certainly challenging and really makes the child start to think critically, observe patterns, use logic, and understand how things relate to one another. I really love this book because it teaches so much more than a regular math book and gives your child an additional understanding in how to look at problems and how to solve them. When we first started using the book, I skipped through it and had my son do the easier pages (simple pattern recognition, drawing simple patterns, fill in the blank number sections), and as his math skills have increased I will go back through and have him do other pages. It is INCREDIBLE to see the progress and the understanding that comes from going through this book. I love it and will absolutely use this as a math supplement with my other kids as well.

I bought this book for my 7-year-old son. It has a variety of critical thinking activities and he loves it. Though some parts seem to be too easy for him, most parts are appropriate. I wish we got this book one or two years ago so he might enjoy even more.

Our children's abilities need to be more complex today than schools can possibly address in the current curriculum - this book aides in the development of necessary abilities outside the current curriculum!
Rebecca James, Ed.D

I came across this luckily back when I home-schooled my oldest for Kindergarten. I truly believe that these particular activities are unique and so well organized. I believe that there are few or no other activities that would specifically activate or lay down the pathways of a developing brain that these do. I think if a developing brain MISSES these particular activities during this CRITICAL time frame, that an opportunity is forever lost for those specific pathways. I imagine that the brain of an adult who did have this exposure at this age when compared to an adult who MISSED this exposure is a brain that can organize, compare, speculate, create, etc. with more accuracy and clarity.

Thanks to this book, amongst the others, my daughter is in GT. I would recommend it any day.