Amy 2 years agoJune 17, 2022

Building Thinking Skills

Disclosure: I received this complimentary product from the Homeschool Review Crew.

The Critical Thinking Co.™ offers fun critical thinking resources for students and teachers, Building Thinking Skills® Level 1 being one of them.

I was so excited to receive the Building Thinking Skills® Level 1 workbook! It covers so many topics and helps kids learn how to think about the questions instead of focusing on memorization.

THE BOOK

This workbook is a thick 320 page (including the answer pages) paperback.

It’s in full color and the pages tear out easily. As you may already know, that is a great feature, especially if you’re going to copy the pages and give them to multiple students. Which they generously allow. (Check out their copyright for more information on this, if you plan on distributing copies.)

The pages are organized by ten chapters of various topics. Each chapter is developmentally sequenced, so that students are being challenged appropriately.

The subject areas include reading, writing, math, science, and social studies. It’s also designed to prepare students in 2nd or 3rd grade for standardized tests.

HOW WE USED IT

My 1st grader (going into 2nd) and I used this book as supplements to our homeschooling curriculum. We used it 3-4 times a week and completed 2 pages a day.

This was a great fit for us!

I assigned work pages starting from the first chapter and since it was about shapes, we worked on it following our usual math class. However, we could easily fit Building Thinking Skills® Level 1 into any of our school subjects or use it as a complete curriculum.

OUR THOUGHTS

My daughter likes the colors and the variety of topics throughout the book. Being competitive, she also likes the option to check her work with the answer key in the back of the book.

Like any schoolwork, my daughter definitely had themes she found difficult to master by herself and others she couldn’t wait to work on. This gives me an idea of where she struggles and where she thrives.

I like how the book is organized and enjoy the self-explanatory worksheets. I like to let my daughter work independently and these make it easy to assign pages and walk away.

Although I’m still present and I know what she’s working on, I’m only needed for extra support, or if my daughter has any questions.

This workbook gives me the confidence that I’m covering all the subjects needed for my child to succeed on the standardized tests and that she can think about what the questions are asking instead of knowing how to answer from repetition.

I highly suggest this Building Thinking Skills® Level 1 book for all 2nd and 3rd graders. However, Critical Thinking offers workbooks for all grades. Check out some of their Free Math & Critical Thinking Worksheets (PDFs) at https://www.CriticalThinking.com/special-offers!

Also, be sure to read other reviews from other family by clicking the link below! 👇