Guest Posted February 1, 2006 Posted February 1, 2006 In our school we have been asked to come up with weekly thinking skills for each area of the classroom . Has anyone else started something similar or got any helpful hints for me?
AnonyMouse_2732 Posted February 1, 2006 Posted February 1, 2006 Wow!! Sorry, I'm a bit befuddled by the whole idea, but wanted to respond to show solidarity - please let me know how you go on! Sue
Guest Posted February 1, 2006 Posted February 1, 2006 (edited) Sorry, Red, we haven't jumped on this bandwagon yet! Sounds like a rather daft idea to me I suppose it's stuff like problem-solving, exploring, describing etc?? Edited February 1, 2006 by Guest
AnonyMouse_5013 Posted February 1, 2006 Posted February 1, 2006 Yes we have as well its a bit like wading through treacle at the mo. Its part of the primary strategy.
AnonyMouse_3139 Posted February 1, 2006 Posted February 1, 2006 I'm with Sue R on this one I'm afraid. Thinking skills like, I think I will play with this or that? Dont people ask for some strange things to be carried out?
AnonyMouse_3139 Posted February 1, 2006 Posted February 1, 2006 Actuall i have just ordered a copy of the Thinking Child, by Nichola Call and Sally Featherstone. I dont know much about it but believe it gives insights into how children think. I suppose something like that could help you decide what to provide in your areas. Appologies Nichola if thats total rubbish, but its late and apart form reading that it's a brilliant book I cant really remember the content.
AnonyMouse_79 Posted February 2, 2006 Posted February 2, 2006 Scholastic Have a book or series of books called Thinking Skills and theres one for 4-5 yr olds but havent had occasion to use mine!!
Guest Posted February 2, 2006 Posted February 2, 2006 We teach Thinking Skills in our school. I teach Nursery and have introduce some thinking skills activities etc depending on what we are doing. We don't do it weekly though as you have been asked. Sorry not much use. Nina
Guest Posted February 2, 2006 Posted February 2, 2006 That's so freaky! I was about to start a new post on the subject! Anyway, today I attended a Belle Wallace course/conference on the TASC (Thinking Actively in a Social Context) wheel, which is all about getting children to think. I was wondering whether anybody out there uses this system (or similar) in their foundation stage setting? I've done work on it in Y2, but am wondering how best to apply this to nursery. I have a few ideas which have come about from today, but wondered what everyone else is doing. So to answer the original question, in our nursery our thinking skills are a bit like "Hmm, what shall I play with today", but also getting the children to think when we read a story, e.g. was the little red hen right not to share her bread? (we did this earlier in the week: someone said she should've shared it because that would be kind; another said she shouldn't have shared it because the others didn't help her). If you were building in a weekly slot, how about: looking at books which pose interesting questions (it's an early form of Bloom's taxonomy really); during show & tell sessions, encouraging children to ask a question about the thing being shown/discussed looking at an intriguing item & discussing what it is, what it could be used for etc. Also, as people have said, there are various books out there which focus on thinking skills, & some are even aimed at early years. I have a book on thinking skills which I had planned to look out to seek relevant bits for my nursery - if I find anything interesting I'll post it on. The TASC wheel approach, which we already have the beginnings of (as I'm sure many of you do) is to think about what the children already know about a topic before you launch in to it. Previously I've done the medium term planning, then as a first base, asked the children what they know. But it has to be said, that in nursery this is fairly basic, so I'm uncertain as to how beneficial it is. The TASC idea is that you consult the children first, so you don't go over old ground, then carry out your planning from this - exploring what the children want to know about X, Y or Z, then evaluating their learning at the end. It is also supposed to improve speaking & listening skills, which our school is currently focusing on. If anyone has any Qs based on TASC I should get in whilst it's fresh in my mind. Although I probably don't have the answers anyway!
Guest Posted February 3, 2006 Posted February 3, 2006 Thanks guys - I have now found the gifted and talented website http://www.londongt.org/teachers/ which has lots on thinking skills including blooms taxonomy( have i spelt that right?)
Guest Posted February 13, 2006 Posted February 13, 2006 thinking skills are firmly establised in our school and i just take those aspects that i feel best fit foundation stage, we have been doing alot of think, pair, share, giving children time to discuss with a partner during whole class lesson and then sharing ideas with whole class, really has worked and allows all children to talk and keeps them on task much better
Guest Posted February 13, 2006 Posted February 13, 2006 Sorry but is this another way, or a new name for, asking open questions and listening to and valuing childrens opinions / enabling discussions? or is it more indepth than that? Peggy
Guest Posted February 13, 2006 Posted February 13, 2006 Hi I've used thinking skills before a writing task. We go through all the thought processes before we put pencil to paper. ie where to start writing, how to hold pencil, what we are going to write, etc,etc... I verbalise every thought so that the children learn what thinking goes on to enable us to write. Haven't done so much in maths, not as confident but I'm trying to though.. Mind maps ( a bit like a spider diagram, if you remember those used for planning years back) are good for linking thoughts and showing how the brain makes association. They are nice and visual if you make them pictorially. Thanks for posting this as have found all the ideas interesting and will have to look into the TASC wheel mentioned by chocolate girl as haven't heard of it before Trudie
AnonyMouse_1012 Posted February 13, 2006 Posted February 13, 2006 Hi, We have been developing thinking skills and whole brain learning across the school. One thing I do a lot of is get the children to use a senses map: we do this together on the whiteboard: see, smell, touch, hear, taste and feelings. I link this to our literacy, so what could Goldilocks see, smell, taste when she went into the cottage for example. We also do a lot of 'time out' to talk to carpet partners. Mel C
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