New PETS Lessons

This week in 1st and 2nd grade, I started a new Primary Education Thinking Skills (PETS) lesson.  In both grade levels we reviewed Dudley the Detective, who uses deductive thinking.  The students remembered that when we use deductive thinking we look for clues, think about those clues for a long time, NEVER jump to conclusions and find one right answer.

In 1st grade, the students practice their deductive thinking by working on some practice sheets, "Who is Mary?" and "Which Dog Belongs to Mary?"  1st grade parents, be on the look out  for these completed sheets in your child's Monday or Daily folder over the next two weeks.  Then, we worked some more our detective, or deductive, skills.  The students were shown a scene from a party.  Looking for clues in the picture, the students had to answer different questions, like "What type of party is it?" and "Who is the party for?"  The first graders had to remember to look for clues and that we cannot jump to conclusions.  It was a little bit of a challenge, but fun.

In 2nd grade, we used logic elimination grids to practice our deductive thinking.  The students learned that a logic elimination grid is a system that we can use to organize and eliminate clues.  Did you know that you can use "X" and "O" for more than just tic-tac-toe?  We talked about the process of elimination and how we use it to help us find one right answer.  We practiced solving mysteries together as a class using the logic elimination grids.  I left some practice sheets with the 2nd grade teachers so the students can practice their deductive thinking using elimination over the next couple of weeks.

We love Crystal Pond Woods.  Continuing to develop the whole child.....