Understanding the written word - in all its forms.Whether being asked to read an advertisement, decode a message, or follow a recipe, the 30 illustrated activities included in this book provide an intriguing way to boost comprehension skills.From answering questions about a personal letter, identifying true/false statements after reading a paragraph on cats, or completing a crossword puzzle after finishing a story about “Bottle Messages,” the lessons in this book will make honing reading, writing, and spelling skills an enjoyable exercise.

Now you can prepare students for standardized tests easily and thoroughly without disrupting your on-going curriculum!Easily incorporated into your daily routine, E-Z Test Readiness offers small units of practice featuring the concepts, format, and response styles of major standardized tests. These "mini-tests" offer repeated practice of sample items in a standardized testing format. The multiple-choice questions and corresponding bubble sheet are sure to add to the realistic experience.Based on the most widely used national standardized tests, E-Z Test Readiness will: reduce test anxiety, build confidence, improve test scores, increase mastery of content, and more!

Boost test scores to new heights with this practice-packed book!The fun, easy-to-do lessons will guide your students through important skills, one-by-one, while the appealing illustrations are sure to keep interest soaring. Part of the Score Booster Series, this comprehensive, teacher-designed workbook is loaded with high-interest lessons that focus on many of the essential skills students are required to know on standardized tests. Easy to incorporate into the daily curriculum, these high-interest activities are sure to improve the reading, math, and language skills of even the most reluctant learner. 144-page book includes an answer key.

Hone reading skills!Whether being asked to read a short newspaper article about space machines, a description of the different parts of a spider, or a letter written by Daniel Boone, the 30 illustrated activities included in this book provide an interesting way to boost comprehension skills.By answering questions about information presented on “why the eye’s pupils change size,” a short biography of John James Audubon, the different parts of a dollar bill, and much more, students will fine tune their reading, writing, and spelling skills. This 32-page book includes an answer key.

Teaching humor! It’s not at all absurd. In fact, absurdity is at the core of both critical cause-and-effect thinking and basic humor.Example: “We took our dog to training classes so he could learn to chase cars.” The reasoning here is absurd. Can you rewrite the sentence to make a little more sense?From slapstick comedy to abstract puns, absurdity plays a key role. Research now offers evidence of the value of humor as a tool for promoting emotional balance, stimulating intellectual growth, and improving physical well-being. In this learning unit, you’ll find 24 “absurdly” enlightening lessons. The step-by-step exercises are sure to improve thinking and logic skills.

Just the facts please!The 23 lessons in this unit are designed to provide a variety of sources from which students extract factual information. The practical yet interesting formats encourage students to analyze signs, product packaging, advertisements, diagrams, receipts, and more. Example: Smith’s Bicycle Shop displays a “Store Hours” sign in the window. “How many hours longer is the shop open on Friday than Saturday?”From money math and word problems, to shoe sizes and calendar questions, student will develop the thinking skills of analysis, comprehension, and application. They will also use language and math skills in practical, everyday situations.

Putting basic logic into practice! Because logic is the basis for all reasoning skills, it is important to teach it in as many different formats as possible. The 24 lessons in this unit involve the basic skills of language, math, and visual perception. Students must analyze each problem, evaluate possible solutions, and follow sequential steps to arrive at a conclusion. Example: Choose the ending that is most logical: “My bike has a flat tire, so: A) I need a new bike. B) I should fix the tire. C) I’ll ride it anyway.”The sequential activities featured here will most certainly help young learners develop critical thinking skills.

Putting knowledge to work. Comprehension implies the understanding of information and the ability to see basic relationships. The 26 lessons in this unit provide plenty of practice in areas that emphasize comprehension. Students are involved in interpreting verbal and visual communications (A dinosaur “size chart” is provided. “How long was the Tyrannosaurus?”), making comparisons (Using the Table of Contents provided: “Which chapter is shorter?”), and finding relationships with the “big picture” (Using the map of the Lone Star Camp: “Where does the trail from the cabin lead?”). The sequential activities featured here are sure to develop critical thinking skills.

Promote thinking!Analysis is the ability to break a whole into its component parts and understand how each functions as part of the whole. The ability to reason logically is a major skill at this step of the critical thinking process. The 27 lessons in this unit include a variety of analogies and puzzles. As students work the exercises they learn to examine the whole, make judgments about the pieces, and finally see how these pieces relate to each other.Example: “Hoot. Clang. Creak. Yelp. Whinny…: A door that needs oiling would ____. A hungryHorse would ____. A frightened puppy would ____.”These sequential activities are sure to improve thinking and logic skills. And, because they seem more like games than work, students will have loads of fun.

“Synthesis” is the ability to combine parts of a whole in new and different ways. It requires students to think flexibly, determine alternatives, and find new ways to accomplish a given task. A more advanced level of abstract thinking is needed for synthesis. The 25 lessons in this unit encourage students to go beyond the obvious to more original thoughts. Example: An illustration of a bulb connected to a battery is presented. “Electricity is stored in a battery.” Look at the accompanying pictures of batteries, wires, and light bulbs. “Which bulbs do you think will light up?”The sequential activities featured here are sure to develop critical thinking skills.

Informed thinking! “Knowledge” is defined by Bloom’s Taxonomy as “the obtaining and recall of information.” As such, it is an important step in building effective thinking and problem solving skills. When students are able to absorb information or easily recall it, their ability to effectively think and reason is expanded.The 26 lessons in this unit provide plenty of practice in areas that emphasize knowledge.Classifying shapes and words: (“Things you put air in: beach ball, saw, tires, skis…”), analyzing images: (“If the sentence is a FACT you can prove by the picture, write FACT on the line.”), distinguishing real from make-believe (“Mr. Bibble sent his nephew a monkey that could make a banana cream pie.”) are just some of the exercises featured.

“Evaluation” is the most abstract and complex level of critical thinking. To evaluate or make judgments, students must accept a given criteria as the standard before being able to come to an accurate conclusion.The 25 lessons in this unit provide practice with personal values, accuracy of facts, recognizing bias, and using reference sources.Example: “You want to go to a summer camp. What makes a good one?”The sequential activities featured here are sure to develop critical thinking skills.

Exercising thinking skills! “What would you do if…?” Posed with numerous real-life dilemmas, students are encouraged to use forethought and complete sentences to reach and express their own decisions. Four quandary situations are presented in each of the 25 lessons in this learning unit. Three involve what may be considered “real life” problems. The fourth activity is of a humorous nature. Reading Level 3-4

Test logical thinking! Solving the oodles of picture problems and word logic puzzles in this book will keep students’ minds active and promote logical thinking. Children must learn to organize the clues presented so they can reach the logical solutions. In all, there are 25 exercises that progressively increase in difficulty.

Exercise thinking skills and build vocabulary! In each of the 24 lessons in this unit, student must first answer a series of random letter-placement clues. If their “logic” is correct, the letters spell a word. Students are then challenged to write an original sentence using the word. The vocabulary featured is at an easy level so that the focus is on thinking more than on word knowledge. Creative illustrations and coloring activities add to the fun of learning.

Teach the thinking process! Experts agree that when “thinking power” is improved, reading, comprehension, problem-solving, and writing abilities will follow suit. The 26, highly visual lessons in this unit utilize word, image, and shape associations to make students aware of the similarities and differences between objects and word meanings. “See how the pictures are different. How many differences can you find?”) Analogies are also covered. (“Bite is to Dog as Sting is to ___: Bee, Hurt, Bear.”)The inclusion of creative illustrations greatly assists the learning process. The easy-to-use activities are sure to improve critical thinking skills.

Structured practice in visual discrimination and perception! The 25 lessons in this unit take children a step beyond simply differentiating between “like” and “different” objects by requiring them to specify HOW two objects are similar and different. This extra step helps children begin to recognize and put into words the characteristics they observe.Visual clues are used for students to compare.Example: An image of a calendar and a drawing of a clock are shown. “How are these alike? How are they different?”

Experts agree that when “thinking power” is improved, reading, comprehension, problem-solving, and writing abilities will follow suit.The 26, highly visual lessons in this unit utilize a variety of activities to teach logic. (Read the clues and write down what Buster does on each day of the week listed. “Buster has a soccer game on Thursday. He has swim lessons 3 days before soccer…..”)Of course, reason is also covered. (“Mom asked Jill to stir the soup so it would not burn. What does Jill need to get?)The inclusion of creative illustrations greatly assists the learning process. The easy-to-use activities are sure to improve critical thinking skills.

Teach the thinking process! Experts agree that when “thinking power” is improved, reading, comprehension, problem-solving, and writing abilities will follow suit. The 25, highly visual lessons in this unit utilize art, calendars, advertisements, signs, and more from which students draw solutions. (A playground is pictured. “Draw a red line to show one way to go from the swings to the pond.”) Finding facts are also covered. (A May calendar is shown. “What is the number of the first Monday?”)The inclusion of creative illustrations greatly assists the learning process. The easy-to-use activities are sure to improve critical thinking skills.