Critical Thinking Press Review

Why do children always have a different opinion than their parents?  I was very excited to be asked to review a couple of books from Critical Thinking Press.  I was able to choose Editor In Chief B1 for grades 6 - 8 and Building Thinking Skills Level 3 Figural for grades 7 - 12+.


For the children all they see is more school work, for me I see a great opportunity for them to expand their mind and to help them to not be lazy thinkers.  I have to admit that I am a lazy thinker myself.  I don't often take the time to think deeply and critically.  These 2 books will benefit me as much as it will them ;)


Editor In Chief B1 takes a topic, i.e.: Uses of Peanut Oil, writes a paragraph on said topic.  In this paragraph will be various grammar, content, spelling or punctuation mistakes that the student is to find and correct.  (This should be easy for my kids as they are always correcting me!!!)  


This is what my 12 year old daughter had to say about using this book:
I like that I am given how many errors there are to find.  I  found the topic today very interesting because I studied about predators in Science today.  I am allowed to use the rewriting of the topic with my corrections as my penmanship practice.  I missed an error that was in the content of the caption on the picture.  That was confusing!


Here she is trying to decode all the mistakes in topic 4: Predators Beware 

The Building Thinking Skills Series is a tough one.  Two years ago my 9th and 12th grade sons completed Level 3: Verbal.  The 9th grader had a harder time with this one than the 12th grader. I don't think it was because of the age, but because of their different learning styles.  My 9th grader is more visual while the 12th grader more verbal.
So now my son is 2 years older and is tackling Level 3: figural. As I suspected, this is proving to be less difficult for him.  He actually asked me if this was really a high school level :)  When I explained it was the same company as the previous book he used, he said, "well, this one is much easier"


This book is broken down into 3 sections:  similarities, sequences and classifications.  My son's favorite section seems to be sequences.  Which does not surprise me as he is very detailed and likes order!


Here he is working out a problem:

Yes, that is an ipod he is listening to....he "claims" he can concentrate better while listening to music.

 Because he is a good student I allow it :)

The beginning of the book suggests discussion to follow the completion of a task to aid in learning retention.  I have to admit that we have been very weak in this area, unless I find that something is not clicking...then we discuss that area.


I highly recommend Critical Thinking Press books and software. They have a myriad of books and software to chose from for all grade levels.   I have found that they have helped my children to not always look for the easy answer, but to think thinks through.  To question, analyze and then decide!




Timberdoodle  provided me with a complimentary copy of the 2 books mentioned in this review. No other compensation was given.    Opinions expressed are my own.