Level 1: Describing Shapes
Activity 1: Describing Shapes
Skills: Language Arts: Visual discrimination needed for reading readiness;
Mathematics: Naming geometric shapes; Science: Recognizing shapes of leaves,
insects, or shells; Social Studies: Recognizing shapes of road signs, discerning
different patterns in art
Questions: 27
Activity 2: Following Directions
Skills: Language Arts: Reading and following directions in any situation (text,
worksheet, test) involving order, number, or position; Mathematics: Following
the correct sequence in solving word problems; Science: Following sequence of
instructions in laboratory experiments; Social Studies: Answering questions
regarding charts, graphs, or schedules; reading and constructing time lines
Questions: 17
Activity 3: Describing Position
Skills: Language Arts: Diagramming sentences, placing words in sentences
according to function (subject, direct object, etc.), writing descriptive or
instructive paragraphs; Mathematics: Plotting graph coordinates, constructing
geometric shapes from written or oral directions; Science: Plotting an area or
reading a map of a nature study area, observing and describing natural
formations; Social Studies: Interpreting and constructing maps, graphs, or
diagrams
Questions: 4
Level 2: Matching
Shapes
Activity 1: Matching Shapes
Skills: Language Arts: Visual discrimination exercises for reading readiness,
discriminating between punctuation marks; Mathematics: Distinguishing
geometrically different shapes; Science: Sorting leaf, shell, or insect
collections by shape; Social Studies: Distinguishing between landforms according
to size and shape
Questions: 26
Activity 2: Finding Shapes
Skills: Language Arts: Recognizing syllables of words; recognizing parts that
make up words; recognizing rhyme pattern in poetry, finding hidden words in
larger words, finding repeated letter patterns in words; Mathematics:
Identifying names and functions of numbers in arithmetic problems; finding
patterns or other shapes within geometric shapes; Science: Naming component
parts of equipment or compound organisms, such as compound flowers that are made
up of multiple flowerets; differentiating among skeletal parts; Social Studies:
Recognizing map divisions, finding and tracing routes on road maps; indicating a
historical trip on a map (the Oregon Trail, the Pony Express route, etc.)
Questions: 21
Activity 3: Dividing Shapes into Equal Parts
Skills: Language Arts: Dividing a long poem for several people to memorize;
Mathematics: Showing equal fractional parts of a whole, basic symmetry
exercises; Science: Identifying symmetry of body parts or natural phenomena
(leaves, plants, shells, etc.); Social Studies: Dividing historical time lines
into intervals, making or interpreting charts or graphs
Questions: 25
Activity 4: Drawing, Comparing, and Completing Shapes
Skills: Language Arts: Deciding which letter correctly completes a word;
preparing diagrams for reports or displays; visual discrimination exercises for
reading readiness; Mathematics: Completing partial geometric shapes; working
problems involving shapes; figural similarities exercises, direction of numeral
formations (5,7,etc.); Science: Deciding which bone completes a skeletal part;
drawing diagrams in science reports; recognizing similarly shaped leaves,
insects, or shells; Social Studies: Drawing maps;
Questions: 25
Level 3:
Which Color Comes Next?
Activity 1: Which Color Comes Next?
Skills: Language Arts: Sequencing sounds in spelling, alphabetizing, dictionary
practice; Mathematics: Recognizing number sequences, learning place value with
manipulatives; Science: Seeing patterns in seasonal changes and weather
conditions; Social Studies: Showing geographic changes or types of topography on
maps
Questions: 15
Activity 2: Which Shape Comes Next?
Skills: Mathematics: Counting patterns, pattern block activities; Science:
Seeing patterns in leaves, shells, and life cycles; Social Studies: Recognizing
patterns in ethnic decorations or artifacts
Questions: 12
Activity 3: Tumbling Objects
Skills: Language Arts: Mirror-image words (mom, wow, dad, pop); Mathematics:
Rotating geometric shapes; Science: Explaining rotation of the earth,
experiments with mirrors or gears; Social Studies: Map orientation, redrawing
charts or graphs
Questions: 13
Activity 4: Which Figure Comes Next?
Skills: Language Arts: Discriminating between letters (b/d,p/q), inverting
letter order in words; forming new words by adding or subtracting prefixes and
suffixes; Mathematics: Recognizing geometric changes in position (flips, turns,
and slides), symmetry, arranging basic problems (e.g., horizontal or vertical
addition); Science: Recognizing alternating patterns in leaves or shells;
showing symmetry in plants or animals; mirror-image exercises; understanding
gears; wheels; motors; or kaleidoscopes; recognizing the rotation of planets;
Socials Studies: Showing geographic changes on maps, using or making graphs that
show negative and positive changes, reading maps
Questions: 11
Activity 5: Draw Which Figure Comes Next<br> Skills: Language Arts:
Choosing the right picture(s) to fill in or complete a story sequence, filling
in the missing sections on a partially completed or outlined format;
Mathematics: Filling in the missing item(s) in a sequence of shapes, completing
mathematical tables; Science: Biological stages in the development of animals or
plants, duplicating steps in laboratory experiments; Social Studies: Recognizing
repeating casual relationships; developing a time line pattern; predicting
changes in population, production output, etc. by finding past statistical
patterns, reading and interpreting bar and line graphs
Questions: 12
Activity 6: Order of Sequence
Skills: Language Arts: Choosing the right picture(s) to fill in or complete a
story sequence; Mathematics: Filling in the missing item(s) in a sequence of
shapes, completing mathematical tables; Science: Tracing biological stages in
the development of animals or plants, following steps in science activities;
Social Studies: Developing a time line pattern, reading and interpreting bar and
line graphs
Questions: 2
Activity 7: Folding Figures
Skills: Mathematics: Visual perceptual skills, drawing geometric shapes to form
patterns, recognizing symmetrical patterns; Science: Reproducing crystal or
snowflake patterns, predicting appearance or position, recognizing symmetry in
natural forms; Social Studies: Seeing patterns in charts, graphs, or schedules,
map drawing skills, projecting a graph pattern
Questions: 14
Level 4:
Matching to a Group
Activity 1: Matching to a Group
Skills: Language Arts: Decoding skills in reading readiness, recognizing
sentence types from end marks, learning to form letters in handwriting,
classifying words by letter pattern, recognizing prefixes and suffixes,
classifying words into pattern groups; Mathematics: Distinguishing between types
of arithmetic problems (addition, subtraction, etc.) by sign and/or problem
configuration, classifying numbers according to place value, grouping fractions
by common denominator, sorting geometric shapes; Science: Classifying natural
objects (leaves, fish, shells, etc.) according to shape and/or pattern,
classifying animals into families, distinguishing between different food groups;
Social Studies: Identifying the functions of road signs from their shapes,
associating international signs and symbols with their meanings, using a legend
to identify areas on a map, interpreting graphs
Questions: 27
Activity 2: Describing and Matching a Class
Skills: Language Arts: Describing the way things or people look, writing or
giving directions for constructing something, matching pictures with letter
sounds; Mathematics: Describing and reproducing geometric shapes, comparing and
modeling place values, using mathematical symbols to group arithmetic problems;
Science: Classifying (organisms, leaves, insects, flowers, shells, birds, land
formations, etc.) by the characteristics of shape or pattern, identifying
symmetry and geometric forms; describing results of an experiment; Social
Studies: Interpreting charts and graphs, drawing inferences from pictures,
finding the same location on different types or sizes of maps, using a legend to
read maps, graphs, or charts, grouping artifacts according to material, use,
design, etc.
Questions: 31
Activity 3: Classifying by Color, Pattern, and Shape
Skills: Language Arts: Distinguishing rhyming word patterns, recognizing
exceptions to spelling or pronunciation rules, arranging groups of words using
various categories; Mathematics: Distinguishing similar and dissimilar geometric
patterns or shapes; Science: Classifying natural objects according to shape;
Social Studies: Reading a map
Questions: 22
Activity 4: Complete and Form a Class
Skills: Language Arts: Using end marks to identify questions and exclamations,
choosing rhyming words by finding letter patterns; Mathematics: Sorting shapes,
learning set theory and determining sets; Science: Classifying organisms, land
formations, or equipment by known attributes; Social Studies: Making or using a
map legend to gain information (types of roads, distances between cities, sizes
of cities, state capitals, etc.)
Questions: 25
Activity 5: Overlapping Classes
Skills: Language Arts: Describing objects by using all, some, or not, reading
graphs, tables, or schedules; Mathematics: Set theory exercises, attribute block
exercises, sorting geometric shapes, making and using arithmetic charts;
Science: Sorting natural objects into overlapping classes, classifying days
according to different weather patterns, classifying organisms or equipment
using more than one characteristic; Social Studies: Interpreting graphic
information, using a legend to read a map, making a graph or chart of survey
results
Questions: 15
Level 5:
Analogies with Shapes
Activity 1: Building Analogies
Skills: Language Arts: Using knowledge of parts to determine meaning of
unfamiliar compound words; Mathematics: Changing numerical information to
graphic information; Science: Recognizing the relationship of cloud formations
and weather; Social Studies: Recognizing parallel structures of governments;
recognizing similar patterns in artifacts
Questions: 7
Activity 2: Analogies with Shapes - Select
Skills: Language Arts: Comparing and/or contrasting information gained from
pictures; Mathematics: Changing numerical information to graphic information;
Science: Recognizing analogous body parts or structural elements in different
organisms; Social Studies: Recognizing similar patterns in artifacts; comparing
and/or contrasting information from maps, charts, or graphs
Questions: 11
Activity 3: Analogies with Shapes - Complete
Skills: Language Arts: Recognizing correct pronunciation of unknown words by
comparing letter patterns; Mathematics: Recognizing equivalent fractional parts,
working with ratios, writing and recognizing arithmetic problems in pictorial
form; Science: Seeing and stating relationships between different natural
phenomena, animal, or plant classes, and/or minerals and rocks; naming analogous
body parts of different organisms; comparing and/or contrasting organisms;
Social Studies: Recognizing and stating the relationship between people and
events, recognizing and stating causal relationships
Questions: 12
Level 6:
Describing Things
Activity 1: Describing Things
Skills: Language Arts: Dictionary activities, vocabulary development, using
precise words, reading comprehension activities using illustrations and context,
writing descriptive sentences and paragraphs, doing vocabulary development
enrichment activities, using precise words; Mathematics: Matching terms with
operations, recognizing sets, explaining steps in mathematical operations;
Science: Matching scientific terms with their descriptions; identifying types of
plants, animals, etc., describing scientific terms and processes, explaining
results of an experiment; Social Studies: Recognizing and matching topographic
or geographic areas with their correct terms, identifying pictures of historical
artifacts, describing historical figures and events
Questions: 19
Activity 2: Describing Words
Skills: Language Arts: Doing vocabulary enrichment activities, using precise
words, writing comparison paragraphs; Mathematics: Analyzing and solving word
problems, recognizing sets; Science: Identifying processes, types of animals,
plants, etc.; Social Studies: Comparing topographic or geographic areas
Questions: 11
Activity 3: Name the Thing
Skills: Language Arts: Reading comprehension exercises, vocabulary enrichment
activities; Mathematics: Matching terms and operations, analyzing and solving
word problems, recognizing sets and set complements; Science: Recognizing
scientific processes; identifying categories of plants, animals, etc.; Social
Studies: Identifying topographic or geographic areas, and historical events and
periods
Questions: 26
Level 7: Opposites
Activity 1: Opposites
Skills: Language Arts: Using precise words, doing vocabulary enrichment
activities, working with antonym exercises, writing contrast paragraphs;
Mathematics: Recognizing and using inverse operations, recognizing sets, using
fractions and reciprocals; Science: Recognizing reversed processes in simple
experiments; describing differences between two objects, organisms, or concepts;
Social Studies: Contrasting topographic or geographic areas
Questions: 69
Activity 2: Similarities
Skills: Language Arts: Using antonyms, synonyms, using knowledge of word parts
to determine meaning of compound words, writing contrast paragraphs, expressing
an opposite opinion, describing contrasting stories, avoiding overused words and
trite expressions in compositions, recognizing denotative and connotative
meanings; Mathematics: Checking basic arithmetic problems by reversing
processes, recognizing and using equivalent values of money, time, or
measurement; understanding directions for solving mathematical problems;
Science: Describing differences between two objects or concepts; disassembling
and reassembling motors, gears, or models, following directions in performing
basic experiments, inferring meanings of unfamiliar words by using definition or
synonym clues; Social Studies: Locating and expressing contrasting details when
comparing objects or maps, paraphrasing or summarizing key concepts, identifying
parallel or similar functions of different governmental levels
Questions: 45
Activity 3: How Alike?
Skills: Language Arts: Organizing and writing compare and contrast statements or
paragraphs, recognizing denotative and connotative words or phrases;
Mathematics: Evaluating geometric shapes for type and congruence, interpreting
word problems, interpreting different forms of statistical presentations;
Science: Identifying classes of plants or animals by similar characteristics;
Social Studies: Expressing similarities and differences between historical
events, eras, people, or artifacts
Questions: 7
Level
8: Yes-No Rules/True-False Tables
Activity 1: Yes-No Rules/True-False Tables
Skills: Language Arts: Recognizing the effect of "no" or "not" on meaning,
interpreting double negatives, determining whether examples of usage, spelling,
grammar, or paragraph construction follow a given set of rules, finding errors
in spelling, grammar, or punctuation, answering true/false questions about a
story; Mathematics: Following multi-step operations in solving problems,
recognizing similarity and congruence in geometric figures, recognizing whether
multi-step operations have been correctly followed; Science: Recognizing the
change of a single variable in demonstrations or experiments, tracing the path
of an electrical circuit, explaining basic experimental reactions and their
causes; Social Studies: Following or creating a chart or map route, placing
artifacts according to usage, era, or culture, finding facts to support negative
statements, determining correct time in different time zones
Questions: 25
Activity 2: Finding Locations on Maps
Skills: Language Arts: Finding facts by using book sections, using reference
materials, writing a set of instructions or giving a demonstration speech, doing
crossword puzzles; Mathematics: Locating and charting data on a graph, locating
coordinates on a grid, geoboard activities; Science: Constructing a motor or
gear following written directions, using text book sections to locate facts,
detailing the position of a star or planet; Social Studies: Reading maps,
graphs, or charts, tracing a family tree
Questions: 37
Activity 3: Continue the Sequence/Ranking
Skills: Language Arts: Expressing comparative and superlative rank of adjectives
or adverbs; exercises involving chronological order, speech preparation;
selecting nouns and verbs to express degree, rank, or order, sequencing events
and ideas in a story; outlining exercises; Mathematics: Solving word problems
involving transitivity or inequality, describing geometric proportions in angle
or size, ordering numbers by size; Science: Identifying stages of development,
recognizing and predicting size or frequency, writing reports of scientific
demonstrations, classifying physical phenomena; Social Studies: Recognizing and
using chronological order for historical events or people, recognizing divisions
and subdivisions of governmental or political structure
Questions: 38
Activity 4: Deductive Reasoning
Skills: Language Arts: Comprehending subtle differences in word meaning based on
context; using key words and phrases to infer a character's personality and
motivation in a story; comprehending subtle distinctions in degree, size, rank,
or order in reading passages, understanding and writing compare/contrast
passages; Mathematics: Applying key terms to solve word problems, transitivity
relations, or inequality exercises; Science: Understanding directions and
results of laboratory demonstrations, recognizing and analyzing variables in
experiments; Social Studies: Comprehending chronological order or statistical
comparisons in text materials
Questions: 19
Level 9: Parts of
a Whole A
Activity 1: Parts of a Whole A
Skills: Language Arts: Identifying parts of speech, parts of a book, and parts
of a letter; Mathematics: Identifying components in arithmetic operations;
Science: Identifying significant parts of living organisms; observing components
of constellations, stars, the solar system, or the earth; describing equipment;
Social Studies: Examining dwellings, artifacts, costumes, communities, and
governments requiring identification of component parts, using keys or legends
to identify component parts or maps
Questions: 11
Activity 2: Parts of a Whole B
Skills: Language Arts: Identifying the topic of sentence and its supporting
statements in a paragraph; utilizing heads and subheads in making outlines,
recognizing parts of speech, parts of a book, and parts of a letter;
Mathematics: Describing polygons, describing computers, identifying fractional
parts, units of measure, geometric shapes; Science: Observing components of
constellations, stars, the solar system, or the earth; describing equipment;
Social Studies: Using keys or legends to identify component parts or maps,
illustrating political structures, judicial systems, etc.
Questions: 19
Activity 3: Class and Members
Skills: Language Arts: Writing or stating proper definitions of nouns, using
reference books to locate information of a topic; Mathematics: Using cue words
to determine functions for solving word problems, analyzing sets; Science:
Identifying natural objects; Social Studies: Writing or stating definitions of
social studies terms or identifications of people, events, artifacts, or eras
Questions: 17
Activity 4: What is True of Both Words?
Skills: Language Arts: Choosing proper reference books when looking up facts for
reports, recognizing parts of speech or types of literature; Mathematics:
Distinguishing between types of arithmetic problems, recognizing numerical
properties, grouping numbers according to place and face values; Science: Naming
and recognizing attributes of different phyla of plants
Questions: 11
Activity 5: How are These Words Alike?
Skills: Language Arts: Classifying parts of speech or types of literature,
choosing proper reference books when looking up facts, using an index to look up
facts in a book; Mathematics: Distinguishing between types of polygons or types
of angles, recognizing numerical properties, grouping numbers according to place
and face values; Science: Identifying different phyla of plants or animals,
naming and recognizing various elements and compounds; Social Studies:
Classifying types of architectural structures, governmental functions, or
community institutions according to their functions or other attributes
Questions: 22
Level 10:
Describing Shapes
Activity 1: Picture Analogies
Skills: Language Arts: Recognizing and completing word analogies, using context
clues to infer meaning for unfamiliar words, recognizing metaphors and similes
in poetry; Mathematics: Recognizing and using the relationship between graphic
information and numerical information, using cue words to decide process in word
problems; Science: Observing and describing analogous structures in animals or
plants, using analogies to explain results in experiments; Social Studies:
Recognizing and describing parallel or similar events in history, using
analogies to explain concepts, recognizing historic or cultural patterns
Questions: 8
Activity 2: Verbal Analogies A
Skills: Language Arts: Recognizing and using word analogies, using paraphrasing
skills; Mathematics: Changing numerical information to graphic information (and
vice versa); recognizing and using "part-to-whole" analogies in measurements of
time, weight, size, or volume; identifying the relationship between fractional
parts and fractions; Science: Distinguishing between phyla of plants or animals,
conducting laboratory experiments and writing reports on them; Social Studies:
Explaining historic or cultural parallels
Questions: 42
Activity 3: Verbal Analogies B
Skills: Language Arts: Recognizing and using word analogies, using paraphrasing
skills; Mathematics: Identifying the relationship between fractional parts and
fractions; Science: Conducting laboratory experiments and writing reports on
them; Social Studies: Explaining historic or cultural parallels
Questions: 15
Activity 4: Analogies-Select The Right Pair
Skills: Language Arts: Recognizing and using analogies, paraphrasing; stating
relationships shown by words, sentences, or passages; Mathematics: Changing
numerical information to graphic information (and vice versa); recognizing and
using "part-to-whole" analogies in measurements of time, weight, size, or
volume; identifying the relationship between fractional parts and fractions;
Science: Distinguishing between phyla of plants or animals, writing science
reports; Social Studies: Explaining historic or cultural parallels
Questions: 8
Sample Pages:
Sample Pg 1
Sample Pg 2
Test Preparation/Assessments
Awards
Reviews
View Entire Building Thinking Skills Series
4th-6th grade
