World History Detective

World History Detective
By
Published at Critical Thinking Co.

About the product

World History Detective® can be used as a standards-based, stand-alone textbook, a resource of supplemental activities to enrich another textbook, or as a review course for older students. Students begin by analyzing a lesson. Next, they apply critical thinking skills to answer multiple choice and short essay questions. Finally, students support their answers by identifying evidence learned from the lesson. World History Detective® includes geographical maps, timelines, and concept maps, and develops critical thinking skills in lessons that teach the roles that technology, power, institutions, ideas, and trade play in shaping history.

This book provides teacher and student introductions, list of historical topics, a lesson on identifying evidence, answers, critical thinking skills, identification of evidence, evaluation of evidence, as well as drawing inferences and conclusions.
My Thoughts

I stumbled on a new product from Critical Thinking a couple of months ago.   Since we were going to study the Medieval era as part of our homeschool, I was looking for a curriculum that will encourage my oldest son to read more about the Medieval Times and learn from it.   I had found some interesting novels but this specific product which I had discovered would challenge him in reading on a specific topics, find answers to questions and take the time to draw conclusions on his own.  

The World History Detective allow you child to become a Sherlock Holmes while travelling through historical events from the past.    The first book concentrates mostly on Ancient and Medieval Civilizations.

The table of contents is divided into four historic ages:

• Prehistory – dating history, prehistory to Neanderthals, early modern humans, and middle stone age through the new stone age
• Ancient Civilizations – Fertile Crescent and the Sumerians, Babylonian Empire, Hittites and Phoenicians, religious history of the Hebrews, Ancient Hebrews, Assyrians and Chaldeans, Persian Empire, Ancient Egypt, Ancient China, Ancient India, Ancient Greece, Persian Wars, Peloponnesian Wars, Macedonians and Hellenistic Age, Classical Greece, beginning of the Roman Empire, Roman Republic Government and Law, Roman military, Phoenician Wars, Decline of Roman Republic, beginning of the Roman Empire, Daily Life in the Roman Empire, Ancient Roman Art and Literature, Roman Emperors, Christianity, Fall of the Western Roman Empire, and Ancient Celts.
• Medieval Civilizations – Medieval Easter Roman Empire, geography of Europe, Barbarian Europe, spread of Christianity and Roman values into Barbarian Europe, founding of Western Europe, founding of England and Ireland, Medieval Russia, feudalism, age of faith, Medieval art and education, Crusades, conflict between kinds and popes, development of individual freedom, Muslims and Jews in Medieval Europe, fall of Medieval Society, geography of Arabia, beginnings of Islam, spread of Islam, Medieval Islamic science, math, business and literature, Medieval Islamic art and architecture, decline of the Islamic Empire, Seljuk and Ottoman Turks, geography of Asia, China, Medieval Japan, Medieval India, Medieval Korea, Medieval Southeast Asia, geography of Africa, Medieval West African Empires and economics, and Medieval East Africa and Zimbabwe.
• Early American Civilizations – First Americans, geography and Great Civilizations of Mesoamerica and South America, Mayas, Aztecs, Incas, Norteast Tribes, Southeast and Plain Tribes, Great Basin and Plateau Tribes, Soutwest and California Tribes, as well as Nortwest Coastal, Subartic, and Artic Tribes.

To give you an idea of how the lessons are presented, check the images below.

I am impressed with the quality found in the exercises.  There is usually a page and a half of reading to do (sometimes accompanied by maps) and the student has some multiple choice questions to answer as well as some written questions where he/she has to expand on the thinking use to formulate the answer.    These exercises are perfect to discover more about civilizations from the past as well as deepen a better understanding of history.   I am suspecting that more books will be part of this series.   I hope that a World History Detective based on Canadian History would be put together eventually.   I would be great to have something on Canadian History that would stimulate the critical thinking of the student. I am very pleased with World History Detective Book One as we cover the Medieval Civilizations as part of our history lessons.  

If you purchase the World History Detective Book One, you will also get free bonus review lessons which are downloadable from the Critical Thinking website.   Also, the answers are provided in the book.  You also have the authorization to reproduce the pages for your family use. 

The World History Detective Book One is available for purchase directly from Critical Thinking for the price of 34.99$ US.   in 2015, a software edition will also be available.  It is also available on amazon.ca and amazon.com.

  

Disclaimer: Thanks to The Critical Thinking Co. for sending me the above mentioned product for review purposes. I was not monetarily compensated for this review. Please note that the review was not influenced by the Sponsor in any way. All opinions expressed here are only my own.

Inference Jones Beginning

Inference Jones Beginning
From The Critical Thinking Co.

About the product

Inference Jones provides short, fun, and easy-to-use activities that improve critical reading and higher order thinking by developing the student’s ability to draw inferences from written text. Research shows inferential reasoning is a prerequisite component to superior reading comprehension. The National Foundation for Educational Research concluded that "the ability to draw inferences predetermines reading skills: that is, poor inferential reasoning causes poor comprehension and not vice versa."

We all make inferences in our daily lives (e.g. we naturally think a child is happy because we see them laughing). But how does this ability apply to written communication? When we read a written passage, we’re actually reading a representation of the author’s thoughts and ideas, because the written word does not convey a meaning in and of itself. Readers must construct the meaning through interpretation.

The reader’s interpretation is the result of inferential analysis which includes drawing from personal knowledge and experiences, social values, and cultural conventions. The interpretation connects a meaning to the words, providing the reader with an understanding of the character’s actions, circumstances, or events in the story.

Inference Jones: Beginning has a readability level appropriate for grades 3-4 but can also be used as a remedial resource for older students (grades 5-12+).

Our Thoughts

This interesting workbook will help you student to improve the critical reading and comprehension of small texts that he/she will have to read as well as questions to answer.

When my son, who is in grade 5, saw that the book was intended for grades 3 and 4 he wasn’t extremely motivated in doing the exercises.  He thought it would be too easy for him to do.   But to be honest, after seeing the small errors he has made in the exercises I asked him to do, I think it would be a great thing for him to go through the entire book so that he can develop a better critical reading and have a better facility to answer the questions asked.   Generally speaking he did pretty good but he assumed that some of the information in the texts he read were evident when answering the questions.   

Inference Jones Beginning contains nineteen exercises for the student to read and answer based on their comprehension of the text.   It also explains how each exercises should be done by including a sample activity at the beginning of the book.  Also, you will find the answer key at the end of it.  Each activity would take about 10 to 20 minutes depending on the skills of your student. This product is definitively a fun tool to help your student to learn to think careful before answering questions about a text he/she has read.    With practice, I suspect that my son will get better in taking the time to not interpret what he has read when answering the questions.   Some questions are tricky I must admit but when the text doesn’t give you details on something you have to be careful about how you answer.

What I really like from the products at The Critical Thinking Co is that I can reproduce the pages so I can have my kids work on it when they reach the age for it.    The Inference Jones is another wonderful reproducible product.   With four kids in our house, we definitively prefer the reproducible products.

The regular price is 11.99$.   However, it is currently on sale for 10.79$ on The Critical Thinking Co website.

An Inference Jones product for grade 5 and 6 will be available in June 2012 as well.

Disclaimer: Thanks to The Critical Thinking Co. for sending me the above mentioned product for review purposes. I was not monetarily compensated for this review. Please note that the review was not influenced by the Sponsor in any way. All opinions expressed here are only my own.

Editor in Chief Beginning 1

Editor in Chief Beginning 1
From The Critical Thinking Co.

About the product

Editor in Chief® Beginning 1 improves students’ grammar, punctuation, spelling, capitalization, and attention to detail using a standards-based thinking approach rather than drill and practice. This effective method teaches students to carefully analyze and edit stories. This book includes 16 lessons in grammar and mechanics. Students identify and circle errors in each story and write their correction. The grammatical and mechanical errors in the paragraphs are based on general instructional guidelines for specific grade levels; the content level, however, is ungraded, allowing usage of these materials at many instructional levels. Writing styles and content are varied to sustain interest and to broaden the students’ exposure to different writing formats, such as letters, stories, and dialogue. The illustrations integrated into the context of the activities further spark student interest. The skills developed can be applied to the students’ own writing. Detailed answers are also included.

Our Thoughts

A few years ago, a friend of mine purchased an Editor in Chief for her kids while attending a homeschool conference.   I thought it was a marvelous idea of making the kids look for errors in a text but never got around to purchasing one for my own kids.   So imagine my delight when I received the brand new Editor in Chief Beginning 1 which are geared for students in grades 2 and 3. 

Editor in Chief® Beginning 1 includes lessons and practice with the following concepts:

• Capitalization
• Punctuation
• An and A
• Verb Tenses
• Contractions
• Nouns and Pronouns
• Singular and Plural
• Am, Is, Are
• Me and I
• Subject/Verb Agreement
• Was and Were
• Run-On Sentences
• Sentence Fragments
• Good and Well
• Comparisons
• Homophones

This little gem is perfect to apply grammar lessons learned.   Each lesson starts with a page that will teach your child on the tricks of the English grammar.   For example, in the Capitalization lesson you will learn when a capital letter is necessary.    My 2nd son is currently in grade 2 and we are going through another book to learn basic English grammar.   So when I received the Editor in Chief book, I decided to test his comprehension by writing the text of an exercise on the white board we have in the dining room.    I then asked Dominic to take a different pen and make necessary corrections.    He was able to identify the errors while reading the text.   

Immediately, my 5th grade student asked if he could do one.    However, this book is geared for grades 2 and 3 students.   So I decided to take a text that is at the end of the book to see how my oldest son would do.     The text at the end of the book are a bit more complicated as the child has to find various errors not just the ones based on the lessons.   In a nutshell, as the child advance progressively in the book, he will also get more challenges in the corrections to make.   So I wrote one of the review texts for Alexandre and like his brother he proceeded to identify the errors in it.   

I think the fact that they have to search for the errors help quite a bit to revise the rules and apply it in the sentences that they read.    Both kids did well and since then every day they ask me to do another one.    I am still at the beginning of the book for Dominic while Alexandre works on the ones at the end of the book.    Today, I even made an extra error in Alexandre’s text without realizing it.   He found it no problem.   Smart kid!

My kids are totally hooked on this product and my oldest would love to have one for his level.    I would totally recommend this product to any homeschoolers as well as parents for supplementing lessons from school.   It is well done and creative at the same time.   The kids will love to become the Sherlock Holmes of grammar errors!

The Editor in Chief books are fabulous to challenge your kids to find grammar disasters and punctuation faux pas.   Different levels are available;

• Grades 2-3 => Beginning 1
• Grades 3-4 => Beginning 2  (also available as a software)
• Grades 4-5 => A1 (also available as a software)
• Grades 4-5 => A2 (also available as a software)
• Grades 6-8 => B1 (also available as a software)
• Grades 6-8 => B2 (also available as a software)
• Grades 9-12+ => C1 (also available as a software)
• Grades 9-12+ => C2 (also available as a software)

Editor in Chief Beginning 1 for grades 2-3 is available for purchase on the website of The Critical Thinking Co., Christianbook.com or  at Rainbow Resource.

Disclaimer: Thanks to The Critical Thinking Co. for sending me the above mentioned product for review purposes. I was not monetarily compensated for this review. Please note that the review was not influenced by the Sponsor in any way. All opinions expressed here are only my own.

Balance Math & More–Level 1

Balance Math & More – Level 1
Published at The Critical Thinking Co.

About the product

Try one of these intriguing puzzles - and then try to stop!

The Balance Math™ & More! activities sharpen your child's critical thinking skills, computational skills, and develop algebraic reasoning. The first book in the series (Level 1) focuses on addition and subtraction of whole numbers. The spiraling difficulty level is designed to scaffold a child's conceptual understanding of the targeted operations from beginning to advanced. Try one of these intriguing puzzles—and then try to stop!

License: Reproducible

My Thoughts

With the use of balances, inside-out math and Tic Tac Math, the kids will discover that mathematics is more than just adding, subtracting, multiplying and dividing.   Geared for students in grades 2 to 5 this fun little book will challenge them to take their investigator hat out and use mathematical reasoning, critical thinking as well as computational skills to solve the problems presented in the pages.

Personally, I think I have discovered some jewels in this Balance Math & More series.    I find it important that my kids use logic and reasoning to solve problems and these gems are a must for any homeschoolers.   I was impressed when I received the book and even my husband thought it was a neat product.   He also thought that reasoning is a skill that the kids must learn.

What we particularly appreciate from The Critical Thinking Co. is that is seems that their products are reproducible which means a lot for us as we have four kids.    Each of them will go through the book when they reach the ages to use it.    So if you can imagine how much it helps for us imagine how it can be beneficial for families of numerous kids like 8 and up.   I know such families and I am certain that they love to know about reproducible products!

Interested in discovering more about Balance Math & More?  You can see sample pages here. 

What is also great is that more books of Balance Math & More are available.  Level 2 is geared for grades 4 to 12 and Level 3 is for students in grades 6 to 12.

Each Balance Math & More are available for the price of 9.99$ at The Critical Thinking Co.   Don’t forget that they are reproducible which means you can use them with multiple children!

Disclaimer: Thanks to Critical Thinking Co. for sending me the featured product for review purpose. I was not monetarily compensated for this review. Please note that the review was not influenced by the Sponsor in any way.  All opinions expressed here are only my own.