O'Neill Public Schools

Dear Parents and Guardians,

This semester I am going to begin teaching a thinking skills class in second grade. I will concentrate on six different types of higher level thinking skills. The six types of thinking skills are as follows:

Convergent Thinking ~ Finding one right answer

Divergent Thinking ~ Generating many different ideas

Analytical Thinking ~ Classifying and organizing information

Creative Thinking ~ Using one’s imagination

Analysis/Synthesis ~ Looking for patterns to find one solution that works

Evaluative ~ Finding the best solution

For each thinking skill, I will do some lessons with the whole class. Although students will benefit from exposure to these higher-level thinking skills, the actual number of students demonstrating mastery may be quite small. Those who do show mastery in a thinking skill will be pulled out for some small group lessons. This will provide further enrichment and opportunities for depth in that area.

I will be in the 2^nd grade classrooms once a week for 45 minutes. I am looking forward to getting to know the children and helping them to develop their thinking skills. If you have any questions, please do not hesitate to contact me at 336-1400 or via e-mail jbauer@esu8.org