Young mathematicians practice their reasoning as well as adding and subtracting skills with this worksheet that includes five simple word problems about birthdays. Learners are give pictures of birthday cakes and based on the number of...

Shapes are so fun! Little ones explore, identify, and create shapes using tangrams or pattern blocks. The activity is intended to stimulate critical thinking while engaging learners through play and shape identification. Each child will...

Turn your 6th graders into detectives while growing their love of reading. Using critical thinking skills, they will be able to describe the five basic elements of detective fiction, read detective novels, make predictions, use the...

What is and what will be the role of newspapers in the future? Keeping this essential question in mind, class members use print, electronic, and/or web editions of newspapers, to investigate topics that include financial...

Students read books by the author Keiko Kasza and complete critical thinking skills, and connections to different subjects. In this language lesson plan, students connect the books to language arts, social studies, science, math, health,...

How can you tell if a number of items is reasonable? Combine math and language arts with a fun lesson based on Jeff Shepard's The Right Number of Elephants. After reading the book, kids discuss amounts of other items and create...

Pupils explore critical thinking strategies. In this critical thinking lesson, students evaluate multiple choice answers. Pupils note similarities between incorrect answers and discover how to compare and contrast incorrect and correct...

Critical thinking is an important aspect of mathematics — it's time to put your brain to work! Use this assessment to challenge pupils and test their skills. Concepts assessed include function notation, factoring, completing the square,...

Newspapers aren't only for reading—they're for learning skills, too! A journalism unit provides three lessons each for primary, intermediate, and secondary grades. Lessons include objectives, materials, vocabulary, and procedure, and...

Traditions, like the times, are a-changin'. Middle schoolers conduct a close reading of Richard Blanco's poem "América" and consider how Blanco's family approached his suggestions for adopting a new approach to their Thanksgiving meal.

The class examines the new tax cut plan proposed by President Bush. They practice calculating income tax rates and interpreting the data. Then they research topics that are of interest to them related to taxes.

If you think Dr. Seuss has no place in a math classroom, then take a look at this resource. Based on the classic children's book Green Eggs and Ham, this sequence of activities engages children learning to model real-world contexts...

Sweethearts® candies are a beloved Valentine's Day treat—so much so that eight billion hearts are produced every year around the world! Learners use number sense reasoning and critical thinking to solve nine word problems about the...

Math majors need not only to be able to solve problems, but also apply the skills to real-world situations. On this instructional activity, they solve five problems in which they must convert units of capacity or liquid volume. Give this...

Keep the skills of your young mathematicians up-to-date with this series of newsletter worksheets. Offering a wide array of basic arithmetic, geometry, and problem solving exercises, this resource is a great way to develop the...

Imagine 28 instructional strategies, appropriate for all subject areas and all grade levels. Directed Reading-Thinking Activities (DRTA), Question-Answer Relationship (QAR) activities, KWL charts, comparison matrixes, classification...

In this online interactive categorization worksheet, students examine 12 groups of 4 words each. Students identify a title for each set of words.

Students practice their problem solving skills. In this addition and subtraction lesson, students solve story problems regarding the delivery of consumer goods.

Test your pupils' reasoning skills with several activities and a quick mystery to solve. Learners watch and analyze a few video clips that demonstrate reasoning in action, practice deduction with an interactive and collaborative...

Unlike mathematics, statistics comes with a context. The author reminds teachers that data analysis involves using the context to make sense of the numbers. The article stresses good communication skills by highlighting the scoring...

In this thinking skills activity, students draw a line connecting each blue figure without touching any other color. Students connect 4 figures.

Students participate in a series of challenging math lessons designed to engage their critical thinking skills. In these real-world problem solving lessons, student solve symmetry and repeated pattern problems, make lists/tables to...

Students solve fraction mysteries.  In this fractions lesson, students read Math Maven's Mysteries and use problem-solving and critical thinking skills to solve the mysteries. 

Students play math detectives and solve a series of story problems or word problems in order to finish an adventure. The activity connects math and reading while reinforcing critical thinking and problem-solving skills