Since we use thinking skills to make decisions each and every day, teaching kids to use critical thinking skills is a priceless part of their education.
While reviewing Evan-Moor’s Daily Higher-Order Thinking, I was delighted to find many opportunities for kids to practice thinking skills in a variety of ways. The book features several thinking strategies and skills as they apply to topics kids enjoy.
In this review, I will share: The features of Daily Higher-Order Thinking
- The layout and ease of use
- BONUS: Money-saving tip
Daily Higher-Order Thinking is organized into 30 weekly units.
- The weekly units have a short activity for each day of the week that can be completed in 15–20 minutes each day.
- Activities are based on critical thinking skills including analyzing, composing, critiquing, designing, evaluating options, modeling, organizing, predicting, and problem-solving.
Layout of Daily Higher-Order Thinking
There are 30 weekly units in Daily Higher-Order Thinking that increase in difficulty as your child works through the book. Each day’s task is a full-page activity that should be completed in 15–20 minutes. These are not your typical workbook activities. Each page invites your child to use critical thinking skills to solve puzzles, problems, and other fun activities.
Both the weekly unit and day of the week are clearly labeled, which helps your child quickly find the assignment for each day.
The critical thinking skill used on each page is stated at the top of each page. We made sure to read the skill and definition aloud before beginning each day’s activity. This helps your child understand which critical thinking skill will help him or her solve each day’s task.
How to Use Daily Higher-Order Thinking in Your Homeschooling
Evan-Moor books are easy for both kids and adults to follow, and Daily Higher-Order Thinking is a great example of that.
With a clearly marked label for the daily task within each weekly unit, kids instantly know which pages they need to complete each day.
When reviewing Daily Higher-Order Thinking, we tried using it in various ways. Some weeks, we did one page a day for 5 days. Other weeks, we completed 1–2 pages a day. Finally, we tried doing all 5 pages in the weekly unit on the same day.
Each approach worked well for us. Having the flexibility to use Daily Higher-Order Thinking in different ways was a great option. As life happens, Daily Higher-Order Thinking could be adjusted as we needed.
Money-Saving Tip
If you are using Daily Higher-Order Thinking in your homeschooling, I recommend buying just the printed teacher’s edition since it has the answer key at the back of the book. The teacher’s edition also includes full-page student pages that can be used as a workbook for kids.
The reason I recommend the kids working with the answer key is simple. Since these activities invite your child to think differently, the answer key can be part of the learning process. The kids and I could quickly check their answers to make sure they were on the right track if needed.
It was also convenient to have the answer key at the back of the book so the kids could check their own work. If they happened to get the wrong answer, they used the answer key to find the correct answer. This gave them a direction to redo their work. We would discuss what they did incorrectly and how to fix it.
We found that using the answer key as part of the learning process actually helped my kids keep learning if they were struggling. It actually helped them to use even more critical thinking skills to evaluate their own work!
Download a free sample of Daily Higher-Order Thinking here!
Conclusion
After reviewing Daily Higher-Order Thinking, I was reminded how important it is that kids are guided in using critical thinking skills. Often these skills are not taught directly, yet they are a vital life skill. I highly recommend using Daily Higher-Order Thinking with your kids.
Did you know that Daily Higher-Order Thinking is part of the popular Evan-Moor Daily Practice series? You can check out the other 9 subjects here.
Amy Michaels is a certified teacher with 11 years of elementary classroom experience who is actively homeschooling her own children. Her mission is share the best teaching methods and resources with all homeschoolers. Amy supports parents through her podcasts, webinars, and online training for homeschoolers on her website www.thrivehomeschooling.com.