Tasks of Problem Solving: Elementary (TOPS-3:E Companion)

Description

Ages: 6-11Grades: 1-6

Help students with language disorders develop strong thinking skills and the ability to express their ideas clearly. They'll manage better in the classroom too!

The content of these activities are based on research for the Test of Problem Solving 3 Elementary (TOPS 3). The units are arranged in order of complexity. Each unit has instructor's guidelines and uses a metacognitive approach. Individual lessons guide students through a logical progression of learning. Students learn to problem-solve and use the vocabulary and language to support it. A glossary of metacognitive terms is included.

The units are:

• General InformationIdentify the salient information in a statement to answer questions.
• Identifying ProblemsObserve surroundings and identify/express what is or is not a problem.
• Determining CausesThink through situations and figure out how or why something happened.
• SequencingOrganize objects and ideas quickly and logically.
• Negative QuestionsStudents notice and consider the negative marker in questions.
• PredictingMake a logical guess about what will happen next in predictable and diverse situations.
• Making InferencesStudents think about what they know from past experiences and personal knowledge to form an inference.
• Problem SolvingStudents work their way through logical steps to solving problems. Specific skills include sequencing the problem, determining the cause of the problem, brainstorming solutions, choosing the best solution, and evaluation the outcome.
• Justifying OpinionsExpress opinions and explain or justify them to others.
• Generalizing SkillsAnswer a variety of thinking questions about photographs.

190 pages 8.5 x 11, softcover 2005