Building Thinking Skills Level 1 (Grades 2nd-3rd)

• Iowa Tests of Basic Skills® (ITBS®)
• Michigan Educational Assessment Program (MEAP)
• Texas Assessment of Knowledge and Skills (TAKS™)
• California Achievement Tests (CAT/6)
• Florida Comprehensive Assessment Test (FCAT)
• Kansas State Assessments
• Ohio Proficiency Test
• North Carolina Competency Test in Reading
• Arizona Instrument to Measure Standards (AIMS)
• Massachusetts Comprehensive Assessment System (MCAS)
• Virginia Standards of Learning (SOL)

• Stanford Achievement Test™ (SAT/9; SAT/10)
• Stanford-Binet Intelligence Scale Fourth Edition
• Otis-Lennon School Ability Test (OLSAT-8)
• Secondary School Admissions Test (SSAT)
• GED Tests
• TerraNova (CTBS-5) and Terra Nova, The Second Edition
• Woodcock-Johnson® Tests (WJ/III® and WJ/R®)
• Cognitive Abilities Test (CogAT®)
• Wechsler Intelligence Scales (WISC-III; WISC-IV and WAIS-III)
• Naglieri Nonverbal Ability Test® (NNAT®)
• Peabody Picture Vocabulary Test (PPVT-R)
• and many more!

Other Available Formats

Components Sold Separately

Table of Contents

Chapter One--Describing Shapes

Chapter Two--Figural Similarities and Differences

Chapter Three-Figural Sequences

Chapter Four--Figural Classifications

Chapter Five--Figural Analogies

Chapter Six--Describing Things

Chapter Seven--Verbal Similarities and Differences

Chapter Eight--Verbal Sequences

Chapter Nine--Verbal Classifications

Chapter Ten--Verbal Analogies

Instruction/Answer Guide

Product Reviews & Awards

"Transfer potential is high.…The amount of reinforcement is outstanding." -Reading Teacher

"Prepares students' minds for logic." -Nathaniel, Muscatine, IA

"Students who are still acquiring English face a lack of background knowledge in English and the skills necessary to process the new information. Building Thinking Skills® has helped me meet both these challenges, and I have test scores and happy faces to back this up." -Britta, ESL Department, Tucson, AZ

We decided to do a limited experiment with students in our school to see if Building Thinking Skills would help them perform better on standardized and state tests. Last year I began to work directly with some of our students after school. The improvement was remarkable. Test scores went up even after the first few months we used the program. I'm totally sold on the program and will be ordering it for my school. I'd like to see Building Thinking Skills for every child in every classroom to begin each day. Sincerely, Joel James, Principal - Marshville Elementary School, Marshville, NC

Last year I took the responsibility of using Building Thinking Skills with a number of our students as an experiment. In my 17 years in the district, I haven't seen anything work the way this program did. The improvement was phenomenal, especially for our at-risk populations and second-language students. It pulled them up in one year as I could not have imagined possible. We love it and are ordering it for our primary students and, in time, for the entire school. Sincerely, Gayle Polk, Guidance Counselor - East Elementary School, Monroe, LA

"Looking for a way to help students exercise their mental muscles, organize their thinking, or increase their test scores? Check out Building Thinking Skills®! You'll find the boost you're looking for." -Reviewer, via the Internet

"My son went from 26 % to 85% on the nonverbal section of the CoGAT after using Building Thinking Skills® Book 1. We are definitely doing Book 2 next. His teacher was amazed. It made her think about the teaching of thinking skills to her students before they were tested and labeled. Thanks for all your help in choosing the right things for my son. It is such a relief to know he doesn't have problems, he just needed to be taught the skills. We really think highly of your products and company." -Virginia Kime, Port Townsend, WA

"[A]n easy, inexpensive, and effective tool for teaching critical thinking skills within the lower elementary curriculum....[It adheres] to Piaget's basic theory...that the most powerful learning occurs when students move from the concrete (manipulative) stage to the semi-concrete (paper-and-pencil) stage to the abstract (verbal) stage." -Arithmetic Teacher

"My third-grade daughter's spatial skills were not well developed. She used to go ballistic when she had to mentally form a three-dimensional object from a two-dimensional image. After doing the Building Thinking Skills® Book 1, she says it's a breeze. Her nonverbal scores used to be low. Now they're higher than her verbal, which were already high. Her creativity and problem solving have also blossomed since she started using your materials." -Deborah, Cupertino, CA

"As parents, we agree that the ability to actually reason (rather than merely form opinions) and to discern is the most important intellectual quality. To help master this skill, we used books 1 and 2 from the Building Thinking Skills®....We are all very pleased with them." -Mary & Michael Leppert, Homeschooling Almanac

"I have used Building Thinking Skills® Books 1 and 2 for the past three years. My oldest daughter...scored at 91% and 92% on the National Percentile Rank for 3rd and 4th grade consecutively. Her scores on using information climbed from 78% to 95% between 3rd and 4th grade as well, which I'm sure is from using Book 2." -Wendy, Elko, NV

"As I was working on the activities with my children, I really had only one question: 'Where was Building Thinking Skills® when we were kids?'" -Elizabeth, Springfield, MO

"Don't miss out on these books. Each book has...a wide variety of fun and educational activities than can significantly improve a child's ability to think about problems rather than just mechanically apply a few memorized techniques. Because they contain such a large number of verbal and figural exercises, these books are a bargain. If you purchase just one supplementary book this year, this is the one to get." -Peggy Zorn, Harvest Home Educators Newsletter

"The ability to think clearly and to reason are equally as important as the ability to read or to write....[W]e have found the Building Thinking Skills® books to be the best of the various critical thinking products available." -Ellen, Crossville, TN

"If you're a parent who doesn't have this book, you need to get it. My daughters love to do Building Thinking Skills®, even my daughter who doesn't like to think. She took the Stanford Achievement Test recently and made a nearly perfect score on the thinking section, which was a great improvement." -Elizabeth, Montgomery, AL

"Because of my children's success, I am frequently asked to recommend teaching material. The one series I recommend is the Building Thinking Skills®. My children have had great success expanding their critical thinking abilities because of them. I have spent a lot of time reviewing teaching material, and I can honestly say that you offer a superior product." -Wendy, Lancaster, CA

"My daughter started with your Building Thinking Skills<®/i> and some of your other products when she was in the eighth grade. Now she's a college senior in honors classes and I'm so glad I got her started with you as early as I did. She's maintained her scholarship and her standing in a very competitive program." -Jane, Royal Palm Beach, FL

"I have two children with dyslexia who have both done fine academically, and we owe a good part of that success to the work they've put in throughout the years with Building Thinking Skills®." -Paula Scholtz, Braintree Education Center, TX

"My daughter is very bright and has a neurological learning disability. Her performance IQ may often be considerably below her potential or verbal IQ. Building Thinking Skills'® perfectly sequenced cognitive exercises are exactly what she needs to help build the neural pathways around the 'white-matter damage,' literally bypassing her disabilities so that she can perform up to her actual IQ. The series has helped both of us to take the frustration out of learning." -Dr. Heather Henderson, Eugene, OR

"The [Building Thinking Skills®] verbal and figural skills books have been invaluable.…The lesson plans and activities ordered according to difficulty made it possible for our instructors to link an assessment to a prescribed curriculum tailored for each student. Students don't get bored or discouraged when they are presented work which matches their ability level." -Stacey Hunter Schwartz, Ph.D., Assoc. Dean

"The Building Thinking Skills® series is probably the most basic, comprehensive resource for thinking skills at all levels." -Cathy Duffy, Christian Home Educators' Manual

"The #1 selling thinking skills program in the world and I can see why! These authors have written one of the most effective books for teaching/learning thinking skills." -Merrilee Defoe, Reviewer

"Probably the best purchase I made this year. My kids loved it and got a lot out of it. Helps raise test scores!" -Parent, via the Internet

"I have twins who have always done above-average work but have never tested anywhere near the top. We did an intensive study of Building Thinking Skills® in the weeks before they tested. To my surprise, their scores were in the 98th and 99th percentile across the board. I failed to give them practice the next time around and their scores went down. Now they're back at the top again and I know that Building Thinking Skills was what helped them." -Sharon, Forestville, MD

"My 14 year old daughter has extreme learning challenges. A year and a half ago she took an I.Q. test. The results came back that she was "uneducable." I didn't accept that evaluation. I've now taken her through the Building Thinking Skills and Mathematical Reasoning books all the way up through Level 2. In the last year her I.Q. went up 32 points, and now she's working at a low sixth grade level. Of all the products I've used with her over the years, I saw the most progress using your Critical Thinking materials." -Maxine, Winkler, Manitoba

"We did a limited experiment to see if Building Thinking Skills® would help students perform better on standardized and state tests. The improvement was remarkable. Test scores went up even after the first few months. I'm totally sold on the program." -Joel, Principal, Marshville, NC

"This series challenges students to solve a variety of fun and educational activities that can significantly improve their ability to think about problems rather than just mechanically apply a few memorized techniques." -Peggy Zorn, Reviewer

"Looking for a way to help students exercise their mental muscles, organize their thinking, or increase their test scores? Check out Building Thinking Skills®! You'll find the boost you're looking for!" -Diane Wheeler, Reviewer

"I love this book!! Sylvan Leaning Center uses it. That should be enough of a testimony right there." -Parent, via the Internet

"Prepares students minds for logic." -Nathaniel, Muscatine, IA

"Building Thinking Skills® has improved our son's test-taking skills and made him a more logical thinker, which helps him learn more effectively in all subject areas. These are wonderfully effective books and I highly recommend them." -Epinions.com