833 Young Scholars

Young Scholars thinking lessons are going strong as we move through the month of November. Our goal now is for students not only to build on and practice their thinking skills during our Young Scholars lessons but also to find opportunities to grow their skills and see connections to different ways of thinking throughout their day at school and at home. In the November Resources section below, you can find some ideas to help this along!

A focus for this month's Young Scholars lessons is Visual Thinking. Visual Thinking is a unique and useful way our brains understand the world around us. You can find more information below and a chance to try out some Visual Thinking of your own!

In our Young Scholars lessons, Max the Magician helps us learn more about Visual Thinking.

(You can see Max's guide post for Visual Thinking below.)

Max lets us know that Visual Thinking is all about looking for patterns using shapes as clues to help us see things in new ways.

There are almost unlimited examples of patterns around us every day. In fact, the analogies we tried out in last month's newsletter are a great example of finding patterns and using our brains to solve a problem visually.

An obvious way your Young Scholar might use Visual Thinking at school is when they are working with shapes during math class. However, if we think about it differently, letters are also shapes. When we read and write, we need to move these shapes around in our minds and create patterns. When we do this, we are using our brains to think visually!

Patterns are all around us, and our brain loves to find them! Seeing the patterns hidden in a rug or wallpaper, noticing how the front of a house looks like a face, or looking up at the sky to see the shapes clouds make are all easy and fun ways to think visually.

Illusions also make practicing Visual Thinking fun. What patterns do you see in the three drawings below? Try it together and see what your Young Scholar discovers!

Below are some fun and easy resources to help your Young Scholar keep practicing their different thinking skills at home!

Divergent Thinking:

Practicing Divergent Thinking at home can be as simple as giving your Young Scholar their own space to design, imagine, and capture all their great divergent ideas. One way to do this is with a journal. The made-for-kids virtual journal, Me by Tinybop, is a storytelling app where kids can use writing, drawing, speaking, and photos to express themselves.

Click here to read a review of the app.

Of course, a good old fashion notebook, pencil and set of colors can do the same thing. Consider finding a notebook with a fun cover or having your Young Scholar decorate their journal just for them!

Convergent Thinking:

Many educational games are designed to practice Convergent Thinking.

Here are just a few options:

PBSKids website

Sequence Num6ers board game

Smart Games Reading Practice

Visual Thinking:

Coloring books using geometric shapes can be a fun and relaxing way to practice Visual Thinking. This type of coloring is all about finding patterns while also creating beautiful designs. Individual pages can be found and colored online or printed off to color at home. If you want to buy a whole book of patterns to color for your Young Scholar, there are many options available at a wide range of discount and book stores and also online.

Hi All!

My name is Colleen Redmond, and I am thrilled to work as the 833 Young Scholars advocate and lead teacher.

I'm a mom of two teenagers, a wife, small business owner, avid biker (the pedal kind), book enthusiast, and beekeeper. Plus, on top of all of that, I have the happy job of implementing and growing the Young Scholars program here in 833!

I've been lucky enough to teach in South Washington County Schools for the past twenty-five years and have had the incredible opportunity to be a part of the lives of students and families in my classroom.

Now, as we launch Young Scholars, my path in education is taking on a whole new and wonderful life. I am so very excited to work with and support you and your Young Scholar. I can't wait to see where the journey takes us!

Please don't hesitate to reach out with any questions, thoughts, or needs!

Colleen Redmond

651-425-6212

credmond@sowashco.org