item1
TLMLAExample
TLMLAIntroHeader

What Is Think Links™ Math / Language Arts?

Think Links™ Math / Language Arts is a sequence of activities for elementary school students in groups of any size for simultaneously reviewing basic math facts and beginning reading, grades 1-4. Children read questions, however silly and nonsensical, that contain number facts that lead to responses that lead to more questions and so on. Characteristic of what they read are predictable language patterns to increase interest and enhance retention. The vocabulary employed is on a grade-by-grade basis from the Dolch Basic Vocabulary List and standard grade 1-4 word lists.

Math and reading compliment one another. When combined, math turns reading into language play by energizing it with vivid, focused images, and reading puts zip into math by providing it with background and a cast of players. The combination is often funny and entertaining: “old” math and reading from new viewpoints. Used during math time, Think Links™ Math/Language Arts effectively extends the time spent on reading by approximately 15 minutes a day at no cost to math. Used during reading time, it does the same for math at no cost to reading. An extra 15 minutes a day on math or reading for, say, 160 days a year works out to an additional 40 hours of instruction a year on academics without having to work longer days or into the summer!

How Is Think Links™ Used?

A set of Think Links™ consists of 27 cards that are linked together: Card 1 to Card 2, Card 2 to Card 3, Card 3 to Card 4 and so on to Card 27 which is linked back to Card 1, all connected with “I have,” “Who has?” statements as shown below

In using a set of Think Links™, all 27 cards are passed out to any number of students up to 27. A player to start is then picked to read the question at the bottom of any one of his or her cards after which the card is set aside. The other students then check their cards to see who has the response to what was read. The person with the response reads it and the question that follows, and the students again check their cards to see who has the response, and so on. The process continues until all the cards have been read back to the beginning card.

Click for teaching tips for Think Links™.

Next > | Think Links Math / Language Arts | Highlights | Contents | What is? | 28 | 29 | 30 | < Back

Think Links Math / Reading Readiness | Think Links Whole Numbers | Think Links Fradtions Decimals Percent