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Until the Otis-Lennon School Ability Test® was adopted by the New York School District I hadn’t often been asked for recommendations for children this young.  If your child has a 2006 birthday and is being tested for kindergarten placement they will be taking the OLSAT® Level A in a small group.  It is a multiple-choice test.  The children indicate their answers by shading a bubble underneath the picture they choose on the question paper (they don't fill in the scantron form).  There is no reading.  The test proctor reads the instructions, questions and answers once only.  Listening is very important.
 
Making recommendations for Pre K children isn't clear cut.  Your Pre K child may have had no formal learning exposure or be a four year old in a formal Pre K program studying a K curriculum or somewhere in between.  While your child will take the same test as all the other children born in 2006 their performance will be compared with that of children in a three month band.  A child born in December 2006 will have the opportunity to answer questions of the same difficulty as those presented to a child born in January 2006 but won't have to get as many right to get the percentile ranking required to be identified as gifted.  To restate while every child born in 2006 takes the same test and has the potential to benefit from the most difficult of the titles I recommend here your young child may find them too hard.  Start at your child's level and don't push them past the point where it's fun and they're learning.  Scroll down to see all my recommendations.  Click on "more info" at the end of each brief product description and viw the sample activities.  If they look really easy get the next level in the series.  If they look difficult considering starting with a simpler level. 
 
For the OLSAT® test you want to expose your children to verbal, aural, arithmetic, pictorial and figural reasoning activities.  The Building Thinking Skills series is a great place to start for verbal and figural reasoning.  Add to that Can You Find Me? for pictorial and aural reasoning and Mathematical Reasoning for arithmetic reasoning and you've well placed.  The LUK Learning System adds another dimension introducing independent learning and concentration building activities.
 
If you have some time the K-1 book bundle offers a selection of the titles recommended and others utilizing the skills in different contexts (only titles published by The Critical Thinking Company are included in this bundle).  Most bright 4 year olds will be ready for much of the material in the  in the Gr K-1  Book Bundle.  If you've got some time this is a good choice.
Building Thinking Skills Primary was designed for the typical child in Gr K-1.  If you've got a gifted 4 year old this is a good place to start.  Ignore the writing activies in Building Thinking Skills Primary.  Your child can just tell you the answers.  The book is designed to be used with manipulative blocks which are sold separately.  Without blocks you won't be able to do about 1/4 of the exercises.  You could trace the attribute block shapes out of cardboard instead of purchasing the plastic blocks I sell.  You could do the same for the interlocking cubes but I strongly recommend that you purchase these.  The interlocking cubes easily lead themselves to extension activities in developing more complex sequences (in addition to color each block has a geometric shape cut out which can add another dimension to sequencing) and understanding orientation and constancy of area and volume.   Young children learn through play so even though actual blocks won't be used in testing playing with them is an important way for many children to learn some of the skills needed.
 
Your gifted child may even be ready for Level 1 of Building Thinking Skills (for the typical child in Gr 2-3).  As with the Primary level don't expect written answers at this stage.  Scribe for them, allow them to just tell you the answer or choose the software.  Finally if your child needs more practice with non-verbal reasoning Hands on Thinking Skills contains additional activities in this area.
 
Can You Find Me? is a great choice to use for listening and reasoning.  For testing it will be important that your child stays focused and listens to the instructions, questions and answer options.  You have a choice of levels.  If in doubt I recommend beginning with Can You Find Me? Pre K.  This is one series where it doesn't hurt to begin easy.  Having the patience to listen carefully to what appear to be easy questions and thereby avoid making a silly mistake is an important skill for young children to develop before testing.
 
If you want just one book I can't offer anything that covers the entire skill set tested for in the OLSAT® but recommend that you choose between Building Thinking Skills Primary and Can You Find Me? K-1  The best one for you will depend on your child and what they do and don't know already.
 
While there is no math per se in the OLSAT® questions on arithmetic reasoning are included at this level.  As an illustration a question might ask the child to identify the picture of flower with two more flowers than the first picture.  The Mathematical Reasoning series has more math that you'll need but it develops this type of reasoning skill.  Your gifted child is probably ready for Level A in this series.  Again I recommend looking at the sample pages and trying the activites with your child.  If they look too difficult then start with Mathematical Reasoning Beginning.
 
Math Analogies is another good choice for both arithmetic reasoning and verbal and figural reasoning.  It uses pictures and numbers to present analogies and the user has to complete analogy pairs.
The final title in the list of recommendations below is the Spectrum Test Prep book for Gr 1-2.  This series was designed to prepare children for conventional standardized tests of reading and math.   Despite the difference in focus from the OLSAT® there are a number of questions in this book that are similar in content and format to those on the OLSAT®.  In addition practice listening and shading bubbles is very important for some children.  There will be problems in this book that will be difficult even for a bright Pre K child but I'm not aware of anything like this designed for younger children.  Remember as you use this book that your child will not see any words when they take the test.  If your 4 year old is reading it will be important for you to cover the words and only let them see the pictures as they listen to your instructions so that they can practice focused listening.
 
If you are in New York your child will be taking the Bracken School Readiness Assessment (BSRA) in addition to the OLSAT®.  Mathematical Reasoning  and Can You Find Me?  are great choices for this.  If you read more about the BSRA you'll see that our recommendations there are very similar to those for the OLSAT®.  The range of products sold here was chosen because of their ability to build thinking skills.  The fundamental concepts that the BSRA tests for are integrated into the thinking skills activities included in the various products.
 
OLSAT® and Otis-Lennon School Ability Test® are registered trademarks of NCS Pearson (previously Harcourt Assessment Services).  The recommendations made here are those of Think Tonight and are not endorsed by NCS Pearson.
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Teach Your Kids to Think Teach Your Kids to Think

For parents of children of all ages
Pages: 108
Author: Maria Fisk

Suggestions and tools to help parents teach their children how to think wisely and well during the time they already spend together.

Our Price: $14.95
Can You Find Me  PreK Can You Find Me PreK

Grade(s): PreK
Pages: 101

Can You Find Me? develops skills in reading readiness, science, math, and social studies using five basic thinking skills: similarities and differences, sequences, classifications, analogies, and logic. Each riddle requires identification of two or more clues to deduce the answer. Activities may be enhanced by teaching additional information about the animals, objects, shapes, letters, and numbers used in the riddles.

Our Price: $16.99
Thinking Skills for Tests Thinking Skills for Tests Set

Grade(s): Pre K-2
Pages: 120 (two books with 60 pages each)

Nine core thinking skills form the base of verbal and non-verbal reasoning and logic and are commonly tested in primary level testing for school and gifted program placement. This title presents questions in a format similar to that of many commonly used tests. The Workbook presents the questions without words just as a student will see them during a test. The Instructor/Answer book provides a script for presenting the questions and additional information for building on the skills.

Our Price: $22.98
miniLUK Combo Set miniLUK Combo Set with Controller

Age: 5-7 years
Activities: 2352

MiniLUK is a complete intellectual development system to reinforce early childhood developmental skills such as visual perception, memory and concentration, critical thinking, beginning math, fine motor skills, eye-hand coordination, self-esteem, and everyday knowledge. We will beat any competitor price on this item by 5%.

List Price: $119.00
Our Price: $114.99
You save $4.01!
Grade K-1 Book Bundle Gr K-1 Book Bundle (Critical Thinking Company)

The Critical Thinking Company publishes award winning products to help students of all abilities improve their critical thinking abilities and achieve higher test scores. This collection contains their most popular Kindergarten - Grade 1 titles and is offered at a 10% discount.

Publisher Price $235.90
Our Price: $212.31
You save $23.59!
Building Thinking Skills Primary Building Thinking Skills Primary

Grade(s): K-1
Activities: 435
Pages: 272

Building Thinking Skills®
provides highly effective verbal and nonverbal reasoning activities to improve children's vocabulary, reading, writing, math, logic, and figural-spatial skills, as well as their visual and auditory processing. This exceptional series provides a solid foundation for academic excellence and success on any assessment test.

Requires manipulative blocks sold separately. Purchase of the accompanying Instruction and Answer Guide highly recommended.

Our Price: $26.99
Interlocking Math Cubes Interlocking Cubes

Set of 100 two-centimeter high-quality plastic cubes in 10 bright colors as used with the activities in Building Thinking Skills Beginning, Building Thinking Skills Primary, and Hands on Thinking Skills
Ships priority mail for the price of ground - see shipping policy.

Our Price: $12.49
Attribute Blocks - hard Attribute Blocks - hard

Sixty-piece set of hard plastic attribute blocks includes five shapes, two sizes, two thicknesses and three colors. Set comes in a convenient storage tray with shape sorter that can be used for tracing.
Ships priority mail for the price of ground - see shipping policy.

Our Price: $21.49
Building Thinking Skills® Primary Teacher's Manual Building Thinking Skills Primary Teacher's Manual pdf file

Grade(s): K-1
Parent/Teacher Support

Instructor/Solution Guide to accompany Building Thinking Skills Primary. Includes objectives, answers, and focus questions that reinforce analytical skills as students think through concepts. This is a pdf file.

Our Price: $24.99
Building Thinking Skills Primary Building Thinking Skills Primary Complete Set

Grade(s): K-1
Pages: 272

Building Thinking Skills® provides highly effective verbal and nonverbal reasoning activities to improve children's vocabulary, reading, writing, math, logic, and figural-spatial skills, as well as their visual and auditory processing. This exceptional series provides a solid foundation for academic excellence and success on any assessment test.

This set contains the student workbook, Teacher's Manual pdf file on cd and two types of manipulative blocks used to complete workbook problems.

List Price: $90.96
Our Price: $81.86
You save $9.10!
Can You Find Me K-1 Can You Find Me K-1

Grade(s): K-1
Activities: 80
Pages: 101

Can You Find Me? develops skills in reading readiness, science, math, and social studies using five basic thinking skills: similarities and differences, sequences, classifications, analogies, and logic. Each riddle requires identification of two or more clues to deduce the answer. Activities may be enhanced by teaching additional information about the animals, objects, shapes, letters, and numbers used in the riddles.

Our Price: $16.99
Mathematical Reasoning, Level A Mathematical Reasoning Level A

Grade(s): K
Pages: 256

Age appropriate problem solving and computation build the math reasoning skills necessary for success in higher level math and math assessments. Complete math curriculum for the typical Kindergarten child. Bright children can use this title at a younger age.

Our Price: $37.99
Math Analogies Beginning Math Analogies Beginning

Grade(s): K-1
Activities: 48
Pages: 42

Understanding analogies and the ability to reason analogically are important problem-solving skills. There are few resources to assist children in the explict use of analogous reasoning with quantitative and spatial information. This series fills that void.

Our Price: $11.99
Thinking Skills & Key Concepts Thinking Skills & Core Concepts (Kindergarten)

Grade(s): K
Pages: 272

This book uses powerful lessons to develop thinking skills important to academic success while teaching the key kindergarten common core concepts. Enhance cognitive development through discussion and observation. Students develop analytical skills as well as deductive and inferential reasoning skills as they work through the exercises.

Our Price: $21.99
Thinking Skills & Key Concepts Thinking Skills & Core Concepts: Teacher's Manual (Kindergarten)

Grade(s): K
Pages: 173

Teacher's Manual to accompany student book. Does not contain questions. The student book can be used with a free, downloadable, answer PDF (included with purchase of the student book) or with this detailed teacher’s manual which can be purchased separately.

Our Price: $22.99
Thinking Skills & Key Concepts Thinking Skills & Key Concepts (Kindergarten)

Grade(s): K
Pages: 272

This book uses powerful lessons to develop thinking skills important to academic success while teaching the key kindergarten common core concepts. Enhance cognitive development through discussion and observation. Students develop analytical skills as well as deductive and inferential reasoning skills as they work through the exercises.

Our Price: $21.99
Thinking Skills & Key Concepts Thinking Skills & Key Concepts: Teacher's Manual (Kindergarten)

Grade(s): K
Pages: 173

Teacher's Manual to accompany student book. Does not contain questions. The student book can be used with a free, downloadable, answer PDF (included with purchase of the student book) or with this detailed teacher’s manual which can be purchased separately.

Our Price: $22.99
Spectrum Test Prep Grade 1 Spectrum Test Prep Grade 1

Boosts confidence and helps learners improve test scores by offering children the preparation they need for standardized tests.

Our Price: $9.99
Thinking Skills & Key Concepts Thinking Skills & Key Concepts (First Grade)

Grade: 1
Pages: 272

This book uses powerful lessons to develop thinking skills important to academic success while teaching the key kindergarten common core concepts. Enhance cognitive development through discussion and observation. Students develop analytical skills as well as deductive and inferential reasoning skills as they work through the exercises.

Our Price: $21.99
Thinking Skills & Key Concepts Thinking Skills & Key Concepts: Teacher's Manual (First Grade)

Grade: 1
Pages: 209
Format: paperback, reproducible

Parent/Teacher Resource Manual to accompany student book. Does not contain questions. The Parent/Teacher resource contains teaching notes. It is highly recommended for new parents learn how to work with their child to develop higher order thinking skills.

Our Price: $22.99
   
 
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