Family Letter

Dear First Grade Family, 

We are excited to announce that your first grader has been “enrolled” in YET University and is about to embark on a year-long journey in critical and creative thinking skills.  Primary Education Thinking Skills, or P.E.T.S., is a higher level thinking resource provided by CMS Advanced Studies with a goal of nurturing academic potential to challenge and engage our youngest learners.

As a participant in YET University, your scholar will be introduced to six characters from Crystal Pond Woods.  First up is the convergent thinker Dudley the Detective who loves solving deductive logic puzzles to get to the ONE right answer.  Following Dudley, Isabel the Inventor will be showcasing divergent thinking skills while looking at things in new and different ways, and  brainstorming lots and lots of ideas.  Dudley’s best friend, Sybil the Scientist, will be next.  She’s very analytical and relishes studying the parts of things.  Next, they will be introduced to Isabel’s best friends- Yolanda the Yarnspinner, the creative writer, and Max the Magician, a visual thinker whose goal is to explore different spatial perspectives.  Rounding out the group is the evaluative thinker, Jordan the Judge, who weighs his considerations carefully before determining the best answer when there is a choice to be made.   

During weekly lessons with both the classroom teacher and TD Teacher, your child will: 

• engage in creative and critical thinking

• learn and use advanced language in conversation and writing  

• grapple through problem solving and persevere through challenging tasks

• explore through inquiry and analytical tasks

• consider multiple perspectives

Thank you for your support, and we look forward to a great year of learning!  Feel free to contact us if you have any questions.  

Sincerely,

McAlpine YET University Professors

Amanda Best, 1st grade teacher

Cheyenne Brown, 1st grade teacher

Lisa Debo, 1st grade teacher

Lindsey Klug, 1st grade teacher

Allie Rayson, AIG Teacher