Dudley the Detective

In Kindergarten through 2nd grade, the AIG program is designed to explore ability and nurture talent among all students. I push in to every K-2 classroom to provide whole group lessons that encourage critical, creative, and higher order thinking skills. All activities are hands-on and address multiple intelligences. 

The scope and sequence of the K-2 program is grounded in Primary Education Thinking Skills (P.E.T.S.). Primary Education Thinking Skills (PETS) is a systematic enrichment thinking skills program for K-3 students. Its purpose is to help primary aged students develop higher level thinking skills. PETS follows the taxonomy of thinking skills outlined by Benjamin Bloom, presenting lessons in analysis, synthesis, and evaluation. 

Students are introduced to a series of characters; each one serves as a guide, as well as a memory trigger, for the higher level thinking skill they represent. Each character guides students through a story and a series of activities to introduce and reinforce their type of thinking. 

Dudley the Detective is the first of six characters that students will “meet” throughout the year.  Dudley specializes in convergent thinking.  He teaches us to use clues to find one correct answer.  Characteristics of convergent thinking, or “detective work,” as we call it, include the ability to grasp concepts quickly, reason logically, recognize flawed reasoning, see the interrelationship of clues, defer judgment, and intuitively identify answers without intermediate steps.  

During the unit, students will work with Dudley the Detective to evaluate visual and verbal clues and solve various “mystery” situations.   Using hands-on activities and concrete thinking maps, students will tackle cases such as "Tricky Treats,” "The Mystery Animal," and “Max’s Magic Number (or Aces, Jumble, Zilch!).”  Other hands-on activities, which require deductive thinking and logical reasoning, include Logic Links, attribute stacks, “Problem Solvers,” logic line-ups, and more!  

The first set of pictures below show 1st grade working in pairs to solve Jr. Sudoku puzzles.

The second set of photos shows 2nd grade working on a non-verbal puzzle called PETS silhouettes.  It is similar to, but more challenging than, the super fun ThinkFun game Clever Castle.

The final set of photographs show second grade playing Aces, Jumble, Zilch, which is similar to the classic game of Mastermind.  In this game, students use clues to find the correct 3 or 4-digit number.

Be sure to ask your child about the mysteries he or she is solving in class!  Until next time! Thanks for checking in :-)