Thinking Routine: Connect-Extend-Challenge

Currently I am taking two classes to keep my teaching mind fresh. It is difficult to take classes in TZ and the internet is a wonderful thing for professional development opportunities. The two classes are on differentiation and visible thinking. I am talking with my kids open and honestly about my continued learning and they know that I am trying things out on them.

Today I tried a new visible thinking routine called Connect-Extend-Challenge. We watched a time lapse video of a watermelon growing and they had to write sentences fitting each category on three separate stickies. It was a good thinking activity and the students came up with some great thoughts. The extend part was the most challenging for them and I need to reflect on how to rephrase it and make it more clear, but all in all, it was great.

Try it yourself if you like. Watch the following video and then write one sentence for each of the three prompts. See what thinking comes out of it.