Thinking Maps

I was visiting a school website that has a great resource for curriculum maps, for all grade levels and subjects.  We decided at our 3rd grade level meeting that it was a good place to start.  The school website is Higley Unified School District.  Now we would love to see their assessments and resources but they have those available only to username and password "knowers".  However, they did have a link to a web page about Thinking Maps.  This was what I saw when I went to their site:

Thinking Maps are eight specific visual patterns

Visualizing our thinking allows us to have a concrete image of our abstract thoughts. Visual representations enhance the brain's natural ability to detect and construct meaningful patterns. Thinking Maps reduce anxiety by providing familiar visual patterns for thinking and working with complex ideas and situations.

Research: "Although thinking is innate and spontaneous, skillful thinking must be cultivated." -Art Costa, The Thought-Filled Curriculum

It is definitely worth looking into.... I loved their visuals and how they explained the data. Thinking Maps