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SoWashCo Young Scholars

Nurturing Potential, Sustaining Support

SoWashCoYoung ScholarsNurturing Potential, Sustaining Support
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April 2022

Happy April!


This month's newsletter is the fourth in our series exploring simple ways to help your Young Scholar grow and stretch their brains by learning more about the types of thinking used in Young Scholar lessons.


We will once again be looking at characteristics as well as questions and resources to help guide and encourage your Young Scholar to use their brain in new ways.


So, whether you are familiar with these different thinking styles or just getting started, the activities and resources below include quick and easy at-home ideas to help your Young Scholar grow their thinking and build on their strengths.


Our April focus will be Evaluative Thinking.

This Month in Young Scholars

  • Building Your Young Scholar's Evaluative Thinking Skills

  • Books for Building Evaluative Thinking


  • You're Invited! Young Scholar Family Night Coming Soon!!


  • Summer Camp Opportunities to Explore

Building your Young Scholar's Evaluative Thinking Skills

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What is Evaluative Thinking?

Evaluative thinking involves making choices and offering solutions, decisions, or opinions that can be supported based on factual, measurable, or observable considerations. Evaluative thinkers recognize more than one viewpoint and understand how different considerations, or criteria, can affect an outcome
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Getting Started

Try out these questions to get your Young Scholar using evaluative thinking.
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Logic Games and Puzzles: At-Home Evaluative Thinking Activities

Click HERE or on the image above for some fun ways to use logic games and puzzles to build evaluative thinking skills.
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Books for Building Evaluative Thinking

The topics and characters in the following books pair nicely with the Evaluative Thinking conversation starters above.


Each of the books below is available for checkout at Washington County Libraries.

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The Favorite Book by Bethanie Deeney Murguia

The Favorite Book is a sweet, and colorful celebration of how we choose the things we love best.
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The Road Not Taken by Robert Frost

This edition of The Road Not Taken is a beautifully illustrated version of Robert Frost's classic poem about life's choices.
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Case Closed Mystery Series by Laurie Magaziner

If your Young Scholar loves mysteries, they may want to try the Case Closed series by Laurie Magaziner. In these books, the reader follows along with the main character Carlos and his friends Eliza and Frank as they put together clues to save his mother’s detective agency. Best for grades 3-5.

Young Scholar Family Night Coming Soon!

Come join other Young Scholars’ families for a fun night of

hands-on family engineering activities from

The Works Museum plus a delicious dinner from Native Food Perspectives.

There is no charge to attend this event.

All family members are welcome!


Click on your school's logo below to learn more!

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Crestview Young Scholar Family Night

You are invited to this year’s Crestview Young Scholar Family Night!

When: Thursday, April 28, 2022 6:00 pm - 8:00 pm at Crestview Elementary

Click HERE for more details and to RSVP.

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Hillside Young Scholar Family Night

You are invited to this year’s Hillside Young Scholar Family Night!

When: Thursday, April 21, 2022 6:00 pm - 8:00 pm at Hillside Elementary

Click HERE for more details and to RSVP.

Summer Camp Opportunities to Explore

Summer will be here before we know it. If you're looking for ideas to keep your Young Scholar busy and learning this summer, check out some of the opportunities below.

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Star Tribune 2022 Summer Camp Guide

Explore the Star Tribune 2022 Minnesota Summer Camp Guide to search camp choices by interest, age level, price, location, and more.
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U of M Summer Youth Programs

The University of Minnesota Youth Programs offers a wide variety of summer camps for ages 6-16. Camp sessions include swimming and indoor rock climbing in addition to hands-on activities, themed projects, arts & crafts, and recreational games.
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Summer Camps at The Works Museum

The Works Museum in Bloomington is hands-on engineering and design museum. The museum is a great place to visit any time of the year, and they have a wide variety of summer camps as well. Scholarships are available for up to 50% off the cost of camps.

Young Scholars works with students, families and schools to increase...

Looking for More?

Click on the image below to access online copies of

previous SoWashCo Young Scholar Parent Newsletters.

About Me

Hello!


My name is Colleen Redmond, and I am honored to work as Coordinator for SoWashCo Young Scholars.

I'm a mom, a wife, small business owner, avid biker (the pedal kind), book enthusiast, and beekeeper.

I've been lucky enough to teach in South Washington County Schools for over twenty-five years and have had the incredible opportunity to be a part of the lives of so many students and families over the years.

Now, as part of Young Scholars, I have the honor of working with the amazing staff, students, and families throughout SoWashCo to implement and grow the Young Scholars program.

I am so very excited to work with and support you and your Young Scholar. I can't wait to see where the journey takes us!

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Contact Information

Please don't hesitate to reach out with any questions, thoughts, or needs!


Colleen Redmond

credmond@sowashco.org