Mind Mapping for Kids: How Elementary School Students Can Use Mind Maps to Improve Reading Comprehension and Critical Thinking

Cautionary Note; This book is not intended to be read and forgotten; be prepared to spend time putting it to the test! Krasnic’s goal is to engage elementary students to use mind maps to connect the dots not just collect them. Once that task is accomplished, students can see and use the big picture to ask meaningful questions allowing them to become better readers and learners. The author’s purpose is to provide a guide for teachers and parents to help young students use mind maps to improve their reading comprehension and critical thinking. Krasnic divides the book into three parts. Part One explains the fundamental principles of visual mapping both in mind mapping and concept mapping. In the second part, the Concise Reading Method (CRM) is fully explained. This technique marries the eight reading strategies to mind maps. These strategies will sound familiar. They include Summarizing, Applying Previous Knowledge, Visualizing, Evaluating, Synthesizing Information and then asking Critical Questions. Teachers and parents working with the common core curriculum will recognize many of these. Part Three contains enrichment activities with additional examples, templates, and tips for students, parents and teachers on how to use these techniques. The author speaks to each of the target audiences. Teachers are encouraged to experiment and teach children to use their unique abilities and interests to create many kinds of maps Students are urged to believe in themselves by taking control of their learning and assuming personal responsibility for their education. Parents of very young children must allow their children to choose what and how to learn by facilitating their natural curiosity. Once a child becomes school-aged, a parent needs to partner with the school and display the child’s work throughout the home. The materials in this book are comprehensive but well organized and easy to follow. Readers are encouraged to ask questions and seek additional assistance. The drawings and illustrations make the concepts easy to understand. I urge parents, teachers and students to spend some time looking them over. Time and energy invested now might last a lifetime.

I know that a mind map is a great tool, but I have never really invested the time to learn how to use it properly. Since this book is meant for kids, I thought that the author would do a very good job of explaining how to use mind maps and he did. Mind Mapping for Kids is meant to assist students to improve reading comprehension and critical thinking. The intent is to help students become better readers and learners. Since learning is a lifelong process, the intent is suited for adults as well. In addition to discussing what mind maps are, and how to use them, Krasnic does the same for concept maps and explains the differences between the two visual maps. But much of his focus is on mind maps since that is the primary focus of Mind Mapping for Kids. I was very happy to see that the author included a mind map of how professionals can use mind maps. To relate the mind map to life, Krasnic does an excellent job of attaching questions to each reading strategy to improve comprehension. For instance, when connecting what you’re reading to what you already know, two simple questions are “What do I already know about this topic?” and “What does this information remind me of?” The mere action of asking yourself questions, forces you to think about and process the information. In addition, the questions are intelligent ones that are worthy of answering. This is a great book for teachers’ teaching toolkit and a great resource for adults looking to become better learners and more productive.

As a college professor trying to help first generation college students understand the importance of note taking, this book was a great help in gaining basic understanding of mind mapping. The book has a lot of theory behind mind mapping and general ideas as to how an elementary teacher can use it with students. Some of those ideas will be helpful at the college level. The one thing I didn't know before was the process of concept mapping which I thought was mind mapping. It isn't and mistaking concept mapping for mind mapping could the reason I have discounted mind mapping all these years.

As a retired teacher, who spent 36 years in the classroom, I was familiar with the concept of mind mapping that Toni Krasnic shares in Mind Mapping For Kids: How Elementary School Students Can Use Mind Maps To Improve Reading Comprehension and Thinking. However, I must say that I never had a resource that is this beneficial and forthright in providing the steps either a teacher or parent should take in guiding children on the path to learn how these mind maps can benefit their learning. Connecting mind maps to reading comprehension makes so much sense. Using the strategies of comprehension along with the mind maps provides such a powerful tool for children to use as they progress to higher and higher levels of thinking. The mind maps can just grow right along with them. The fact that this is an ebook with links within it, is another tremendous addition to the success of learning via mind maps, in that there are many opportunities to check out other sources to back up the learning within Mind Mapping For Kids. Author Toni Krasnic also introduces the fact that there are many computer tools/programs that are available for mind mapping. Parents/Teachers can choose from any of them to incorporate into and enhance lessons, but the great thing is...a piece of paper and some colored pencils can work just as well (in my humble opinion). As a former teacher, and parent of five, I highly recommend this resource. I will be using this tool for students in my tutoring sessions. Whenever we can paint a "verbal picture," our learning curve goes way up. Thank you, Toni Krasnic, for providing this affordable resource for parents and teachers. It is a tool that can be used across grade levels and across curriculum subjects.

I'm an ESL teacher, and I find the book very useful for individualizing learning plans. This term I am going to have students use mind maps for their reading notes and presentations. It should save them a lot of time. In addition, I'm going to have all students reading materials of their own choosing. We'll use the mind maps as a form of reporting back and sharing information. The book clearly shows me how I can do this. Thanks very much.

Poorly written, not worth looking at unless you have never ever heard of what a mind map is before, it is extremely basic.

Useful book