Back to School
with the
Thinking Maps
Thinking Maps Implementation Guides
for Teachers
How to use the Thinking Map Implementation Guides:
Each week as your school implements the Thinking Maps, you will receive a Thinking Map
Implementation Guide. Use the ideas in each Implementation Guide to teach the Thinking Maps to your
students.
We recommend that you hole punch the Implementation Guides and add it to the Teaching
Section of your Thinking Maps Manual. Feel free to adapt any of these ideas to your grade level and
curriculum. Share ideas with colleagues! Showcase your students’ work by hanging their Maps and final
products in the hallway or on bulletin boards. If you have any questions, email us: amberwallin@gmail.com
or pennywallin@gmail.com.
Created by Dr. Penny Wallin and Amber Wallin
Summer 2008 Edition
Created by Amber and dr. penny Wallin ● amberwallin@gmail.com ● Back to school with
the thinking maps
Nine Thinking Maps Goals for the 1st Nine Weeks
Ideas for Teachers to Enhance Thinking Maps Implementation in Their Classroom
The Nine Goals for the 1st Nine Weeks are designed to help you confidently and successfully implement the
Thinking Maps in your classroom as the school year gets underway. Focus on one goal a week for the first
nine weeks or let all nine goals guide your implementation from day one.

GOAL 1: Post all eight Maps in an easily-visible area of your classroom at a student-friendly height.
You can create suspense by putting up only one map a week and giving students a ‘sneak peek’ on
Friday of next week’s map. Just remember to have them up and visible!

GOAL 2: Add the following information to the wall maps for these specific Maps. It’s easiest to write
this information on blank index cards and attach the cards to the wall maps.
o Circle Map: Add ‘brainstorming’ as a thought process.
o Bridge Map: Add ‘seeing relationships and connections’ as a thought process. In lower
elementary grades, it is suggested that you replace ‘as’ with ‘just like’ for the relating
factor.

GOAL 3: Students construct their own Maps as soon as they understand the format. Even pre-K and
Kindergarten students can construct their own Maps starting in the first week. The blackline masters
found in the teacher’s manual are helpful when introducing the Maps, but you don’t even have to use
them at all.

GOAL 4: Each week as you introduce a new Map, review and create previously introduced Maps to
make sure students understand the differences between the Maps.

GOAL 5: Model, model, model the Maps. During the first eight weeks, it is recommended that you
model creating the Maps to make sure students understand the format of each Map. Throughout the
week make the Maps on large sheets of paper or through the Thinking Maps software on a
SMARTBoard/LCD display. As you discuss the topic, add information to the Map. Toward the end of
each week, students will know how to create each Map independently.

GOAL 6: Use all the Maps in every subject. How will you use all Maps in Language Arts? In Math? In
Science? Etc. Look for the VERB in the directions, state standards, objectives, or worksheets. What
TYPE/S OF THINKING is/are students being asked to do? Incorporate Maps accordingly.

GOAL 7: Use all eight Maps because the brain engages in eight thinking processes (even in pre-K and
Kindergarten). Higher level thinking skills and depth of knowledge are cultivated when ALL eight Maps
are used in a classroom and when multiple maps are used to learn about a topic.

GOAL 8: Share with parents the purpose, format, and student samples of the Maps.

GOAL 9: HAVE FUN AND BE CREATIVE WITH THE MAPS! View the Maps as tools to make your
classroom a more creative, challenging, lively, accepting, and enriching environment. Turn creating the
Maps a game, use fun materials to make the Maps, allow students to present their Maps and post them
in the hallway, cafeteria, etc., or even give them to your principal and superintendent!
Created by Amber and dr. penny Wallin ● amberwallin@gmail.com ● Back to school with
the thinking maps
Circle Map Implementation Guide
Back to School with the Thinking Maps
A Few Quick Reminders about the Circle Map:
 The Circle Map is used for brainstorming a concept.
 Any idea or topic can be explored in a Circle Map.
 The topic goes in the inner circle. Ideas, graphics, information about the topic go in the outer circle.
 Circle Maps can be constructed deductively or inductively. In other words, you can either give the
students the topic and they brainstorm relevant information or you can give them the relevant
information and they have to select the appropriate topic.
 This map can be used as a pre assessment (What do my students know?), a formative
assessment (What are they learning as we study the topic?), and a summative assessment (What
did they learn? What do they know after the study?).
My Story
In Chapter 2 of A Language for Learning, there are ideas for introducing the Circle Map on p. 85 and 97-98.
(In Tools for Learning, see Section 2,6-7) Remember to save the Maps your students create for their mural
or My Story Portfolio (lower elementary), oral presentation (upper elementary), autobiography sketch
(middle school), and reflective thinking essay (high school).
Building Community
1. In the center of a large Circle Map, write “Our Classroom Family” and allow every student to write their
name and put a picture or a drawing of themselves in the Circle Map. To take this idea to a larger
scale, write “Our School Family” in the center of an even larger Circle Map and invite every student,
teacher, staff member, and administrator to write their name or put a picture or a drawing of themselves
in the Circle Map.
2. Have a large piece of paper posted with a Circle Map drawn. In the center, write “Highlights of our First
Days in School. Have students take pictures to capture the events of the first week and post on the
Circle Map on the last day of the first full week of school.
3. Explore characteristics of the class through Circle Maps with such topics as:
 Our favorite foods, colors, animals, hobbies, etc.
 Our class knows how to… (let students share academic strengths. For example: I’m good at
adding. I love to read Junie B. Jones books.)
 Bet you didn’t know… (let students share an interesting fact about themselves. For example: Henry
saw the space shuttle launch this summer.)
 How we spent our summer vacation
 Our goals and dreams for this school family
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the thinking maps

The great students in (insert your name here)’s class agree to…(brainstorm behaviors such as: do
their homework every night, be helpful, answer every question with “yes, ma’am or no, ma’am,”
celebrate the successes of our fellow classmates.)
4. Circle Map:
 The School
 You (the teacher )
 The library



The cafeteria
The principal
A leader
Rules and Expectations
1. On the first day of school have students with a partner or in a small group brainstorm rules and
expectations they think would make the classroom a great place to be. Use their suggestions as a
spring board into discussing the rules and expectations you have for the class. Perhaps you’ll find that
they’ve come up with a rule or two (or more) that you had not yet thought to incorporate!
2. Once classroom rules and expectations have been explained, have students in small groups or with a
partner brainstorm as many as they can remember in a Circle Map. Then, through whole group
discussion, create a large Circle Map to recap the rules and expectations of the classroom.
3. Have students brainstorm desired rewards and consequences.
Preparing for the Year
1. Are you curious about what your students would like to study this school year? How can you find
out what they perceive as their strengths and weaknesses? How can you make the curriculum
relevant to their lives and interests? The answer: a divided Circle Map. Decide on 2, 3, 4 (or more)
topics of information you would like your students to brainstorm. Divide the Circle Map into the
same number of portions. So if you chose 4 topics, the Circle Map should be divided into four
quadrants. In the Frame of Reference, label each portion. (A divided Circle Map can very easily be
turned into a Tree Map. However, during this first week, leave the information in the divided Circle
Map. Once the Tree Map has been introduced, it is fine to take the information from a divided
Circle Map to a Tree Map.)
2. To gauge their interest level in different units, instruct your students to peruse the textbook/s as
they fill out the following divided Circle Map:
 Quadrant 1. Units, chapters, ideas that interest me
 Quadrant 2. Units, chapters, ideas that don’t interest me
 Quadrant 3. Units, chapters, ideas that I know a lot about
 Quadrant 4. Units, chapters, ideas that I don’t know anything about.
3. Or, divide a Circle Map into the following three sections:
 My strongest subjects
 Subjects that challenge me
 Topics I’m curious about and would like to study
4. To get a sense of their perception of the class, have them fill out the following divided Circle Map:
 Questions you have about our class
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the thinking maps


What concerns you about our class
What excites you about our class
Content-Related
1. Accessing Prior Knowledge: Using the Circle Map to access students’ prior knowledge is an excellent
use of the Map during the first week of school (and beyond). Instead of a KWL chart, have students fill
out a Circle Map with their prior knowledge about a topic (maybe it’s the first unit you’re planning for
Science, Social Studies, Math, etc.) using a blue marker, colored pencil, or pen. Then, have them
brainstorm what they’d like to learn about the topic in a green marker, colored pencil, or pen. Collect
the maps and use them to plan your unit. As you study the unit, have students fill in what they are
learning in the Circle Map using a purple marker, colored pencil, or pen. (The colors are just
suggestions, choose any three colors you like).
2. Guess in 5 Challenge (introducing a unit of study): Guessing games are always a great way to get your
students attention and peak their interest. Prior to beginning a unit of study, construct a Circle Map with
5 pieces of information about the first topic or unit the class will be studying with the details going from
very broad to very specific. Cover up the details in the outer circle and the topic in the inner circle.
(Post-it notes work great). Label the covers from 1 to 5, with 1 being the broadest detail and 5 being the
most specific. Draw a large ? on the cover over the topic. Label your Circle Map: Guess in 5 Challenge.
Tell your students to take out a sheet of paper and number from 1 to 5. For each clue you uncover, you
want them to take a guess as to what they think the class will be studying. Remove the cover from clue
#1. Give them a moment to write their answer. Then remove the cover from clue #2. Give them a
moment to write their answer. Continue until all 5 clues have been revealed and then for the grand
finale, reveal the topic behind the cover with the ? on it.
For example, see if you can figure out the topic a 4th grade class is going to study first in Science. Here
are the details for the Circle Map (from broadest to most specific):
1. They are living.
2. You can’t see them with your eyes.
3. You have a countless number of them (we’re talking trillions and gazillions).
4. They are what your bones, muscles, nerves, organs, eyes, and hair are made of. Even
stems, leaves, and roots of plants are made from them.
5. They have walls and a “brain” called a nucleus.
What is the topic? CELLS, of course! Did you guess it correctly? Is your interest peaked?
Other suggestions for the Guess in 5 Challenge:
1. Have students make a drum roll on their desks before you remove each clue.
2. Have a different student come up and take off each cover.
3. Foster discussion between removing clues. (Who would like to share their guess? Why do
you think the topic is …? Anyone think it could be something different? Why?)
3. Any topic, idea, character, math operation, historical figure or event, part of speech, vocabulary term,
spelling word, number, etc., can be put in the inner circle of a Circle Map and explored during the first
week of school and beyond.
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the thinking maps
4.
Bubble Map Implementation Guide
Back to School with the Thinking Maps
A Few Reminders about the Bubble Map:
 The Bubble Map is used for describing.
 Write the topic of the Bubble Map in the center and adjectives and adjective phrases in the
bubbles.
 There is no limit to the number of bubbles you can have on a Bubble Map.
 Since the goal of this Map is to help students develop their vocabulary and become more
descriptive thinkers and writers, only adjectives or adjective phrases can be used.
 If a student gives you a noun. For example, if the topic is ‘teacher’ and a student offers ‘lady.’
Rather than saying, “That’s not correct. Lady is a noun. Can you think of an adjective?,” say,
“Great! What kind of lady? Is your teacher a happy lady? A tall lady? What kind of lady is she?”
You’ll always get an adjective when you prompt the student this way.
 Since the Bubble Map is great for vocabulary and descriptive writing development, utilize this Map
anytime you are teaching content-specific, descriptive vocabulary.
 While the Bubble Map looks similar to a story web, the Bubble Map is ONLY used for
DESCRIBING. A story web often is used for brainstorming or classifying information about a story.
Challenge yourself and your students to change the story web into either a Circle Map, if the
textbook is using it to brainstorm, or a Tree Map, if the textbook is using it to classify characters,
setting, etc. about the story.
My Story
In Chapter 2 of A Language for Learning Manual, there are ideas for introducing the Bubble Map on pages
86 and 100-102. Remember to save the Maps your students create for their mural (lower elementary) or
oral presentation (upper elementary).
Building Community
1. With a partner, have each student create a Bubble Map describing himself/herself. Allow partners to
introduce one another to the class. Then, ask classmates to provide other adjectives or adjective
phrases to describe the student being introduced. A variation of this is rather than have students
verbally offer other adjectives or adjective phrases, once everyone has been introduced, pass the
Bubble Maps around and allow students to add to a few maps. Encourage students to pull information
from the Circle Maps classmates created last week.
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the thinking maps
2. The Bubble Map can be used for each student to give qualities (adjectives or adjective phrases) about
him/herself. These can be posted with the invitation to add a bubble whenever another positive quality
is noticed by members of the class.
3. Use the Bubble Map to find out how students describe the classroom at the beginning of the year.
(Safe, exciting, favorite room, etc.)
4. Bubble Map:
 The classroom
 You (the teacher )
 Riding on a school bus to school
 Riding in a car to school
 Walking to school



The first day of school
The principal, cafeteria staff,
Different areas of the school: the
cafeteria, library, gym, etc.
Rules and Expectations
Bubble Map:
 Characteristics of a great student
 Characteristics of a student who makes poor choices
 How choosing to follow expectations makes students feel
 How choosing not to follow expectations makes students feel
Preparing for the Year
Bubble Map:
 Each subject: Reading, Spelling, Social Studies, etc. How do students perceive each subject?
 Being able to observe and describe the world are key for successful learning. Encourage students
to notice details by letting them know that you will ask them to use all of their senses all year.
What color is our classroom door? Where is the flagpole on our campus? Did our principal wear
glasses/a tie today? Describe one food from your lunch tray.
Content-Related
Bubble Map:
 Each character in the story you are reading
 The characteristics of any noun in any subject (from a plant cell to the Egyptians to multiplication to
the letter Z)
 The attributes of a mammal
 The characteristics of an earthquake
 The attributes of a number (odd or even, prime, whole, fraction, etc.)
 The physical properties of water
 Your state
ONE LAST REMINDER: Remember, Bubble Maps can only have adjectives or adjective phrases! They are
NOT for brainstorming (that’s the Circle Map). The Bubble Map is for DESCRIBING ATTRIBUTES/
CHARACTERISTICS.
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the thinking maps
Double Bubble Map
Implementation Guide
Back to School with the Thinking Maps
A Few Quick Reminders about the Double Bubble Map:
1. The Double Bubble Map is used to compare and contrast any ideas, characters, or concepts.
2. Write the two objects you are comparing and contrasting in the large circles. Similarities go in the
bubbles between the large circles (that are connected by lines to the two large circles.) Differences
go in the bubbles on the outside of the large circles.
3. Any time you can use the Venn Diagram, you can use the Double Bubble. In fact, you can overlay
a Venn Diagram on top of a Double Bubble Map!
4. Unlike the Bubble Map, which can only have adjectives or adjective phrases, the Double Bubble
Map can have nouns, sentence fragments, verbs, and adjectives and adjective phrases.
5. It’s alright to just focus on similarities or just differences between two ideas, characters, or
concepts.
6. The Map doesn’t have to be balanced, meaning there doesn’t have to be the same number of
similarities on both sides or the same number of similarities and differences.
7. Any time students are confused by two concepts (b and d, the symbol for addition ‘+’ and the
symbol for multiplication ‘x,’ a line and a line segment, right and left), use the Double Bubble Map
to help clarify the differences between the two concepts.
My Story
In Chapter 2 of A Language for Learning Manual, there are ideas for introducing the Double Bubble Map on
pages 103-104. [In Tools for Learning, see Section 2, 14-15] Remember to save the Maps your students
create for their mural (lower elementary), oral presentation (upper elementary), autobiography sketch
(middle school), and reflective thinking essay (high school).
Building Community
Double Bubble:
1. Last year’s teacher and you
2. A summer day and a school day
3. You and the principal
4. Any pair of people in the school (PE teacher and Music teacher, another teacher and you, the
secretary and the principal)
5. You an each student (Perhaps assign this to each student to complete. They should have plenty of
material after the Circle and Bubble Map weeks to put on this Map.)
6. Cafeteria lunch and McDonald’s lunch
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the thinking maps
Rules and Expectations
Double Bubble:
1. Following and not following the rules
2. What a class looks like that follows the rules verse a class that doesn’t
3. The attributes of a respectful student verses the attributes of a disrespectful student
4. Good study habits and poor study habits
5. An organized desk verses a disorganized desk
Preparing for the Year
Double Bubble:
1. Their favorite and least favorite subject
2. Different subjects (Social Studies and English, Math and Science, Art and Music, etc.)
3. What they studied last year and what they will study this year in your class (This would be a great
whole group activity.)
4. Two centers in the classroom
5. Two classroom pets
6. Their desk and your desk
Content Related
Double Bubble:
1. Nouns and verbs
2. Two letters of the alphabet
3. Two spelling words
4. Solids and liquids
5. Subtraction and addition
6. The $1.00 bill and a quarter
7. Your state 100 years ago and today
8. Abraham Lincoln and George Washington
9. Two characters from the same story or two characters from two stories
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the thinking maps