Creativity is an essential skill and when developed at an early age, and has proven positive long term benefits. Historically, the main focus in education has been on hard skills in the core subject areas of English-Language Arts, Math, Science & Social Studies. Recent research on creativity has parents and educators thinking about this concept in a new light. I have been looking for years for resources to use in my classroom to teach creativity. I finally decided to become an author and write my own book series, The Creative Kids Book Series. I developed these lessons to compliment my book series and to use with my Gifted & Talented students as well as within my school-wide enrichment program. They work, they are easy to implement, and fun for the kids.

• Fluency is the first step to critical thinking.
• Fluent thinking is the gateway component to creative thinking.
• Fluent thinkers demonstrate divergent thinking by the ability to generate multiple answers or solutions to a problem.

In this download you will receive the Fluent Thinking slide deck which can be used for professional learning as well as for direct instruction with your students. The slides will show you how to teach Fluent thinking in a measurable and explicit way. Included is our worksheet bundle with downloadable handouts. You also get a bonus pdf to use as a teacher or parent resource explaining why fluent thinking is a critical creative thinking skill. This is part one of a four part series in teaching creativity.