CriticalThinkers

Intermediate Phase · Grades 4–6

Grade 5: Critical Thinking Year Plan

How you reason decides how sure you can be — and an argument can be perfectly logical yet completely wrong.

34 weekly lessons4 terms (10 + 9 + 9 + 6)34 available now

By the end of Grade 5

What your learner will be able to do.

  • Name which type of reasoning they are using and say how sure it lets them be.
  • Tell a valid argument from a sound one — checking both the logic and the facts.
  • Rank evidence from weak (one story) to strong (a careful study) and say why.
  • Read a chart or statistic and spot a way it could mislead.
  • Catch a common bias in their own thinking and name a way to guard against it.
  • Compare how outcomes-thinking, rules-thinking and community-thinking judge the same choice.

How a week works

The screen is the spark. The thinking happens together.

Each week is one short on-screen lesson (about ten minutes) wrapped in something no screen can do: a real conversation. Every lesson comes with a free session guide for the adult — a time-budgeted plan with discussion prompts, an activity, a “talk about it after” question, and the signs to watch for — with a version for parents at home, homeschooling families, and classrooms.

1. The on-screen spark (~10 min)

A hook, the idea, a quick check with feedback that teaches, and a written reflection.

2. The conversation (~15 min)

The heart of the lesson: the big question, talked through — at the table, on a walk, in class. Ask more than you tell.

3. Real life + the journal

Spot the idea in your own week, then capture the reflection in the Thinking Journal — the year’s proudest record.

The year, term by term

34 weeks across four South African terms.

Every grade follows the same four-term journey — looking and wondering, reasons and evidence, other eyes and hidden persuaders, then doing the right thinking — so families and teachers always know where they are. Lessons unlock one at a time.

Term 1 · 10 weeks

Looking & Wondering

Sharper inquiry: variables, fair tests, the questions data raises, and watching how your own thinking moves.

Hold onto this term: A good investigation changes only one thing at a time — and a good thinker watches their own assumptions.

  • Week 1: From Question to Investigation

    How do I turn a wondering into something I can actually test?

    ObservationBloom: apply Available — start free
  • Week 2: Change Only One Thing

    How do I know which thing made the difference?

    ObservationBloom: analyse Available — start free
  • Week 3: Spotting Hidden Assumptions

    What is this taking for granted without saying so?

    ObservationBloom: analyse Available — start free
  • Week 4: Good Estimates

    Can I make a sensible guess at a number I cannot count?

    ObservationBloom: apply Available — start free
  • Week 5: What Questions Does This Data Raise?

    When I see numbers, what should I want to ask?

    ObservationBloom: apply Available — start free
  • Week 6: Naming My Thinking Moves

    What did my brain actually do to solve that?

    MetacognitionBloom: understand Available — start free
  • Week 7: Planning Before I Dive In

    Would a quick plan make this thinking go better?

    MetacognitionBloom: apply Available — start free
  • Week 8: Checking My Own Work

    How do I catch my own mistakes before someone else does?

    MetacognitionBloom: apply Available — start free
  • Week 9: Curiosity as a Habit

    How do I keep wondering even when no one asks me to?

    ObservationBloom: understand Available — start free
  • Week 10: Looking & Wondering — Term Review

    How is my inquiry and self-checking stronger now?

    MetacognitionBloom: understand Available — start free

Term 2 · 9 weeks

Reasons & Evidence

The reasoning engine: three types of reasoning, valid vs sound arguments, and an evidence hierarchy.

Hold onto this term: An argument can be perfectly logical and still be wrong — check the logic AND the facts.

  • Week 11: Three Types of Reasoning

    Are there different ways to reach a conclusion?

    ReasoningBloom: analyse Available — start free
  • Week 12: How Sure Can I Be?

    Does my reasoning give me certainty or just likelihood?

    ReasoningBloom: analyse Available — start free
  • Week 13: Valid vs Sound Arguments

    Can an argument be logical and still be wrong?

    ReasoningBloom: analyse Available — start free
  • Week 14: Generalising Carefully

    How many cases do I need before I can say "all" or "most"?

    ReasoningBloom: analyse Available — start free
  • Week 15: The Evidence Hierarchy

    Is all evidence equally strong?

    EvidenceBloom: analyse Available — start free
  • Week 16: Correlation Is Not Cause

    Two things happen together — did one cause the other?

    EvidenceBloom: analyse Available — start free
  • Week 17: Who Was Counted?

    Does this survey actually represent everyone it claims to?

    EvidenceBloom: analyse Available — start free
  • Week 18: Reading Statistics Honestly

    What is this number not telling me?

    EvidenceBloom: analyse Available — start free
  • Week 19: Reasons & Evidence — Term Review

    How well can I weigh an argument and its evidence now?

    MetacognitionBloom: understand Available — start free

Term 3 · 9 weeks

Other Eyes & Hidden Persuaders

Deepen perspective-taking, then expose the persuaders inside us and around us: cognitive biases, packaging and adverts.

Hold onto this term: The trickiest persuader is often your own brain — name the bias and you can think around it.

  • Week 20: Where You Stand Shapes What You See

    How does someone’s situation shape how they see an issue?

    PerspectivesBloom: analyse Available — start free
  • Week 21: The Charitable Read

    What is the kindest sensible way to read what they meant?

    PerspectivesBloom: apply Available — start free
  • Week 22: Cognitive Biases Deep Dive

    What shortcuts in my own brain quietly fool me?

    Bias & FallaciesBloom: analyse Available — start free
  • Week 23: Confirmation Bias

    Do I only look for what proves I am right?

    Bias & FallaciesBloom: analyse Available — start free
  • Week 24: Food Labels

    Is the front of the package telling me the truth?

    Bias & FallaciesBloom: analyse Available — start free
  • Week 25: The Persuasion in Packaging

    How is this designed to make me want it?

    Bias & FallaciesBloom: analyse Available — start free
  • Week 26: Loaded Words

    How do the words chosen tilt me before I even think?

    Bias & FallaciesBloom: analyse Available — start free
  • Week 27: Listening Across a Disagreement

    Can I truly hear someone I disagree with?

    PerspectivesBloom: apply Available — start free
  • Week 28: Other Eyes & Persuaders — Term Review

    What bias or persuasion did I catch in myself this term?

    MetacognitionBloom: understand Available — start free

Term 4 · 6 weeks

Doing the Right Thinking

Apply reasoning to real ethical choices through different lenses, then reflect on a year of growth.

Hold onto this term: Different lenses on right and wrong each show what the others miss.

  • Week 29: Ethical Frameworks

    Are there different ways to decide what is right?

    Ethics & CivicsBloom: analyse Available — start free
  • Week 30: Working Through a Dilemma

    How do I reason through a choice with no easy answer?

    Ethics & CivicsBloom: analyse Available — start free
  • Week 31: Fairness and Evidence Together

    How do I make a fair case backed by real evidence?

    Ethics & CivicsBloom: apply Available — start free
  • Week 32: My Changed-Mind Moment

    When did better reasoning change my mind this year?

    MetacognitionBloom: understand Available — start free
  • Week 33: My Thinking Toolkit

    Which thinking tools do I reach for most?

    MetacognitionBloom: understand Available — start free
  • Week 34: A Year of Thinking — Review & Celebration

    What kind of thinker am I becoming, ready for Grade 6?

    MetacognitionBloom: understand Available — start free

Take it further — on paper

The whole year, in a book you can hold.

Every lesson on this page is free online, forever. For families and classrooms who love working away from screens, Grade 5’s year is also available as an optional printed handbook — the same journey, bound as a book to read, write in and keep.

The printed handbook is a separate, optional purchase. It never unlocks or gates anything — the full course stays free online.

Start Grade 5 — free.

Create a free account, and your learner begins with the first lesson — the next unlocks as they go. Built for homes, classrooms and homeschooling families.