BC Core Competency Comments: Creative Thinking, K-3
Creative Thinking is coming up with new ideas and making them work: brainstorming possibilities, combining and refining ideas, taking risks with a new approach, and using imagination to solve problems in play, art, writing, math or design.
Below are 13 sample sentences for K-Grade 3: two strengths and one next step for each of the 4 comment levels (Extending / Proficient / Developing / Emerging), plus a tip for families. They are a small selection from the 173 creative thinking sentences in the full pack. Copy one, then add a detail only you know about the student.
Jump to: Extending · Proficient · Developing · Emerging · Writing tips
Fills in the name and pronouns on this page. Nothing is sent anywhere.
Extending X
Strengths
- [Name] shares unusual ideas during show and share and explains, without being asked, where each idea came from.
- [Name] consistently revisits first drafts and plans, refining them with care until the final version matches what [he/she/they] had pictured.
Next step
- A next step is for [Name] to share one invention or idea at show and share each week and explain how it grew.
Proficient P
Strengths
- In sharing circle, [Name] usually offers an idea or two for solving class problems and listens to how others build on them.
- [Name] usually revises first attempts after thinking them through, making changes that improve the final piece.
Next step
- [Name] could share one new idea at show and share and invite a classmate to add to it.
Developing D
Strengths
- With a model to look at, [Name] sometimes adds imaginative details to drawings and stories during writing time.
- [Name] is developing the habit of combining ideas, such as joining two parts of a plan into something new.
Next step
- During sharing circle, [Name] could practise adding one idea to what a friend has said.
Emerging E
Strengths
- With adult support at the art centre, [Name] is beginning to choose colours and materials of [his/her/their] own.
- In small steps, [Name] is learning to go back to a piece of work and make one change to improve it.
Next step
- During show and share, [Name] could bring an object from home and tell the class one new way to use it.
Support at home
- Playing "What else could this be?" with everyday objects, such as a spoon or a cardboard tube, is a quick way to spark new ideas.
How to write creative thinking comments for K-Grade 3
- Play-based learning gives the clearest evidence: a new use for loose parts, an invented game at recess, or a story told through drawings. Describe what the child made or imagined.
- Praise the attempt, not only the result. Mention a moment the child tried something new, like a different way to build a bridge at the block centre, even if it did not work the first time.
- A next step can invite one extra idea, such as asking 'What else could it be?' during centres, a question families can also ask about a cardboard box or a toy at home.
Watch out: Avoid treating Creative Thinking as artistic talent. Neat drawings or polished crafts are not the facet; describe how the student generated, combined or tested ideas, which any learner can show.
The proficiency scale is used for learning standards; here its four names only label levels of written feedback on a Core Competency facet. Extending-level wording describes depth, independence and new situations; Proficient, regular use in familiar ones; Developing, parts of the facet with support; Emerging, first steps with guidance. Add the evidence instead of restating a level, so the comment never reads as a grade.
What Creative Thinking covers
In these comments, creative thinking covers these behaviours:
- generates new ideas and possibilities
- develops ideas by building on, combining and refining them
- takes risks and tries new approaches
- uses imagination to solve problems
More British Columbia comments
- Communicating, K-Grade 3
- Collaborating, K-Grade 3
- Creative Thinking, Grades 4-9
- Critical and Reflective Thinking, K-Grade 3
- Personal Awareness and Responsibility, K-Grade 3
- Positive Personal and Cultural Identity, K-Grade 3
- Social Awareness and Responsibility, K-Grade 3
- Opening and closing sentences
- All British Columbia skills and grade bands
- For the same report: BC Report Card Comments by Subject, K-9
- Build a comment with the comment picker
How these sentences were made, and what has been checked: About these comments.