In the Creative and Academic Thinking Skills (CATS) Program, teachers who have been trained in developing higher-order and creative thinking skills go into early elementary classrooms to present lessons and provide followup activities. CATS integrates "gifted" materials and strategies into normal classroom activities. CATS lessons and teaching strategies focus on these cognitive processes: attribute finding, classification skills, problem solving, qualification skills, logical thinking, creative thinking, scientific process, analysis, and communication. Program benefits include: opportunities for students to develop higher-order and creative thinking skills; student exposure to energetic, highly motivated supplementary teachers; modeling of effective teaching of higher-order thinking skills; modeling of strategies for teaching creative thinking; better identification of those gifted/talented students who might qualify for future "pull-out" programs; etc. (JDD)