Sorting

Sorting is any process of arranging items in some sequence and/or in different sets, and accordingly, it has two common items of the same kind, class, nature, etc. Students in an early childhood classroom can sort objects within their classroom, they can sort the objects according to colour, size, shape, texture. Examples of the items sorted within the tutorial is used below. These items assisted in demonstrating some examples for the classroom. In addition to sorting objects students can sort their peers according to similar elements such as, height and hair colour. An activity that was created for this purpose is demonstrated below.

Shells

Shapes

Teddy bears in buckets

Sorting activity:

Explain to the students that sorting objects helps people see the similarities and differences between items, and it also helps people locate things in an efficient way.

 Students are given a little activity to give them further practice with sorting. I have a small box full of items that need to be sorted into the right groups or categories.

 Spread out all the items and give children a few minutes to study them. Then, tell them that it will be their job to find a way to sort them. Allow the children to think of as many ways to sort as they can. Put the items into the suggested groupings and then as a class we will discuss why they chose to group the items the way they did.

 I would then ask if anyone came up with a different way to group the items and ask if they would like to share it with the class.

 If there are no questions, we will then move onto show and tell time! After each child has a chance to show and talk about the item they brought in, we will arrange the objects from largest to smallest.

 I will have the child with the biggest object brought in lay their item down first. Then I will have the next biggest item placed down beside it, etc... After sequencing the items largest to smallest we will find the common similarities and differences among the items and discuss how we could arrange them into at least 2 separate groups or categories. Have the class think of these groups and help them if needed.

Examples: size, softness/hardness, shape, use of the objects

Go over how the items were grouped/sorted. Now we will count how many items are in each group and mark them on a table or chart, using an X. Then we will tally up each X and put that number to represent the number of items in the group.