Sorting and classifying are great ways to dive into math, without it even feeling like math.
Children love to sort. You can fill tubs with anything- button collections, blocks, old keys, small plastic animals, or beans!
My children also love sorting the Pattern Blocks.
Using the Pattern Blocks is a good way to have children start talking about shapes using math vocabulary, too. They can compare and contrast shapes, talk about their similarities and differences, name them, and tell how many sides, corners, vertices or corners each has.
Another fun sorting activity for the beginning of the year is to work with small groups sorting letters. I start with four letters. Gather all sorts of magnetic letters, rubber letters, and letter squares (any kinds of letters you have!) for the letters you will work on. When you are just beginning, have the child say the letter each time he puts a letter on the big paper. As the children sort and say the letter name, I say the sound each time, so they transition to saying that, too.
This is a quick activity you can have out and ready to do with students any time you have a few extra minutes. Here’s a hint: If you do this right before recess with a group, you will be amazed how quickly they sort, so they can get right outside! We have so much fun with this.
When we moved, I discovered we had so many shells. The children love sorting these on their sandpaper “beach” mats. Valu Home Center had 10 sheets of sandpaper for $1!
You can sort the children when you’re all on the rug. Sort them into groups by hair color, eye color, boy/girl, shirt color, shorts/pants/dresses, pant color, anything you can think of! Then, have the children try to guess how they’ve been sorted. OR… sort their shoes!
And finally snack, the learning fun never ends…
Here is a fun little Character Education activity to do with sorting!
If we were all alike, it wouldn’t be as much fun in our classrooms. Our differences make us special- like this macaroni! (Or some days ‘wacky’ like this macaroni!) We learn to appreciate the special gifts we each have.
It’s fun to talk about the different noodles- shapes and colors- and compare it to our class family. We are all different shapes, sizes, colors- and we all have different strengths and things we are good at- like drawing, writing, singing, tying shoes, running fast, … – and that is what makes our class special. It wouldn’t be fun to sort a bowl of all plain elbow macaroni!
Our Happies Packets have lots more fun, hands-on learning ideas- as well as everything else you could need!
On August 9th, Dr. Jean will be doing a webinar for ESGI ,sharing lots of back to school ideas. The first 1000 teachers to register will receive our “Back to School Happies” packet FREE!!! The packet is packed with 15 songs and over 100 pages of classroom management, math, literacy, QR codes, Prezis, books, finger plays, seasonal activities. You can get this $14.95 treasure by registering HERE today!
Have all sorts of fun in your classroom this year! Thanks for stopping by!
Happies for Teachers 