Lesson plan
Sorting Fun!
Learning Objectives
Students will be able to sort objects and determine the sorting rule.
The adjustment to the whole group lesson is a modification to differentiate for children who are English learners.
Introduction
(5 minutes)- Introduce your class to the lesson by telling them that today they will begin to explore sorting.
- Define sorting as the action of grouping like objects together.
- Tell your class that they are going to help you with the lesson.
Explicit Instruction/Teacher modeling
(15 minutes)- Call up several students who have something similar about them such as clothing, hair color, or shoes.
- Ask your students to guess what is similar about the students. Give them some clues by drawing their attention to the students' similar qualities.
- Explain what your sorting rule for this group was.
- Repeat this process again with another group of students and a new rule.
Guided Practice
(10 minutes)- Give each student a small group of blocks.
- Tell your students that they are now going to sort their blocks and that they should be able to tell you what their sorting rule is.
- If a student has difficulty, point out the similarities and the differences with the blocks.
Independent working time
(10 minutes)- After students have had time to practice their sorting, introduce Animal Jumble.
- Review the instructions, pass out the pencils, and have the students work independently.
Differentiation
Support:
- Have students work with a classmate. Limit the choices for sorting to just a few, such as color or size.
Enrichment:
- Have your students who have completed their work early or need a challenge work on a computer game such as Cocoa Color Sorting (see related media).
Assessment
(10 minutes)- Assess informally while watching students sort blocks. Make note of those students that cannot explain how they sorted their blocks.
- Assess the worksheets when completed. Look for areas where sorting is not consistent.
Review and closing
(10 minutes)- Gather the students together. Ask them what sorting means.
- Let students explain how they sorted their blocks.
- Let one student gather several students together who have something similar and have their classmates guess the rule of sorting.