It's about time . . . for the Olympics.
And, just in time for the Olympics, I am offering Sports Sorts.
Through simple sorts, children learn to recognize similarities and differences. That, in turn, allows them to develop organized thinking. Thus, they begin to make order out of chaos. Sorts for early childhood classrooms lay down the foundations for sets & groups, attributes, and logical thinking. Thus, CCSS now include standards for sorting in math.
Most early sorting tasks are directed, giving the children the parameters for the sorts. With time, sorts become open ended. At that point, children begin categorizing. They are given a set of objects and challenged to construct their own, independent conditions and attributes.
When they begin categorizing, children are engaging in the upper levels of Bloom's Taxonomy. They ANALYZE the elements and their relationships. By combining the elements in new ways, the children are SYNTHESIZING. When judging the elements according to their own parameters, they are EVALUATING. I submit, then, that sorting and categorizing activities are HOTS activities. As such, teachers of older children should include them in their math centers and explorations frequently. In doing so, they are providing differentiated instruction to G/T students and promoting critical thinking in all of their students.
Following is a preview of Sports Sorts:
There are 20 picture cards in color. There is also a black & white set. This unit includes task cards for patterning, a work mat, and a recording sheet.
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