Sets, Sorting, Classifying

Sets, Sorting, Classifying: Big Ideas

• Attributes can be used to sort collections into sets.
• The same collection can be sorted in different ways.
• Sets can be compared and ordered.

Developmental Trajectory for Sorting, Classifying, Comparing:

• Matching- Look at attributes and understand what is alike
• Single Attribute- Find all the…(name a single attribute)
• Binary – “Is pink, is not pink.” What’s my rule?
• Multiple Set Sort- Change one collection into many sets (shape, size, kind, etc.)
• Comparing Sets- Can be represented with graphing, such as with the shoe graph below.

Whole Group Activity: Comparing Sets; Comparing Lengths, Comparing Weights, Comparing by Counting

Look at your shoes.

Teacher question: What do you see? Repeat back attributes about shoes, and record.

Sort shoes based on the attributes.

Could be color, shoe type, shoe size, etc.

Represent and compare the size of the sets within each sort by graphing them. Quantity is an attribute.

This group of students used a bar graph showing types of fasteners. A different group graphed the same collection by color and got different results.

“The whole project was amazing as the kids began to initiate patterns and describe shoes—all of a sudden math concepts became part of all of our daily language without us realizing it.”

Algebraic Thinking with Shoes

Rotating Activities:

1. Match Shape Sets: Matching, Using two complete shape sets, have children find matches that are the same size and same shape. Use paper strip as guide or use without. (Building Blocks Shape Sets Week 4)

These foam shapes come with the Building Blocks Curriculum.

2. Guess My Rule: Binary Sort, Triangles/Not Triangles (Building Blocks Week 10) Guess my Rule can be done with things other than attribute shapes as well, like shells, children, etc.

3. Multiple Set Sort: Sort one collection by various attributes (Color, Shape, Size, etc.) One collection can be sorted three times and the other can be sorted in two ways.