Sorting Our World sets up a mixed-up store, and kindergarten students sort 12 words into Animals, Foods, and Toys. The word bank holds easy items like cat and apple and two trick words, bat and fish, that fit more than one group. Two questions follow: which word was hardest to place, and one new item for each group. It practices Common Core L.K.5.a. The answer key accepts both placements for bat and fish.
L.K.5.a
“Sort common objects into categories (e.g., shapes, foods) to gain a sense of the concepts the categories represent.”
The three-column sort, where the meaning of each category decides whether a bat is a flying animal or a toy.
Twelve words: cat, apple, doll, pig, ball, banana, dog, corn, cheese, blocks, bat, and fish.
Three columns, Animals, Foods, and Toys, for students to write each word in.
Question 1 asks which word was hardest to place, with a hint to think about bat or fish. Question 2 asks for one new item per group.
Read the bank aloud
Most kindergartners cannot read all 12 words alone. Read the bank aloud twice, or tape picture cards to the board beside it.
Bat debate
Save time for question 1. Asking students to defend bat as an animal or a toy is the best discussion on the page.
Real objects first
Fill a bag with a toy ball, blocks, a banana, and a plastic animal. Students sort the real things, then the words.
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