Properties Everywhere

Students will be able to:

• understand how items are sorted by color, size, type and shape
• formulate questions based upon these data

• Chart paper
• Bowls of crayons or sets of pencils to sort
• Objects to Sort recording sheet
• Labels
• Felt squares
• Small zip top bags
• Transparent container
• Overhead projector
• Transparency of Button Graph
• Transparency of Graph Grid
• Tub of buttons (various colors, shapes, sizes)
• White construction paper
• Small bowls for each working group
• Collection of pencils and other items to sort
• Blank paper for recording The Button Box by Margarette Reid
• Teacher Assessment Tools

1. What kinds of shoes do you have at your house? (Encourage students to look at their own shoes and think about shoes they have at home such as dress shoes, mom’s high-heeled shoes, basketball shoes, slippers, and sandals.)
2. What was your rule for sorting? Why did you choose it?
3. Could you use one other rule that is different from the one you used?
4. Could you use more than one property or attribute for sorting?
5. What things could you sort at home? (Students might name toys, clothes, groceries, shoes, etc.)
6. Do you sort objects at home by where they belong? If so, where? Answers might include the pantry, drawers, toy chest, and so forth.

At this stage of the unit it is important to know:

• properties students attend to;
• whether students can sort using only one or more than one property;
• whether students can sort the same set of objects in multiple ways;
• and so forth.

The guiding questions help students focus on the mathematics and aid you in understanding the students’ level of knowledge and skill with the mathematical concepts of this lesson. One of the assessment tools provided is a recording sheet entitled Status of the Class recording sheet. It is helpful to record students’ current level of understanding as a way to plan instruction and to monitor and measure their growth toward meeting the learning objectives. Documenting information about students’ understanding throughout the lesson can help you focus on each student’s needs and strengths and thus increase students’ learning opportunities.

The assessment information you collected can help you to monitor students’ learning, adjust instruction, and plan future lessons for the class. Data on individual students can be used to plan strategies for regrouping students, remediation, and extension activities. This information is extremely useful when discussing progress toward learning goals with students, caregivers, administrators, and colleagues.

Many students in the early grades will need multiple sorting experiences. You may wish to ask students to use these procedures as they sort other objects such as small toys, models of vegetables or fruits, jewelry, keys, tops for containers, bread clips, and coins.

1. Which management strategies were most effective?
2. Which management strategies were least effective?
3. Which students met all the objectives of this lesson? What extension activities are appropriate for those students?
4. Which students did not meet the objectives of this lesson? What instructional experiences do they need next? What mathematical ideas need clarification?
5. What adjustments would you make the next time you teach this lesson?

1. Pose questions and gather data about themselves and their surroundings.
2. Sort and classify objects according to their attributes and organize data about the objects.
3. Represent data using concrete objects, pictures, and graphs.