The lesson begins with a real-world hook that helps students relate to the need for sorting and making predictions. Placing the sorting results into the format of a Venn diagram helps students check their predictions and develop ideas for additional sorting questions. The goal of the lesson extension is to make sure students have mastered the concept of sorting by more than one attribute and arranging objects independently in a Venn diagram format.
Read the book, Whose Shoes?: A Shoe for Every Job by Stephen R. Swinburne. Discuss the different types of shoes and their purposes.
“We have been sorting a lot of objects, using many different rules. You are quite good at choosing rules and guessing rules. Today we are going to think of some sorting questions that will help us gather information.”
“Think about the shoes you see most often worn by students your age. When a store wants to order shoes, what kinds do you think they order the most? What colors? If we make a list of all the shoes in this room right now, what color do you guess (or predict) we will list the most? Do you think there will be more sneakers, more sandals, or the same number of both?”
“Think about your guesses (or predictions) as I tell you a story.”
The following story will set a purpose for sorting shoes and challenge students to come up with appropriate rules to gather the needed information.
“A local shoe store would like to know what types of shoes kindergarten students wear. This information will help the store decide what shoes to order for kids.”
“What questions do you think the shoe store would like us to answer about the shoes you are wearing?” List ideas on chart paper or on the board as students brainstorm ideas. (Maybe they want to know if we have to tie them.)
“Okay, so they might ask, ‘Do you have shoelaces?’”(They might ask us what colors or designs we have.)
“That sounds like two questions, ‘What colors do you wear?’ and ‘Do you have pictures or art on your shoes?’” (What about if we have soft shoes or hard shoes? Or if our shoes are quiet or loud.)
“Does someone know the name of the bottom part of a shoe, the part that touches the floor when you walk?” (the sole) “That’s right. The store may ask, ‘What are the soles of your shoes like?’”
“How could we use the shoes you are wearing to answer some of these questions?” (We could count them for each question, like how many people have white shoes or how many people have loud shoes.)
“Let’s start with your first idea, counting shoes to answer a question and find a quantity. If we want to find out how many people are wearing white shoes, should we also find out how many are wearing other colors, like black?” (Yes!)
“What would be an easy way to count our shoes by color?” (We could sort them with a color rule into groups. We could even take them off and make piles!)
“Let’s try the idea of sorting by colors. Name the colors that you see, and I will write each color on one of these cards.” Ask students to stretch out their feet in front of them. Look at everyone’s shoes and write the colors on cards (choose the dominant colors, not the accents).
“Okay, we have the colors for our rule. Let’s make a floor graph to help us organize our shoe colors.” Make a large floor graph with strips of paper tape. You should have at least four columns. Then place a color card at the bottom of each column.
Have students stand in the column of the floor graph that matches the color of their shoes. Students should decide what the dominant color is when determining the matching group. You might include a column labeled “Other” for any shoes that do not fit into one of the designated color columns. If classroom space is limited, you might have students each take off one shoe to place in the graph rather than standing in the graph. If so, use paper tape to write a name on any shoes that are similar to make sure students will be able to find their own shoes after the activity.
“What information can we learn by looking at our groups?” (A lot of people have mostly white shoes. Only one person has red shoes. The second most is black. We have a lot of black shoes.)
“So, we can say that black and white are colors worn by the most people today. I will write that under our question, ‘What colors do you wear?’ ‘Black and white are the colors worn today by the most people in our class.’ Stop and think about the guesses that you made about shoe colors. Did you guess that most of our shoes would be white or black?”
“Let’s choose another question and think of a sorting rule that will help us get an answer. Then let’s predict what the graph will show the most of.”
Repeat the activity with another sorting rule. Students might choose a rule that would best be labeled as having the attribute and not having the attribute (e.g., shoelaces, no shoelaces). Students may also suggest ways to expand a rule (e.g., shoelaces, Velcro, zippers, slip-ons).
This activity could be extended to another day if student interest is high. It could also be made more challenging if a Venn diagram is used with one circle labeled “White Shoes” and the other labeled “Velcro.” The intersection of the circles would be white shoes with Velcro. At this level, it is not important that students can name the overlapping circles as a Venn diagram. Rather, the goal is that they learn to explore what happens when an object fits into more than one sorting group. Use the Lesson 3 Sorting Circles worksheet (see M-K-5-3_Lesson 3 Sorting Circles in the Resources folder).
“Will everyone be able to put a shoe in one of these groups?” (No. My shoes are blue and I don’t have Velcro.)
“Let’s find out how many shoes we can sort.” Have students with white shoes and/or Velcro put a shoe in the appropriate part of the Venn diagram. Encourage students to share their observations.
Extension:
Use the activities and strategies listed below to tailor the lesson to meet the needs of your students.
- Small Group Reteaching: Use a collection of buttons for sorting or cut out paper buttons like the ones shown in 3 Little Firefighters by Stuart J. Murphy. Also use the sorting circles (M-K-5-3_Lesson 3 Sorting Circles.doc). Begin by rereading the book, and then ask students to suggest a sorting rule for the collection of buttons.
“Can anybody suggest a sorting rule for the buttons?” Accept several suggestions and choose one to try. Write labels for the circles (“gray” and “four holes”). Discuss what the label could be for the intersection of the circles (“gray with four holes”).
Guide students who are having difficulty to sort the buttons into one circle first.
“Let’s start by finding all of the gray buttons and putting them in this circle.” Allow time to work. “Now look at the buttons that are not gray and find the ones that have four holes. Put them in the other circle.” Allow time to work.
“Let’s put all of the extras away and just look at the gray buttons. Which of these have four holes? Move those into the center so they will be in both circles because they are gray and have four holes.” When students are happy with their choices, review their work and provide feedback.
“Are you happy with your groups? Let’s look at your groups. In this circle the rule was gray buttons. Do we see all gray buttons?” (yes) “In this circle do we see that all of the buttons have four holes? (yes) So, what is the rule for these buttons in the center?” (They have to be gray and have four holes. I got it! There are no buttons to move.)
Some students may benefit from more small-group guided practice using different sorting collections.
- Expansion: Challenge students who can work independently to sort a different collection, such as large and small colored paperclips (or marbles and erasers). Have students identify a sorting rule that will include some objects that fit in both groups, such as large or red paperclips. Point out to students that they do not have to use every paperclip in the collection. Students may need help writing the group names on the Lesson 3 Sorting Circles worksheet (M-K-5-3_Lesson 3 Sorting Circles.doc), but they should be encouraged to complete the sorting independently and explain the validity of the results.
