Early Math Project

Activities for Sam Sorts:
Sort It! (English)
Set Cards

**Spanish Versions coming soon!

How many ways can Sam sort his things? Does sorting help Sam tidy his room?

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Topics: classification, counting, sorting

Activities To Do Together:

• As Sam sorts his things, he finds that many things fit into more than one category. For example, the toy zebra is both an animal and something that is black and white. Being able to identify an object as belonging to more than one group based on its characteristics, fosters flexibility in a child’s thinking and reasoning. Encourage your child to think of three or four different ways to sort the same group of objects. Make it a game to see if you can tell how the objects were sorted each time.

• As you read the story with your child, practice counting while pointing to each object. In the story there are several places in which the text encourages counting to tell how many objects are in a group.

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Extension Questions:

1. How might sorting a pile of objects help to tidy up a room?

2. Think of a collection of things like shells, rocks, or leaves. How would you sort them so they could be displayed for others to enjoy?

3. On pages 26 and 27, where the text reads, “All sorted. How many categories? How many things?”, how did Sam sort his things into those groups? How are the things in each group alike? Which characteristic do the objects in each category share?

4. What different ways could a group of random animals be sorted? Which characteristic(s) would you use to sort the animals? Why did you choose that characteristic?

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Vocabulary for Building Math Concepts: count, few, four, one, pair, round, three, too many, two

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Please check out the Book Guide for Sam Sorts for more!

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Online External Resources for Sam Sorts:

• The Benefits of Sorting and related activities