Cheryl Serrill--
Categorizing is a higher order thinking skill in Bloom and Marzano's learning levels. This intelligence understands and organizes patterns in their natural environment. Students group objects or ideas according to a common feature or relationship betwen objects. Students can see patterns and organize information. This strategy can be used to show students that information can be grouped or classified in more than one way. It develops student abilities to manage and organize information.
In the beginning of the school year we learn a lot about other student's names in the classroom. We learn to sort and categorize by the first letter in each name. I teach students that we can also group them together by the number of letters in each name. In the early part of the year we sort magnetic letters by a multitude of ways such as color, capital/lowercase, letters with sticks, and letters that hang below the line. This sorting activity helps students pay attention to the features of each letter and what is alike and different about the letters. At this point in the year, most of my literacy activities are differentiated. I have students sorting letters, picture cards, words, and word families. I use this strategy in math, science, and social studies. Students learn to catergorize numbers, animals, community helpers, seasons, healthy foods, etc.
Comments (3)
Cheryl,
I really like this strategy. What a great way to get students to think outside the box. I also like the fact that it could be used across so me different subjects. It is hard for young students to make connections and sort things so this is a great way to help them learn this skill. Thanks for sharing this I am going to use it in my classroom with our Ocean Unit coming up in the next couple of weeks.
Posted by Emily Rhoney | March 13, 2010 12:05 PM
Posted on March 13, 2010 12:05
Cheryl...what a neat way to look at the letters in students names. I use their names with pictures to learn letter sounds, how to write and spell their names, but have never thought about using their names to sort. What a great extension into math through literacy! Great idea...I will be using it next year...I have already placed it in my plan book!
Posted by Meredith Bromley | March 13, 2010 9:38 PM
Posted on March 13, 2010 21:38
Cheryl,
My students love to categorize things as well. I call them to line up in categories all the time and they get so excited trying to figure out if they meet the category I call out. I have never thought about sorting letters by sticks, no sticks, etc. I think that is a great idea (especially for kindergartners who may just be learning their letters). This sounds like an activity I might try at the beginning of first grade as a review of letter recognition.
Posted by Jamie Brackett | March 15, 2010 5:33 PM
Posted on March 15, 2010 17:33