Grade One - Sample One

Teachers at all grade levels recognize that sorting is an essential component of making sense of math. It is the first step in finding patterns, spotting trends, organizing data, and solving problems of all kinds. During Unit One of Bridges, children are guided in the direction of counting and comparing as they examine the buckets of bugs and bug cards. Their observations are then used to put objects into groups-things that belong together. Attention is focused on sorting collections by attributes such as size, design, texture, and color.

One of the sorts suggested by the children in September was made into this class chart depicting whether the bugs had wings or not.


September class chart depicting bugs with and without wings

Many other opportunities to work with sorting are offered in the first few months of Bridges and Number Corner. The student Number Corner book checks understanding in October by providing opportunities for children to determine which bug doesn’t belong in the set. Sets of four bugs are ingeniously constructed in such a way that any one of the bugs can be eliminated if a logical reason can be given. Here are two student examples. The one on the left was created by a very able student whose handwriting is easily decipherable by November. She is very competent with this and other sorting activities.

The other sample comes from a student who obviously changed his mind several times on the second two items, and who also is a less-skilled writer, needing help finishing phrases and spelling. When the teacher checked the student’s explanations, he was quite surprised because this student had been very quiet and passive during the lessons leading up to this activity. This activity shows that the student is gradually building an early foundation for collecting and interpreting data. Through this insight into the student’s thinking the teacher’s understanding of his abilities changed, as did his future interactions in lessons that followed.


Number Corner Sorting Example 1


Number Corner Sorting Example 2