Sorting

We've been estimating, counting by 1's, 2's, 5's, and 10's, and sorting many many ways.  Our class has doing this using insects, sea creatures, and frogs. INQUIRE with your child what his/her favorite has been and what they sorted them by.  You may wonder what the benefits of sorting are in first grade?  Look at the information  below from the Bridges program to find out why. 

Q:  What is the value of having students do so much sorting?
A:  Young students enjoy sorting the buckets of buttons and plastic bugs and sea creatures in this
unit. They inspect the buttons or creatures closely and arrange them into groups in a variety of
ways, according to different features. Bringing order to a large group of objects in this way
provides many opportunities to create groups of things that can be counted (by 1’s, 2’s, 5’s, and
10’s), combined (addition), and compared (subtraction). In addition to providing a context for
counting, adding, and subtracting, sorting is the first step in finding patterns, organizing data,
and solving problems of all kinds.