Illustrative Mathematics
3-D Shape Sort
From the apple on your desk and the coffee cup in your hand, to the cabinets along the classroom wall, basic three-dimensional shapes are found everywhere in the world around us. Introduce young mathematicians to the these common figures...
Illustrative Mathematics
What Shape Am I?
Sharpen your pencil and grab a ruler, it's time to draw some quadrilaterals! Given the definition of a parallelogram, rectangle, and rhombus, learners draw examples and nonexamples of each figure. The three definitions are...
Curated OER
Sorting Based on Character Traits
Characters from a story can be sorted by their traits, just like shapes or objects can. First the children list several character traits on a chart, they read a familiar story, and then sort the characters by their friendly or unfriendly...
Curated OER
What Is in a Rock?
Middle schoolers identify, sort, and classify mineral samples that make up a common rock.
Generation Rx
Medication Safety Patrol: Is It Candy or Medicine? Game
Scholars play a sorting game designed to encourage safe medication handling. They browse pictures of candy and medication, then decide which of the two they're looking at by raising a card labeled candy or medicine.
Curated OER
Learning by Sorting
Students sort Lego Duplo pieces after determining the attributes to classify them by. They work in pairs to sort a group of Duplo pieces and explain their process to others.
Curated OER
To Classify Beans And Peas
First graders record information on a bar graph and interpret the information given. They identify five different kinds of beans and three different kinds of peas. They work in groups of four and sort the beans by size or shape.
Space Awareness
Coma Cluster of Galaxies
Scientists classify everything from the smallest cells to the largest galaxies, but how do they decide on a classification system? Scholars use 40 pictures of galaxies taken by the Hubble Space Telescope to sort and try creating their...
Skyscraper Museum
What is a Skyscraper?
Skyscrapers are amazing feats of architectural design that create the iconic skylines of the world's biggest cities. Young architects explore the defining characteristics of these monstrous towers with the first activity in this...
Curated OER
The Strongest Shape
Students work collaboratively to design and construct a roof out of Legos for a house that was built in a previous instructional activity. The roof must be structurally sound and pass certain criteria determined by the teacher.
Core Knowledge Foundation
Rocks & Minerals
Take young geologists on an exploration of the rock cycle with this six-lesson earth science unit on rocks and minerals. Through a series of discussions, demonstrations, and hands-on investigations your class will learn...
Curated OER
Hunting for galaxies in the Hubble Deep Field
Students examine Hubble Deep Field images. In this galaxy classification lesson, students research galaxy classification. Students view and classify Hubble Deep field images of galaxies.
Curated OER
A Planet Full of Animals
Students study animals and practice classifying them through observation activities. In this animal classification instructional activity, students complete a KWL chart about animals. Students then sort pictures of animals into chart...
Curated OER
Rocks and Minerals
Take young geologists on an exploration of the collection of rocks and minerals that we call Earth with an upper-elementary science lesson. Through a series of class discussion and hands-on investigations, students learn about the...
Curated OER
Grain Seeds and Food
Students observe the characteristics of different seed types. They classify, sort, name and write about the seeds.
Space Race
Sensory Detectives
Test your learners' sensory awareness with three hands-on activities that ask pupils to use their other senses to identify and describe everyday objects hidden from sight.
Curated OER
Rock Around the House
Young scholars discover the three types of rock. They weigh and examine rock specimens.