Our little masterminds spent their small group time classifying small, colored manipulatives; cars and a variety of animal breeds. The children began sorting their manipulatives according to color, making piles of red, green, yellow and blue (sorting and matching objects). Some of the children lined up their manipulatives, telling Ms. Lauren they were “making patterns” (identifying patterns). Owen took initiative to sort the manipulatives based on their design, categorizing, “things that take you places (vehicles)”, “doggies” and “dinosaurs” (comparing properties).
Across the classroom, Ms. Jolene’s group used the same materials. One child lined up all of his toys. Two children grouped them according to color; Ms. Jolene asked them each to count their yellow pile (counting). One's yellow pile had 4 manipulatives and the other’s yellow pile had 7… “I wonder whose pile has the most?” Ms. Jolene asked and the first's hand shot up into the air, “I do. I have the most ‘cuz seven is more! (identifying materials and properties)” Ms. Jolene chose to put like manipulatives together. She left out a few of her manipulatives, and told the group that she needed help, “I have sorted out my toys but I do not know where to put these last few.” Ms. Jolene handed each child a manipulative and asked them to find the pile in which it belonged. Some children immediately assumed that they were going to be sorted by color and when they looked again they realized that they had to identify the way Ms. Jolene had grouped her toys in order to find out where to put the one they were holding (comparing attributes)(solving problems with materials). With lots of critical thinking and a little help from their friends all of the children added their toys to Ms. Jolene’s piles.
