I. Curricular Framework

Concept:

Classification

Essential Question:

How can you tell if two sets are matching?

Bridge:

Similarities

Content:

Concept of "Matching Sets"

Outcomes:

II. Standards Aligned

III. Instruction and Assessment

1. Connect: Connecting to the Concept Experientially

Objective: Students will be able to follow directions in order to allow introduction to classification skills.

Activity: Assign each child to a specific group by an undisclosed similar characteristic (ex. all those wearing a specific color, or all those wearing glasses, etc.).

Assessment: Students' positive reaction to the classification process.

2. Attend: Attending to the Connection

Objective: To decide similarities/differences--analyze the classification process.

Activity: Students decide why each group was formed (identification of common characteristic/similarity).

Assessment: Students' ability to take part in the process of identification.

Assessment, Phase One, Level of Engagement, Fascination:

3. Image: Creating a Mental Picture

Objective: To teach the concept of "sameness" (similarity).

Activity: Present students with letter cards, shape cards, or picture cards. Show what "twin" cards look like. Do several examples of "modeling" for group.

Assessment: Students will be able to divide cards into twin sets.

Assessment, Phase Two, Seeing the Big Picture:

4. Inform: Receiving Facts & Knowledge

Objective: To take part in an imaginative problem solving activity.

Activity: Teacher reads the story Corduroy by Don Freeman. Have students decide how Corduroy could describe his lost button in order to allow help in finding the match.

Assessment: Students' approach to the problem/process.

Assessment, Phase Three, Success with Acquiring Knowledge:

5. Practice: Developing Skills

Objective: To provide a "doing" hands-on practice with similarities and differences (classification).

Activity: Students will be presented with a practice worksheet showing various pictures and shapes. Students instructed to color specific shapes/pictures assigned colors (ex. color all circles and those pictures looking most like circles--red, etc.).

Assessment: Students' successful completion of worksheet.

Assessment, Phase Four, Success with Acquiring Skills:

6. Extend: Extending Learning to the Outside World

Objective: To further extend concept of similarities, differences--classification through manipulation.

Activity: Give small groups of children "junk" boxes and ask them to sort the items into any common characteristic grouping. Play background music during this activity.

Assessment: Students' ability to find a common characteristic of items presented in order to form sets.

7. Refine: Refining the Extension

Objective: To give students the opportunity to share their groupings with the rest of the class.

Activity: The class, as a whole, will have the task of deciding how each group of students sorted their "junk" (macaroni, keys, buttons, beans, etc.).

Assessment: Students' correct classifications will enable the rest of the class to decipher the similarity.

8. Perform: Creative Manifestation of Material Learned

Objective: To "re" group "junk" from another group--choose alternative similarity.

Activity: Have groups exchange "junk" boxes, and have them now classify items using another common characteristic. This cannot duplicate previous group's characteristic.

Assessment: Students' ability to find alternative similarities in order to further classify items presented to them.

Assessment, Phase Five,Performance, Creative Use of Material Learned: