The study of ancient civilization can be expanded with a simple hands-on sorting activity that will help students to better understand the evolution of written language. Students can work in groups or alone. Students will be given eight cards with pictographs on them. Each card should contain either a Cuneiform or Phoenician pictograph. Instruct the students to sort the cards into two piles by looking at each of the pictographs. When the sorting is complete, the teacher should hold up each card and explain which is Cuneiform and which is Phoenician. The teacher should then ask students to identify three differences between the two types of writing. The lesson can be expanded by having students examine modern day pictographs or by creating a pictograph of their own on clay or paper.
Students can learn how to define and measure angles by completing a sorting activity. Students should be given a worksheet that shows some angles of different measurements and asked to sort those into groups. After this sorting, the teacher will demonstrate how to sort the angles by using the mathematical angle definitions of acute, right, obtuse and straight. Students should be given protractors and shown how to use this tool to measure angles. The teacher will show the measurements of the angles that are in the different groups and, with student input, will come up with a definition for each of the angle classifications. After measuring the angles, students should work on making estimated measurements of angles and use this skill to sort a new set of angles on their own.
A sorting activity that can be used to expand on science studies asks students to sort grains of sand. Students should be placed into groups of 2 to 4 and each group should be given a tube of sand, a magnifying glass, some toothpicks, a small magnet, an egg carton, samples of different types of rocks and glue. Students are asked to sort the grains of sand into different groups based upon the properties of the grains including color, luster and shape. Ask students to compare the sorted grains to the sample rocks then, using a worksheet, place each group under the appropriate rock type and glue it in place.
One simple way to teach students about healthy communities and how they can be a contributing member of their community is to have them complete a sorting activity. Beforehand, the teacher should label some blocks or dominoes with words that describe a concept, feeling or action. These can be both positive and negative words. Students are broken into groups and given a set of blocks. They are asked to build their community by first constructing the foundation blocks and building upon these. They can exclude those blocks they do not feel are necessary to their community. When the exercise is complete, each group should explain how they went about building their community, and why they used the blocks they used. Teachers may also wish to include some blank blocks in each set so that students can add their own ideas about essential community elements.