IPS/Butler University Laboratory School

Friends investigate the Alpha Sort!

Today, the kids were introduced to a new literacy station- The Alpha Sort. We started by talking about what we noticed about The Alpha Sort. Some friends noticed it had lots of little compartments. Cameron noticed it spun around. Zacharyah noticed it had letters. Hutton noticed those letters were in alphabetical order. We then talked about a basket of little objects that could be sorted. I explained each object needs a name- they are all nouns- things. We then looked through the basket and gave each item a name – a little guitar, an alarm clock, a chair, a barbie sweater, a baby doll. We then practiced sorting each item into what letter sound we heard at the beginning of the item. For example, baby doll went with the “B” in the Alpha Sort because baby starts with “B”. As friends investigated the Alpha Sort today, we noticed many things could have multiple names. Is it a clock or an alarm clock? A comb or a brush? Regan saw a mirror. She was excited to find it and said, “Mrs. Argus- a mirror!” Regan looked and saw her reflection. I said, “So where would you sort that, Regan? I see its a mirror, but I also see your reflection so you could sort it as Regan, couldn’t you?” Regan thought about it for a while and decided to sort it with the “M” category for mirror. I look forward to seeing what names our friends come up with for the other nouns in the basket.

"Mrs. Argus- a mirror!"- Regan

Comments RSS