From time to time we will add a new worksheet pack that you can download for free. Our previous download can be found here.
Sorting: picture cards
Our new download pack helps young children to sort and classify items (a science activity) and also to organize this information as a tree diagram (a visual literacy activity).
Grade level K-2
This introduction to the science topic living and nonliving is a classification activity in science for young children.
What's in this download?
The download includes three worksheets. The first two sheets provide color picture cards for you to paste on to cardboard and cut out. The final page is a blank grid on which to draw your own cards, if you wish to. There are 21 color cards, providing a mix of living and nonliving things:
How to use the picture cards
- Print out the sheets with the picture cards on them.
- If your printer allows, you can print the pages onto cardboard. Otherwise print onto ordinary paper, then paste the sheets onto cardboard.
- Cut out the cards by following the lines. Each card is 60x60 mm (2.5 inches square).
- Divide children into groups, and provide a complete set of cards to each group.
- Mix up the cards before handing them out.
- Ask children
to "Find all the animals," then "Find all the plants."
Group them as the "Living things."
- Note the cards that are left over. Discuss the opposite of living things, and provide some examples of nonliving objects, such as stones, coins, air, and water.
- Nonliving things can be of different kinds. Talk about the differences between solids, liquids, and gases. Ask children to find a picture of a liquid (such as water, mud, tears), then a solid (such as a rock), then a gas (such as bubbles, steam, or flames).
- On a large
sheet of paper draw a heading All sorts of things, and using a tree
diagram format, divide the sheet into living and nonliving. Divide
living into animals and plants. Divide nonliving into solids, liquids and
gases:
- Put this sheet on the floor. Ask children to place their cards in one of the empty squares on the diagram where they think they belong.
Why are we doing this?
This activity introduces young children to the science concept of classification, and the visual literacy concept of a tree diagram.
Tree diagrams help us to organize our ideas clearly by sorting them into groups and subgroups.
The nonfiction genre called an information report has the same structure as a tree diagram. Reports define and classify their subjects.
By introducing young children to tree diagrams, you are helping them on the way to writing reports that organize and classify the world.
More about the book All Sorts of Things can be found here.
Worksheets may be copied for your own classroom only. See our copyright page.
To download this worksheet pack
This is an Adobe Reader file. To view and print out this file you will need Adobe Acrobat Reader which is available (free) here:
Want more?
You can learn more about tree diagrams and information reports using the photocopiable pages in:
The Information Toolkit, pages 16 and 36
Dominie information Toolkit, pages 16 and 36
Show Me! pages 16 and 36
For a full contents list click here.
More about tree diagrams here.
