Big, Medium and Small
This lesson is created to teach Pre-kindergarten/Kindergarten students to understand the similarities and differences of size (big, medium, and small) and how to categorize different sized items properly. Students will engage in a sorting activity to demonstrate their understanding of the lesson.
Common Core Standard:
PK.MATH.10. [NY-PK.MD.1.] Identifies measurable attributes of objects, such as length or weight, and describes them using appropriate vocabulary (e.g., small, big, short, tall, empty, full, heavy, light)
Materials & Preparation
- Colored Sorting Elephant Manipulatives (large, medium, small)
- Sorting Sheet
Activity:
1. I will stand in the front of the classroom and using a marker and 3 bins I will write the words, Big, Medium, and small. I will share with students and have them repeat after me each word so that they can familiarize themselves with the word written on each bin.
2. Next, I will take out various items such as books, blocks, cubes, cups, etc. of varied sizes. I will begin modeling for students by way of choosing 3 different items to represent each size (big, medium, and small) and asking them: "If I wanted to place each item in the correct category by size, where will each one go?"
3. Leading by example, I will choose different sized items at random and sort it. For instance: a large book in a large bin, medium sized cup in the medium bin, and small cube in the small bin. Next, as a class we will practice sorting the other items together. A video will be shown in class as well to further students' knowledge.
4) Upon doing this, students will now engage in independent instruction. Using a sorting sheet (labeled with 3 categories of Big, Medium, and Small) and Colored Sorting Elephant Manipulatives students will be instructed to sort each by size.
5. As students engage in individual instruction, I will ask questions such as: What size is it? Which category does it belong? What color elephants do we see? etc.
Other Resources:
Reflection:
I chose this task because it is a great way to build on the various developmental skills of students. This includes:
cognitive skills as they learn and understand how to critically think, understand similarities and differences of size, and exercise their ability to retain and recall information.
literacy skills as they familiarize themselves with the words, "big", "medium" and "small."
As students engage I will ask open ended questions to help further build their critical thinking skills.
This is really great, Adiyah! I love how you have constructed a math lesson without using any numbers at all - it is very elegant. And so perfect for your age group. This is such an interesting concept to think about - what does math look like before your students understand numbers? I was also wondering what would happen if you showed them another set of objects but the smallest one of those was the same size as the largest elephant - then you can talk about how big and small don’t always mean the same thing. There are a lot of ways to build on what you’ve done. Nice job!
ReplyDeleteThe content of this post is outstanding, the organization is easy to read, and clearly focused on the standard identified. As you continue to post, be sure to also include at least one Mathematical Practice Standard that your activity/lesson creates an opportunity for students to explore and demonstrate. Megan's comment is also spot on, this is an excellent learning opportunity for young students!
ReplyDeleteThis is great! I remember doing a lesson using the elephants for my 3K class. They loved it, plus they learned to identify not only size, but colors too. This is perfect for Pre-K and 3K.
ReplyDelete