Did
you collect anything when you were a child? Do you have a collection now?
When you collect things, you need to decide what belongs in the collection
and what does not. Children who create a leaf collection or a bug collection
are learning other things, too. They are learning how to classify leaves
and insects by putting them into groups. When you plan meals for your
family or your childcare program, you are using classification, too. Deciding
whether a food is a bread, vegetable, or dairy product is classification.
Putting together things that are the same
is called classification. When children classify, they are using information
about what is the same and what is different. This learning happens over
time. At first, children classify items based on how they look, sound,
and feel.
Children first group things by appearance.
Young children may believe that a ball and a head of lettuce go together,
because they are both round. A child may learn the word “doggie”
after petting one. The next day he may see a cat and say “doggie,”
because they are both animals with four legs. An apple and a stop sign
go together, because they are both red.
Young children also learn that things
can sound the same or different. Babies learn very early to recognize
people’s voices. As they get older, they learn that some musical
notes are the same, and some are different. They like poems, because some
of the words sound almost the same.
Later, children learn that some things
belong together because of what they do or how they are used—their
purpose. An umbrella and a newspaper could be classified together because
they can protect you from the rain. A birthday card and a newspaper may
be the same, because you can read both of them. But they don’t look
alike.
Sorting things in a simple or complicated
way
Children follow a predictable
pattern when they learn to sort. You can observe that children first
develop basic sorting skills. With time and practice, they develop more
complicated sorting skills. When they are very young, children group things
that look very similar. They usually concentrate just on color or shape.
By three years old, most children can sort objects into groups that belong
together in the real world. For example, children can put toys that belong
together in the same group. They can put all of the toys that are musical
in one group, all of the kitchen toys in another group, and all of the
tool-type toys in another group.
Children sometimes get confused when they
look at just one feature of an object. Children can be asked to sort blocks
or beads by both color and size. That is, you may ask them to put the
large red and blue beads in one container and the small red and blue beads
in another. Most children are able to do this by ages 4 or 5. Before they
learn this, they may get confused and put the blue beads together and
the red ones together. As children are learning about sorting they will
sometimes need help.
Why should I care if children learn
to classify or not?
Saving time
Classifying saves people a lot of time. Think of a filing cabinet with
hundreds of files. Information is easy to find when it is organized in
a way that makes sense to the user. The office manager of a doctor’s
office organizes the patient’s files alphabetically by their last
name. Any file that is needed can be found almost instantly. But if hundreds
of files were scattered and stacked without any order, it would be very
hard to find a file you needed.
Children can also save time when their things are classified. It helps
them to have all of their Legos together and all the play dishes together.
It helps them to know that their underwear is in one drawer and their
pants are in another drawer. Then they do not need to look through big
piles or boxes to find things.
Being practical
Adults need to classify many things in everyday life:
• What kinds of clothes are appropriate
for the weather?
• Where are things you need in the
grocery store?
• How do you use the yellow pages?
• Which toys are for which kids at
the park?
Children can learn to do these things, too. They can learn how to sort
things, help their parents or childcare providers, and prepare for their
own adult lives at the same time. You and the parents can work together
to help children learn these things.
Staying safe
Classifying helps people be safe. Children need to learn that some categories
of things are safe and some are not safe. This is more efficient than
teaching them that many individual things are safe or unsafe. For example,
a container of parmesan cheese looks similar to a household cleaner. A
child who sorts things only by appearance could be confused.
This is why many parents will put bright stickers (such as
“Mr. Yuk” stickers) on unsafe things. That way their children
know that it is dangerous for their bodies. When a child sees a green
can of Comet cleanser under the sink that looks like the green can of
parmesan cheese in the refrigerator, the Mr. Yuk sticker will help him
know that it is not safe.
Talking with parents
Classification happens naturally every day. When parents ask what their
children are learning, you could talk about classification. You could
tell parents how their children are learning to sort things. As parents
look around your childcare setting, they may wonder what the different
learning centers are for. You could post signs explaining what children
are learning at each center. Another good way to talk to parents about
classification is to send activity ideas home.
Most parents already do things with their children that help them to learn
about classification. However, many parents do not realize that their
children are learning how to do this. As a provider, you can help parents
understand how they can turn everyday activities into learning experiences
for their child. Some times they can do this are setting the table or
cleaning up a room.
Help parents realize that it is important for them to say out loud what
they see their children doing. When their children are exploring and discovering,
the parents can “narrate.” Give the parents examples of how
to do this. For example, if they see their child sorting blocks into piles
of red and blue, they can say what they see. They could say, “Wow!
I see that you put all of the red blocks together and all of the blue
blocks together.” Tell parents that this helps children think about
what they are doing.
Tell parents about the classification activities you are trying in your
program. Ask them what they try at home. Maybe you can each use some of
the ideas you share together.
Classification problems for beginners
As children are trying to figure out what is the same and
what is different, sometimes they make “rules” that are too
broad. For example, you may have seen a two-and a half-year-old who loves
balls. That child may think that any round object is a ball. So when she
sees an orange, she may pick it up and say, “ball” and then
throw it across the room. She is putting the orange in the “ball”
category. The “rule” she made was too broad. Rule: “round
things are balls”
As a provider or parent, adults can say to her, “Yes, the orange
is round, just like a ball, but you may not throw the orange.” The
adult can go on to explain how balls and oranges are alike and different.
As she learns more, the child will be able to put oranges and other things
into the correct category.
Collections
Children like to practice classifying and sorting. Young
children can sort shells, cookies, doll clothes, and many other things.
It is important for children to have collections. School-age children
can collect rocks, coins, or stickers. A child can sort rocks by size,
shape, color, or type. Coins can be sorted by year, value, or size. Children
can rearrange their collections over and over into different groups. This
is good practice for children. It is good for them to come up with possible
categories and to try to fit each object into a category.
Ideas for activities and lessons
• Give children different kinds of
beans, pasta, or buttons. Ask them to sort the items. Watch what the children
do and
comment on their sorting “rules.
“ For example, you might say, “Oh, I see you have the small
buttons together, the
medium buttons together, and the
large buttons together.”
• Think of three groups of people
(such as men, women, children), foods (such as dessert, breads, vegetables),
furniture
(such as chairs, tables, beds), or
other items. Ask children to find pictures from magazines that fit each
of those
groups.
• Yahooligans
has many sites about collecting stamps, insects, and coins. There are
also sites about collecting leaves,
shells, fossils, stickers, yo-yo’s,
candy wrappers, etc.
• Rader’s
Kapili has information on biology and astronomy for children who are
in third grade or older. Information on this
site helps children to learn about
different types of scientific classification.
 Same
and different
Go to: •
Shapes
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Size
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