COG: MATH 2: Classification

Child shows an increasing ability to compare, match, and sort objects into groups according to their attributes

Responding Earlier

Attends to people, objects, or events

Possible Examples

• Looks at people’s faces.
• Quiets in response to an adult’s voice.
• Closes hand around an adult’s finger.

Responding Later 

Interacts differently with familiar people and objects than with unfamiliar people and objects

Possible Examples

• Smiles at a familiar adult’s face or voice.
• Reaches for own special blanket or toy from home.
• Turns face away from an approaching  unfamiliar adult.

Exploring Earlier

Associates a person or object with another person or object, based on a similarity or relationship between them

Possible Examples

• Looks for the hammer that goes with the pounding bench.
• Looks at another child when the child’s parent walks into the room.
• Looks for baby bottle when playing with baby doll.

Exploring Later

Selects some objects that are similar from a collection of objects

Possible Examples

• Selects the shovels from among toys in the sandbox.
• Takes some apples out of a basket that contains apples and bananas while helping an adult prepare a snack.
• Picks out some train cars from a box of toys.

Building Earlier

Sorts objects into two groups based on one attribute, but not always accurately

Possible Examples

• Separates blocks into a blue pile and a green pile, leaving a few green blocks in the blue pile.
• Sorts rocks into two piles, big and small, after a neighborhood walk.
• Picks out toy trucks from a basket of toys and sets them on a nearby shelf, and then picks out toy cars from the basket and sets them on a different shelf.

Building Middle

Sorts objects accurately into two or more groups based on one attribute

Possible Examples

• Separates a pile of toy animals by kind (e.g., dogs, cats, and birds).
• Puts crayons, pencils, and markers into different containers.
• Sorts a group of big squares and little squares into two piles by using eye gaze to indicate where an adult should put each square.

Building Later

Sorts objects into two or more groups based on one attribute, then puts all the objects together and re-sorts the entire collection into new groups

Possible Examples

• Sorts buttons by color, and then sorts all of them again by shape or size.
• Sorts shoes based on color, and then re-sorts by type (e.g., slippers, boots, tennis shoes).
• Sorts flannel-board pieces by type (e.g., shoes, pants, and shirts), and then separates them by adult items and baby items.

Integrating Earlier

Sorts objects into groups based on at least two attributes, sometimes sorting by one attribute and then subdividing those groups based on a second attribute

Possible Examples

• Separates a pile of toy animals by kind (e.g., dogs, cats, and birds).
• Puts crayons, pencils, and markers into different containers.
• Sorts a group of big squares and little squares into two piles by using eye gaze to indicate where an adult should put each square.