The purpose of this activity is for students to describe and compare shapes they see in the classroom. Students are given a shape to look for in the classroom. In the Activity Synthesis, students are introduced to what it means to sort. Students work in groups to sort shapes in the next activity.

• “If you found an object that looks like Shape A, place it here.”
• Invite students to place their object on one part of the carpet or table.
• “If you found an object that looks like Shape B, place it here.”
• Invite students to place their objects on a different part of the carpet or table.
• “What is the same about the objects in this group?” (They all look like Shape A. All are circles. All have round sides.)
• “What is the same about the objects in this group?” (They all look like Shape B. All are rectangles. All have straight sides.)
• “We put our objects into two groups based on things that are the same about the shapes. Putting things in groups based on how they are alike, or the same, is called sorting.”
• “Let’s figure out how many shapes are in each group.”
• Invite students to count the shapes in each group. Demonstrate writing a number to show how many objects are in each group.
• Display an object that looks like a rectangle, such as a pencil holder.
• “Into which group do you think I should put this object? Why do you think that?” (It should go in this group because it looks like a rectangle. It has straight sides.)

The purpose of this activity is for students to sort shapes into categories and to consider and describe attributes of shapes. Students were introduced to sorting in the previous activity. This is the first time students sort into categories of their choosing. The standards ask students to sort shapes into given categories, so if groups are having trouble thinking of categories to use to sort, suggest two categories that students can use (for example, has 4 sides and does not have 4 sides). Students will sort shapes into given categories in future lessons. When students choose categories for their sort they identify and describe shape attributes (MP6).

• Invite at least two groups of students to share their sorts.
• “Why did they put these shapes together? What is the same about these shapes?”

The purpose of this activity is for students to choose from activities that offer practice with number and shape concepts.

Students choose from any stage of previously introduced centers:

• Which One?
• Picture Books
• Bingo
• Shake and Spill

• “How did you and your partner work together to decide which centers to choose?”