An activity for the Primary 1 & 2
students:
Set and Classification: LEARNING THE NAME SET
OBJECTIVE: To learn the meaning of the term set.
MATERIALS: After the children have had many sorting
and grouping experiences, use materials that are familiar (that they have used in sorting
and grouping activities).
ACTIVITIES:
- Show the children groups of things they have used,
such as crayons, cups, buttons, toy cars, blocks, and so on. Tell them, THIS IS A
SET OF (OBJECT NAME). Show three or four sets of different things. When you
have introduced several groups of things with, THIS IS A SET OF (NAME OF OBJECTS), then
point to each and ask: WHAT IS THIS? Always answer with YES, THIS IS A SET OF
(OBJECT NAME), whether they say set or not. Next point to each set and ask, WHAT IS
THE NAME OF THIS SET?
- As soon as the children use the name set to refer to
groups, present bunches of objects or pictures of objects as done before, and ask them to
find the sets. Use bunches of objects that can be sorted into at least three
different sets
FOLLOW-UP:
- Use the term set whenever you use classification
activities.
- Use the software TABLETOP JUNIOR to allow pupils to
explore different ways to organise data into SETS.
Resource: Charlesworth , Rosalind. Experiences in
Math for Young Children (3rd edition) (1996). Albany, NY: Delmar