Look at these two Irish animals: a robin and a salmon. How are they different? How are they the same?
Today we become animal sorters. We will look closely, choose a rule, and put living things into groups that share something we can see.
A feature is something we can see on an animal, like legs, wings or feathers. When we sort, we put animals that share a feature into a group. The sorting rule is the rule we pick for that sort.
Look again at the robin. It has wings. If our sorting rule is ‘has wings’, the robin goes in the wings group. The salmon does not show wings, so it stays out of that group.
Each group has six Irish animal cards: robin, frog, hedgehog, snail, salmon and bee.
Look carefully at every card. For each animal, notice: does it show legs? Does it show wings? What covering can you see (feathers, scales, shell, smooth skin, spines or hard body)?
Talk in your group. Do not sort yet — only notice.
Now sort your six cards into groups using one feature the whole group can see.
Choose one sorting rule together:
- legs or no legs
- wings or no wings
- covering (feathers, scales, shell, smooth skin, spines or hard body)
Place each card in a sorting space. Before we share, jot your sorting rule and which animals went in each group on a sticky note or scrap of paper and leave it on the desk.
On the board we will sort the same six animals with yes-or-no questions.
The cards on screen are: robin, frog, hedgehog, snail, salmon, bee.
First question: Does it have legs? Second question: Does it have wings? Call out where each animal should go, then we check the groups together.
Sort the Irish animals
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