Let's Sort This Out

Please don't pass out - yes, this girl has posted twice within a week. Get out of town, right? Yesterday I finished up my summer coursework.  I finished my Masters last year and I am trying to maintain the momentum to keep moving over lanes in my district. I set a goal that if I finished the coursework, I would reward myself with a little classroom shopping. That coursework is in the mail and I am ready to shop. Yeah! 

I plotted which stores I would hit and in which order. Favorite stop of the day? Dollar Tree. I went in there with a mental list, but found some bonus items. 

These chip trays are by far my favorite bonus item. 

I bought four blue and four white. I had planned on just buying one color, but a very friendly store worker did her job and helped convince me I needed both. 

So you might be asking yourself right now how I am going to use chip trays in my Kindergarten classroom. The answer? They make the best sorting trays ever! I put a group of mixed items in the center and then let students figure out how they want to sort the items. We will have worked on the different ways to sort such as by color, size, shape, etc. These "free sorts" - where the students are in charge - provide me with so many insights into my students' thinking. I love it when when unexpected leaders pop up or when a student thinking outside of the box is actually visible. These lil' tidbits are pure joy to me and are one of reasons I love teaching. 

So, back to the colors. Like I said, I was only going to get one color. But now I must admit something - I am quickly become slightly possessed with little fun erasers. They provide great fine motor opportunities for my Kinders and my kiddos get such a kick out of them. The erasers just make learning a little bit cooler. I can even up the fine motor element by adding tongs. Well, while I was in Dollar Tree, I found some new erasers to add to my collection.  I snagged some cute school erasers and some funky, slightly punky erasers I think my girls will love. 

Back to the trays. As I was placing the erasers in the trays, The store worker and I realized the school erasers just didn't stand out enough in the white tray. They actually kind of got lost. And the colored ones stood out so much better in the white try so...I had to get both. 

I now have sorting trays that I can use with any of the erasers in my collection. Wala!