Pros: Story, rhyme, activities, mystery, and creative sorting strategies
Cons: Nothing
The Bottom Line: Sorting and classifying encourages young children to develop organized thought and Sort it Out uses a clever and charming strategy to introduce this skill.
pestyside's Full Review: Barbara Mariconda - Sort it Out!
There comes a time early in a child’s life when they collect who knows what for who knows why but children do and collecting must happen. Then they classify and sort into groups for who knows why, but again they do and sorting must happen. It’s how they develop into thinking children. Barbara Mariconda’s book Sort It Out might nudge those young sorters with some new strategies.
Using a fast-paced, fun rhyme we meet a master sorter, young Packy the Pack Rat, who has just driven his mother to the end of her patience with his “collections” of discoveries. It is an ever-growing collection of trinkets and artifacts and they’re not in any order until she finally demands that he sort it out and now!
"Pack Rat collected a whole bag of stuff.
His mother said, Packy, enough is enough!
Empty that stuff you’ve collected today!
Then sort it all out and put it away.”
Today’s haul contained turtles, lockets, marbles, umbrellas, brushes, pinecones, clover, cherries and so much more. He looked and he looked and then began to group them. The sorting went something like this:
The turtle, the egg, and acorn that fell,
These are all things with a hard outer… shell
Rhyme and pictures help young readers predict the logic behind each of Packy’s groups. You guess,
The acorn, the pinecone, the cherry you see,
All of these things can be plucked from a ….
All the while he’s sorting and putting his treasures away, a mystery occurs. Items begin to disappear and all readers see is a small hand. It’s not until the end that we discover the humorous subplot and pilferer.
Barbara Mariconda’s strategy for teaching sorting is clever, creative and humorous. Sherry Rogers’ illustrations are bright and cheerful; her Pack Rat family is charming and will appeal to young children. The book and graphics are designed for three to five year olds. This book will enhance critical thinking skills, particularly in math. Children who are natural collectors will love the flow of the story as well as the strategy of Packy.
If your own children were pack rats ( I know mine were) and had strange little collections, for whatever reason, getting them to organize could be delightful and entertaining. What would be the logic behind a group that consisted of a dented tin kettle, a locket, or a needle? I liked watching Packy’s facial and body expressions as he pondered his choices such as the locket, book, and umbrella.
From Sylvan Dell
This book published by Sylvan Dell could simply stop with the story, but it doesn’t, there’s more. Creative Minds, a consistent feature in all of their books, dedicates five pages at the end to educational activities. Sylvan Dell invites readers back to the first page of the story to look for hidden items. Then they support sorting, categorizing, and classifying activities using “Packy’s Sorting Cards” that can be copied from the website (but also from the book). Another activity provides a sorting table to decide if something is non-living, animal, or plant.
Beyond the Book
Online at www.SylvanDellPublishing.com parents and teachers can further explore with a 22-page PDF of age-appropriate teaching activities. Question examples guide the reading while activities cover math, language art, science, and art. Learning Links enrich the curriculum and teaching with a few excellent online resources.
Rhyme clues build language skills and picture clues help with reading skills. The sorting and classifying combine to develop scientific thought and mental organization in very young children, but it’s appropriate. Picture clues support both and I found this such a valuable learning experience that I printed the teaching activities and promptly walked the book to my education department to use for preschool visits. The fun part is that nobody realizes how much they are learning because the story is so cute. That’s my kind of teaching!
Epinions.com periodically updates pricing and product information from third-party sources, so some information may be slightly out-of-date. You should confirm all information before relying on it.
- Add to My Yahoo!: 
- Add to Google Homepage: 
© 1999-2009 Shopping.com, Inc.