Sorting Activities for Teachers
Download printable sorting activities to help your elementary students practice grouping different items into categories.
With activities aligned with the Common Core curriculum and editable options, this teacher resource collection is stocked with hundreds of resources perfect for elementary and middle school teachers,
Each sorting and grouping resource in this teaching resource collection has been created by a teacher, and each resource has undergone a rigorous review by the teachers on the Teach Starter team to ensure it's ready to download and use in your classroom.
Choose from sorting activities for math, ELA, science or social studies with printable and digital options available! This collection also includes sorting activities that can be used for whole class, group or independent tasks.
Curious about how our teacher team uses sorting activities to keep kids engaged and make learning more fun? Read on for a primer!
What Are Sorting Activities?
Let's start with a definition. When we talk about sorting activities at Teach Starter, we're referring to hands-on activities for students that require them to identify, sort, and group different items into alike categories.
This tests recognition and helps students develop their problem-solving skills.
Are you mostly familiar with sorting activities for preschool or kindergarten? We have those, but you'll also find activities designed for older students from 1st and 2nd grade all the way up through 5th and 6th grade.
The goal is to strengthen students' comparison skills and deepening their understanding of a particular topic by sorting cards, playing games and often matching items.
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Things I Can and Cannot Control – Sorting Activity
Help students identify things in life they can and cannot control with this sorting activity.
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Picture, Word, Letter, or Sentence – Sorting Activity
Help your students distinguish between pictures, letters, words, and sentences with this sorting activity.
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Nouns Sorting Activity
Practice recognizing and sorting nouns into categories using these 24 picture common noun cards.
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Initial Sound Sorting Activity (s, a, t, p, i, and n)
A sorting activity to practice initial sounds regarding the letters s, a, t, p, i, and n.
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Author's Purpose SORT IT!
Analyze 24 text examples and determine which of the 5 purposes of writing each of the sorting cards belongs to.
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Punctuation in a Pouch - End Punctuation Sorting Center
A fun, marsupial-themed activity to help your students with editing and punctuation.
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Butterfly Life Cycle Sort
Help your students concrete their understanding of life cycles with this interactive game.
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Food Choices Sorting Activity
A sorting activity to help students recognize healthy and unhealthy foods.
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Uses of Materials Sorting Activity
A fun sorting activity for students to explore the materials objects are made of.
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Five Senses Sorting Activity
Explore the five senses with your little learners using a printable 5 Senses Science Sorting Activity.
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Winter Survival Adaptations - Sorting Activity
Match the animals with the behavioral adaptation that helps them survive the winter in this printable animal adaptation sorting activity.
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Time Sort - Morning, Afternoon & Evening Activity
Help your students learn about different times of day (morning, afternoon, and evening) with a Times of Day Sorting activity.
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Analyzing Situations Sorting Activity
Use this sorting activity with your students to practice analyzing situations for their problems, consequences and possible solutions.
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How Seasons Affect Plants and Animals Sorting Activity
Set up this sorting activity in your classroom to teach students how the seasons affect plants and animals by categorizing them.
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Rhetorical Devices Sorting Activity
Explore rhetorical devices with your students using this set of sorting cards.
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Jack and the Beanstalk Retelling Activity Cards
Teach your students about retelling with this set of sequencing cards for Jack and the Beanstalk.
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Focusing on Strengths Sorting Cards
Identify individual strengths with this set of strength vocabulary sorting cards.
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Classifying 3D Shapes Sorting Activity
Play this sorting game when learning how to classify 3D shapes according to their properties.
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Asking for Help Sorting Activity
Explore whether a question is an 'ask now' question 'wait' question with this sorting activity.
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Story Setting or Not? - Sorting Activity
Explore the difference between story settings and non-settings with this hands-on sorting activity.
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Word Building Bricks - Prefixes, Suffixes, and Roots Activity
Build, read and write multi-syllable words using prefixes, suffixes, and base words with a fun word-building literacy activity.
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Is It Magnetic? Sorting Activity
Use this sorting activity when classifying objects as magnetic or not magnetic.
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Famous Colonists Cut and Paste Worksheet
Show what you know about famous American colonists with a cut-and-paste Colonial Americans worksheet.
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Animal Classification Sort
Determine if an animal is an amphibian, reptile, mammal, or bird with this sorting activity.
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Singular and Plural Possessives Task Cards
Practice writing phrases using the correct singular or plural possessive noun with a set of task cards.
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Rotation vs. Revolution – Sorting Activity
Determine if examples are due to Earth’s rotation or revolution with this sorting activity.
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Author's Purpose Sorting Activity
In this author's purpose activity, students will sort 20 phrase cards into groups by identifying whether the text is meant to inform, persuade, or entertain.
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Numerical Expressions Sort!
Solve and sort numerical expressions according to different categories with this sorting activity.
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How Would I Feel? Sorting Activity
Develop emotional vocabulary using these real-life scenario cards.
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Natural Landforms Sorting Activity
Identify the major landforms of the world with a sorting activity.
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U.S. Land Features Sorting Center
Apply knowledge of the rivers, mountains, and physical features in the United States with a sorting activity.
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Good Citizens Around Town Sorting Activity
Discover how to be a good citizen at home, school, and community with citizenship for kids sorting activity.