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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Snowflake Syllables - Winter Reading Center
Help students practice breaking words into syllables and identifying open and closed syllables with a winter literacy center.
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Penguin Syllable Sorting Activity
Count syllables to help these chilly penguins escape the frigid water by sorting them onto the correct ice floes.
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Community Helpers - Pictures/Posters
A set of 38 half-size community helpers picture posters showing different community helpers and where they work.
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Thanksgiving Picture Puzzles - Multiplication
Practice 1-digit multiplication facts with a fun set of Thanksgiving picture puzzles
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Government Types – Fact Cards and Sorting Activity
Review the different forms of government and sort them into different categories with this sorting activity.
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Sorting Activity - Hard and Soft Sound of C
Practice identifying the different sounds made by the letter C with this hands-on sorting activity.
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Which Letter? Sorting Activity - K or C
Practice identifying when to begin words with the letter K or the letter C with this hands-on sorting activity.
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Fall Parts of Speech Sort - Nouns Verbs Adjectives
Review three parts of speech by sorting nouns, verbs, and adjectives with a parts of speech sorting activity.
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Cut and Paste: Characteristics of Communities
Identify characteristics of the different types of communities (urban, rural, suburban) with a cut-and-paste sorting worksheet.
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Apple Activities - Short and Long Vowel Sort
Supplement your phonics lessons with an apple-themed initial sound sorting activity.
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Beginning Sound Sort - Apple Edition
Fall into letter-sound correspondence with this apple-themed letter/sound match-up center activity.
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Effects of Physical Location Sort
Help children learn how the environment affects those that live in a specific area with a sorting activity.
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Natural Landforms Sorting Activity
Identify the major landforms of the world with a sorting activity.
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Water Cycle Sort – Sorting Activity
Use knowledge of the steps in the water cycle to categorize examples with this sorting activity.
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Fall Math Center - Odd and Even Number Sort
Identify and sort 2- and 3-digit numbers into odd and even categories with a Fall math activity.
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Apple Barrel Blends - Sorting Center
Supplement your phonics lessons with a consonant blend “Apple Barrel” sorting center.
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Subitizing Sorting Activity
Practice recognizing the quantity of a small group of objects with this subitizing sorting activity.
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Tattling vs Telling Sorting Activity
Explore the differences between “tattling” and “telling” with this hands-on 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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Positive and Negative Coping Skills - Sorting Activity
Explore the difference between positive and negative coping skills with these real-life scenario sorting cards.
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Procedures Do's and Don'ts
Identify proper school and classroom procedures with this sorting activity.
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Prepositional Phrase Task Cards - Grades 3-4
Identify prepositional phrases and use them within sentences with this set of 20 task cards.
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How to Be a Good Citizen - Sorting Center
Grow a new batch of good citizens with a citizenship 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.
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Google Interactive S-Blends Activity
Help your readers practice their S-blend skills with fun, interactive Google Slides word-building activities.
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Google Interactive R-Blends Activity
Decode and spell r-blend words with phonemes gr, tr, br, cr, dr, pr, and fr.
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Do/Does Subject Verb Agreement Task Cards
Practice using DO and DOES correctly using a set of Subject-Verb agreement task cards.
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Government Services Sort
Provide students with practice identifying services provided by the government.
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Long Ago, Now, or In the Future Sort
Help your students develop a sense of history and how life, transportation, and communications have changed over time.
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Dressing for the Physical Environment Sorting Activity
Help children learn about dressing for the environment by sorting clothing items into categories for warm climate and cold climate.
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Nearest Inch, 1/4 Inch, 1/2 Inch Sorting Activity
Practice measuring to the nearest ¼ inch, ½ inch, and inch with this set of 20 sorting cards.
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Blending Phonemes Sorting Center
Master phoneme blending and segmentation with this phoneme sorting center activity.