Book Sort
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Approach:  One to one
ACCESS
Level: Year 4 and year 8
Focus: Sorting books by classification  
Resources:
8 book covers (labelled A-H), recording book
348Kb
Questions/instructions:  

Put the book covers in order using the letters (A-H) on the backs. Hand the student the book covers.

Imagine that these are real books and that you are helping to put them back in their right place in a school library.
[Fiction: A, C, D, F
Non-Fiction: G, H, E, B]

[Click on graphic to enlarge.]




% responses
2009 ('05)
y4
y8
1. Look carefully at the information on the covers, then sort them and put them into order for putting on the library shelves.
Allow time for student to sort books.
responses showed that student correctly divided the books into fiction and non-fiction, and then placed the books into correct order within these categories (alphabetical for fiction, by Dewey number for non-fiction)
20 (29)
49 (44)
as above, except non-fiction was in alphabetical order by author rather than in Dewey number order/ B, G, H, E
1 (0)
0 (0)
separated fiction and non-fiction but not in order
31 (36)
33 (34)
2. Can you tell me why you have arranged them that way?

If the student hasn’t divided the books into fiction/non-fiction, ask: Can you sort the books into fiction (story books) and non-fiction? Allow time for student to sort the books.
non-fiction and fiction not separated correctly in response to question 1, but separated correctly after explicitly requested to do so
19 (11)
9 (14)
fiction and non-fiction not correctly separated, even after prompting to do so
29 (25)
9 (8)
 

Total score:
4
20 (29)
49 (44)
3
1 (0)
0 (0)
2
31 (36)
33 (34)
1
19 (11)
9 (14)
0
29 (25)
9 (8)
Subgroup Analysis [Click on charts to enlarge] :
Year 4
Year 8
Commentary:
This was a difficult task for the year 4 children, but about half of the year 8 children were able to successfully complete the task. Differences by ethnicity were small in both years, but year 8 girls performed substantially better on this task than year 8 boys.