Questions/instructions:
Put picture cards in numerical order before beginning activity (including names of countries). Some numbers will be missing. This activity needs a fair amount of space so you may want to set it up on the floor.
Ensure microphone is where students are working.
Countries have their own special features. For instance, New Zealand is known for Mori culture, sheep farming, beautiful scenery and kiwis, among other things. In this activity you are going to work together to sort information on 5 different countries.
Place the ordered picture cards in front of the students.
I want you to sort and arrange the cards in lines that make sense. As a group, talk about what you’re doing and why you are putting certain cards together. Make sure everyone agrees with the way the cards are being arranged and where they are being placed. You will see that there are numbers on the back of the cards, but these don’t mean anything for what you are going to do. You have 10 minutes to do this.
When students have finished say:
Now I want you to arrange your cards into columns and rows so that they make sense both ways - across, and up and down. Here are some labels to help you name your columns or rows.
Arrange the green labels in order A - G. Then put the labels in front of the students and allow time to sort.
When students have finished say:
Look at the farming pictures. I want you to talk in your group about why you have chosen to put those pictures where they are, and then tell me why you think they belong to particular countries.
Record where the students have placed the green labels by writing the actual label on the recording sheet.
You may turn the sheet sideways if that’s how they’ve made their array.
Then have students help you make a record of the picture cards by having a student turn them over one at a time and read out the numbers. Be careful to get the right numbers in the right rows and columns on the recording sheet.

Commentary
The 2001 teams did equally well classifying the cards into countries as their 1997 counterparts and a little better in classsifying the cards into categories such as maps, farming and sport.