Year 2 Critical thinking: Autumn 1 worksheet

“Sorting by Rules” is free to print, with no account. It is the first sheet in the Year 2 critical thinking unit “Critical thinking: Autumn 1”, for children aged 6 to 7, and takes about 22 minutes.

Print it on A4. The child's pages come first; the answers, and what each wrong answer tells you, are on the grown-up page that follows. Weeks 1 to 6 of the year, 6 sheets in the unit.

Free sample · answers on the last page

Sorting by Rules

Name: ____________ · Date: ____________
Year 2 · Critical thinking · about 22 minutes
Answers are on the grown-up page

Today I can sort objects into groups using a clear rule, and explain the rule I used.

A Look back3 min

1.
This shape has 4 equal sides. Circle its name.
squarecircletriangle
2.
Circle the name of this colour.
redbluegreen
3.
This shape has 3 sides. Circle its name.
squarecircletriangle

B Watch me, then you4 min

Ola has a red spoon, a blue cup and a red button. She sorts them by colour.

Watch me

Rule: colour.

Red group: the spoon and the button.

Blue group: the cup.

Now you

1.
Mia has a green cup, a red cup and a green pen. Sort them into groups by colour.
green cupred cupgreen pen
Green Red

C Your turn7 min

Here are a big red apple, a big blue ball and a small red button. Sort them with the rule you are given each time.

1.
Read the three cards. Sort them by COLOUR. Write each one in a group.
big red applebig blue ballsmall red button
Red Blue
2.
Now sort the same three things by SIZE. Write each one in a group.
big red applebig blue ballsmall red button
Big Small
3.
Kai puts the apple and the button together. The ball goes on its own. Which rule did Kai use? Circle the best answer.
coloursizethings you can eat
4.
Make a new rule: things you can eat. Write each one in a group.
big red applebig blue ballsmall red button
Can eat Cannot eat

Say it out loud: Which rule did you use each time, and what changed when you swapped it?

D Spot the mistake3 min

A tray of buttons, some big and some small, in several colours

Sam sorts the buttons by colour. Mia sorts them by size. Sam says: “Only my way is right, so Mia is wrong.”

1.
Who is right? Circle the best answer.
Sam, because there is only one right way.Both can be right, because each one uses a different rule.Neither, because sorting is not allowed.

E Think deeper4 min

A wooden shelf with a pencil, a spoon, a lemon, a sock and a cup

1.
Look at the five things on the shelf. Make up your own sorting rule, sort them, and tell your grown-up why it works.

How did it feel?

I can do it Nearly Not yet

For the grown-up

Sorting by Rules · 2 minutes to read

Answers, and what a wrong one tells you

A

1. square

2. red

3. triangle

B

1. Red: red cup · Green: green cup, green pen your child may have put the green pen with the red cup, so the colours are mixed up. Ask: what colour is the pen?

C

1. Red: big red apple, small red button · Blue: big blue ball your child may have grouped the two big things together. That is sorting by size, not colour. Ask: what is the colour rule?

2. Big: big red apple, big blue ball · Small: small red button

3. colour your child may have picked size. The apple is big but the button is small. Ask: what is the same about them?

4. Can eat: big red apple · Cannot eat: big blue ball, small red button your child may have sorted by colour again. Ask: what would make a thing belong in the eat group?

D

1. Both can be right, because each one uses a different rule. your child picked Sam's idea that there is only one right way. Ask: which rule did Mia use, and does it work too?

E

1. Look for: A clear sorting rule that puts the things into groups, with one reason why the rule works.

Words to use

Say“What is your rule? Can you sort them a different way and still explain it?”

Instead of“Tell them the right answer straight away, so they never choose a rule for themselves.”

After the sheet

Gather six spoons, buttons or socks from the house. Sort them by colour, then by size, and ask which rule they liked best and why.

Tick what your child got right in StudyDen. Anything missed comes back in a later Look back box, so there's no need to redo the sheet.

The rest of this unit

5 more sheets come with a StudyDen plan, in teaching order:

Same and different animals(with a plan)
Precise Words, Clear Pictures(with a plan)
Agree or disagree?(with a plan)
Asking How Do We Know?(with a plan)
True, False or Not Sure?(with a plan)

Every Year 2 critical thinking worksheet

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