Sink or Float Sort Task Box

About this resource

EVERYTHING INSIDE — 22 pages

• 25 picture cards in 9 rounds across 3 levels (12 things that sink, 13 things that float), each

round boxed to cut apart as a strip

• Every card twice: a full-color set for a laminated classroom box and a black-and-white ink-saver

set for the photocopier

• 2 sort mats (color and ink-saver) with two labeled bins, SINK and FLOAT, six card slots each
• An answer key listing every round by level, plus the full word list
• A task box data sheet (date, level, rounds given, cards correct, cards given, percent, help given,

initials)

• A percent graph, with a level box under each session
• A filled example — an invented student ("Talia"), 8 sessions, every percent re-counted from its

own row

• A family practice page with six cards and a mini mat
• A phrase bank: 25 lines in 6 groups (spoken lines for running the box, written starters for the

note afterward, and a handoff group for a paraprofessional) — re-counted against the rendered

phrase bank page (page 21)

• Start Here, a contents page with page thumbnails, and a "what's next" back page

HOW THE SORT WORKS — every SINK card is something denser than water (a rock, a key, a hammer, an

anchor, a paperclip); every FLOAT card is something that floats on water (a duck, a leaf, an apple, a

soccer ball). Nothing about the pairing is a look-alike trick — a child sorts by what the object

actually does in water, not by color or category.

A task box that comes with its own data. Most sort sets stop at the cards; this one adds the data

sheet, the graph and the phrase bank behind them, so independent work practice turns into a line on a

page a case manager can bring to a meeting.

The Three Levels

• Level 1 — 4 rounds of two cards: one thing that sinks beside one thing that floats (a rock and a

duck, a hammer and a feather). The first sorts are nearly impossible to get wrong.

• Level 2 — 4 rounds of three cards. The split alternates — two rounds carry two sink cards, two

rounds carry two float cards — so a child looks at each card instead of counting.

• Level 3 — 1 round of five cards, cut in a single row, split two sink and three float.

Nothing on a card says its level except a dot code in the corner (one, two or three dots), so a

mixed-up box sorts itself back together and nobody at a shared table can see who has the two-card

rounds.

The Words

• Float (13): apple, banana, boat, duck, feather, leaf, lemon, life ring, soccer ball, sponge, thong

sandal, watermelon, wood

• Sink (12): anchor, brick, hammer, key, magnet, nut and bolt, paperclip, rock, saw, scissors,

screwdriver, spoon

• Mat icons (never cards): octopus, water wave

No word repeats anywhere in this box.

What This Is, And What It Is Not

It is a fillable PDF: type into the data sheet, the graph header, the family page and the

example-style notes, or print and use a pen. The card pages and mats print on cardstock or plain

paper and cut along dashed lines. It works offline with no account or subscription. It is NOT an

editable online slideshow or word-processor document, and it is not a test of anything.

It carries no prompt hierarchy, fading schedule or mastery rule, and it does not decide what a

percent means for a student or when to move up a level. The goal line and the criterion field are

blanks for your district's own wording and your team's own number. It measures one thing: cards

placed in the right bin.

Who This Is For

Special education teachers and paraprofessionals running independent work stations or task box

rotations with early or pre-reading students, case managers who need that practice to show up as

data, and the families who get the practice page sent home.

More In The Collection

This is one of several sets in the Task Box Collection; more sort and matching boxes are being added

to the collection regularly, all on the same cards-plus-data shape. It is also a candidate for the

Task Box Collection Bundle.

Pictures (color pages): Noto Emoji by Google, Apache License 2.0. Pictures (ink-saver pages): Fluent

Emoji, Copyright (c) Microsoft Corporation, MIT License.