Sorting by Attributes Worksheets

About this resource

Sorting is the first classification skill, and most sorting pages stop at "circle the red ones." This is a

complete kit for sorting by attributes: color, size, shape and number of sides. A child circles the match, finds

the one that does not belong, sorts the same pile two ways, writes how a group is alike, and cuts and glues

pictures onto a sort mat. It comes with a tracker, a class grid and a family update, so nothing has to be

written from scratch.

EVERYTHING INSIDE (33 pages)

• 18 student pages in 7 page types: Ways to Sort, My Sorting Words, Circle the Match, Which One Does Not

Belong?, Sort Two Ways, Write the Rule, and Cut and Glue

• 79 scored items on 16 pages, every answer counted from the shapes on the page, never typed by hand
• 41 cut-and-glue pieces on 5 sort mats (four mats with 8 pieces in two boxes, one mat with 9 pieces in three

boxes)

• 2 answer keys, generated from the same data as the student pages
• 1 tracker (page, page type, items right, date) and 1 whole-class progress grid
• 1 team note (a hand-off page between team meetings) and 1 home page (sorting a pile at home)
• 1 filled example (an invented student), 1 phrase bank (16 observable-language starters), 1 binder cover and

6 divider tabs with a spine label to cut out

• Start Here and a how-to-read-a-page page

The Page Types, Easiest First

1. Ways to Sort (starting): the same six shapes sorted four ways, by color, by size, by shape and by sides,

then the child sorts them a way of their own.

2. My Sorting Words (starting): a word mat with a picture for every color, size and shape, to keep beside

the child. It has a "They are all ____" line to write on.

3. Circle the Match, 4 pages (1 to 3 dots): circle every one that matches, then write how many. One page each

for color, size, shape and number of sides. On the color and size pages only that one thing changes; on the

sides page color and size change too.

4. Which One Does Not Belong?, 2 pages (1 or 3 dots): four shapes, one does not belong. Set A circles it and

writes its number; Set B also writes how the other three are alike, from a word bank.

5. Sort Two Ways, 3 pages (2 or 3 dots): eight shapes in a tray. Count the groups for one rule, then for a

second rule, then sort a new way of your own.

6. Write the Rule, 2 pages (2 or 3 dots): Set A circles the true sentence ("They are all small."); Set B writes

the word.

7. Cut and Glue, 5 pages (1 to 3 dots): a big sort mat with a labeled box for each group, and a strip of

pieces that touch edge to edge, so cutting is a few straight lines. Four mats sort into two boxes; the last

sorts into three.

Built For The Child Holding The Page

A big "My name" line, one short instruction, large rounded type, big answer boxes, and dots (not words or

colors) to show which level a page is. Nothing on a student page is written for an adult. Every shape is drawn

in the file; there are no photographs and no clip art.

No Guessing The Answer

Wherever a child picks among printed spots (the lettered sentence, which of four shapes is the odd one, the

order of the pieces on the cut strip), the position of the right answer is checked so it does not sit in the

same spot three times in a row. Each odd-one-out has exactly one way it can be different, so there is only one

right answer.

Type In, Or Print

The name line and every answer box are type-in fields in any PDF reader: click one, type, then save. The same

goes for the tracker, the class grid, the team note and the home page. This is a fillable PDF; it is not a

Google Slides or PowerPoint file. The pages where a child sorts or names by color (pages 7, 11, 12, 13, 14, 16,

17, 18 and 22) need a color printer or a color screen; every other question is about size, shape or sides.

Who This Is For

Kindergarten through 2nd grade classrooms, self-contained and resource rooms, and any teacher building

classification and early geometry language into a math block or center.

What This Is, And What It Is Not

A sorting-skills worksheet set with the record-keeping around it. It is not a timed test, a screener, a clinical

tool, or a claim about any student's age or rate of progress. There is no IEP goal language or eligibility

wording anywhere in the file.