FM.J Matching, Sorting and Selecting: Pre-academics
In this sequence, your child will begin to classify objects and pictures according to the concepts of colour, shape and size. One number activity is included, and at the end of the sequence you will find pre-reading activities in which letters and words are matched in a lot to game. These ‘pre-academic’ concepts relate closely to much of the work done in the early years at school, but they are just as important to leisure activities and to a child’s ability to communicate with others about shared experiences.
This sequence is usually started once the child has mastered the first 3 skills in Sequence FM.I: Matching and Sorting: Objects and Pictures. From that point, the 2 sequences, FM.I and FM.J, are taught in parallel.
Many of the skills in this sequence are taught using the Match-to-Sample game. We do not describe this game each time, but refer you to the general notes on page 2-31, Book 2, Chapter 3.
We will describe materials as we go; you will find that this is one of the easiest sequences for which to find a variety of suitable materials.
Below we list all the skills in this sequence.
2 - 3 years
3 - 4 years
- FM.J.108 Selects 3 shapes
- FM.J.109 Matches colours, choice of 4
- FM.J.110 Matches the colour pattern of 4 blocks
- FM.J.111 Sorts 2 sizes
- FM.J.112 Sorts 3 shapes
- FM.J.113 Sorts objects according to category
- FM.J.114 Pairs common objects by function
- FM.J.115 Selects colours, choice of 4
- FM.J.116 Sorts colours, choice of 4
- FM.J.117 Matches alphabet lotto, choice of 6
- FM.J.118 Matches word lotto, choice of 4
There are 2 general points to be made about this sequence of skills. Children always learn to match before they learn to select. But the position of sorting in this progression is less clear-cut. Sorting requires a different kind of skill; as well as a concept of colour, size or whatever, the child must be able to work independently – to persevere with a task without constant supervision. Some children are able to sort before they are able to select, while with other children, selecting comes before sorting. Assess your child on both selecting and sorting at the same time, where both are present within the sequence, and vary the order of the sequence to suit your child if necessary.
A second point is this. While most children find it easier to match and select shapes than to match and select colours, this is not always the case. Similarly, some children will be able to sort objects by category and function earlier than is shown above. Again, assess your child widely within the sequence before you begin teaching, and vary the order in which you introduce the items to suit your child’s individual areas of strength.