Make A Venn Diagram
Age group
- Early Years (Age 3 to 6)
Curriculum Goal
Kindergarten: Demonstrating Literacy and Mathematics Behaviour
Collect, organize, display, and interpret data to solve problems and to communicate information, and explore the concept of probability in everyday contexts (#19).
Related Links
Context
- Small groups of two to three students with a teacher sitting at a table.
- Students should have previous experience sorting by multiple attributes.
Materials
- Venn Diagram template for each student (Appendix A)
- A variety of sorting materials (e.g., buttons, shapes, coins, beads, etc.)
- Pencils
- Camera
- Written prompt (Appendix B)
Lesson
- Show students the sorting materials (e.g., buttons, shapes, coins, beads, etc.).
- Ask students to choose one material they want to use for the activity.
- Then ask students to decide on two different sorting attributes (i.e., colour, size, kind).
- Provide students with the Venn Diagram template and a handful of their chosen material.
- Ask students to sort the provided materials by the two characteristics they selected (e.g., colour and size).
- If students come across a material that has both chosen characteristics, they need to put it in the middle section of the Venn diagram.
- Once students sort all the materials take a picture and print it.
- Continue the activity by asking students to explain their Venn diagram by completing the written prompt explaining which characteristics they sorted by (Appendix B).
Look Fors
- Do children understand the idea of sorting by multiple attributes?
- Can children explain their sorting decisions?
- What techniques do children use when sorting? Can they easily sort by more than one characteristic?