Since we do home preschool, I have lots of early readers. I decided to have them to sort the books and arrange them by main subject.
Early Reader Book Sort:
You will need:
- A variety of books (early readers or otherwise)
For this activity, all you need is a variety of books. Have your preschoolers sort the books by category.
Possible ways to sort the books:
- Main subject. The categories that emerged for us were animals, people, transportation, insects and outer space.
- Sight words such as ‘the’ and ‘a’ in the title
- Books that start with letters A, B or C, then D, E or F etc.
- Main color of the cover
- Number of words in the title
- Author
- Series (such as Frog and Toad or Fancy Nancy)
Once you are done sorting, have the children count how many were in each category and figure out which one had the most and the least. You could also have them do a simple bar graph showing the differences. We discovered that animals were the subject of the majority of our books followed by people, transportation, insects and the solar system. It is fun for them to look at books you already have in new ways.
Here are some of our preschoolers favorite Early Readers:
(Affiliate Links)
- Sleepy Dog by Harriet Ziefert
- No More Monsters for Me! by Peggy Parish
- Dragon Egg by Mallory Loehr
- Oh No! by Scharlaine Cairns
- Mud! by Wendy Cheyette Lewison
- I Like Bugs by Margaret Wise Brown
- Little Bear by Else Holmelund Minarik
- Frog and Toad are Friends by Arnold Lobel (and others from this series)
- Just Me and My Dad by Mercer Mayer
10 + Tips for Reading with Special Needs Kids by Life Over C’s
Cerys Parker says
This is great and I know my kids would use it to set up their own mini library system as well.
Natasha Johnson says
This will be a great idea so they can fix their library if hooks for the week.
Growing Book by Book says
As a teacher I had my class sort our books. It really helped with ownership and keeping our library organized. Plus, they learned a lot about categories too.
Danielle Buckley says
This is a great way to teach various math concepts with the something most parents already have on hand at home!
WorkingMomMagic says
What a fun idea.. Mila loves organizing toys so I think she would really like this!
Theresa says
Hi Cerys.
That would be a great idea. They could continue to keep their books organized with their system.
: 0 ) Theresa
Theresa says
Hi Natasha.
That would be great for organizing for the week.
: 0 ) Theresa
Theresa says
Hi Growing Book by Book.
That is wonderful that you had your class sort books. It does give them a different feeling about the books when they interact in new ways.
: 0 ) Theresa
Theresa says
Hi Working Mom Magic.
I hope Mila enjoys trying this out some day. Our kids had a lot of fun.
: 0 ) Theresa
Theresa says
Hi Danielle.
It is great when we can use what we already have at home for learning. It beats going to the store (and spending more money).
: 0 ) Theresa
Terri Lynn Grothe says
This is great, I am gonna look into getting one for my neice's
Theresa says
Hi Terri Lynne.
The books are great and are thin and inexpensive. We always keep early readers in the car too as they easily tuck into the pockets behind the seats.
: 0 ) Theresa
Meredith says
I love this idea! We have so many books, and it would be great to use them in a new fun way. I'm going to give this a try with my little guy!
Theresa says
Thank you Meredith.
I hope your little guy enjoys this activity!
: 0 ) Theresa
Holly Hauck says
Love this idea! My daughter is an organizer so she will love this! Visiting from Mommy Crusaders Link party.