Sort the Street

5157 /www/nrich/html/content/id/5157/ 1 2011-02-01T00:00:01 <?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?> <mdoxml version="1.0"> Here are nine of the houses in my street: <mdo:image alt="nine houses" height="500" src="houses.gif" width="351"></mdo:image> Find as many different ways to sort them into groups as you can. You may like to use this interactivity to drag the houses into groups. <mdo:flash height="400" id="/content/id/5157/houses.swf" width="550"><param name="allowfullscreen" value="true"></param><param name="allowfullscreen" value="true"></param> <param name="movie" value="/content/id/5157/houses.swf"></param> <param name="flashplayerversion" value="7"></param> </mdo:flash> </mdoxml> <?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?> <mdoxml version="1.0">This challenge seemed to give quite a few pupils things to think about and certain decisions to be made. Lydz and Lilz from Linton village college said; There are seven possible groups: $1$.colour of doors $2$.colour of roofs $3$.number of storeys $4$.amount of windows $5$.size of the windows $6$.placing of windows $7$.size of chimneys Kali from Burnside Primary of South Australia had a lovely way to show the results - well done for thinking that one out, I like that idea of presenting the answer with a kind of mind-map. <div style="text-align: center;"><mdo:image src="sort%20sol.jpg"></mdo:image> </div> <div>Lauren and Toby from Llandovery Prep School in Wales each sent in a solution like this: There are $3$ houses with green doors. There are $3$ houses with blue doors. There are $3$ houses with black doors. There are $3$ houses with $3$ storeys. There are $4$ houses with grey rooves. There are $5$ houses with red rooves. There are $3$ houses with small chimneys. There are $5$ houses with big chimneys. There are $3$ houses with a line of symetry. There are $3$ houses with $3$ windows. There are $6$ houses with $5$ windows. </div> <div>Georgia fromBrewers Hill Middle School sent in the following; colours : $3$ green $3$ black $3$ blue height: $3$ tall houses $6$ short houses multicolour: green,blue,black $3$ roof colour: $4$ grey roofs $5$ red roofs windows: $3$ windows = $3$ houses $5$ windows = $6$ houses Well done all of you and if you are looking at this challenge and the solutions for the first time maybe you could find other ways of doing the sorting. </div></mdoxml> <?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?> <mdoxml version="1.0"><div class="embed"> <h2>Sort the Street</h2> Here are nine of the houses in my street: <mdo:image alt="nine houses" height="500" src="houses.gif" width="351"></mdo:image> Find as many different ways to sort them into groups as you can. You may like to use this interactivity to drag the houses into groups. <mdo:flash height="400" id="/content/id/5157/houses.swf" width="550"><param name="allowfullscreen" value="true"></param><param name="allowfullscreen" value="true"></param> <param name="movie" value="/content/id/5157/houses.swf"></param> <param name="flashplayerversion" value="7"></param> </mdo:flash> </div> <h3>Why do this problem?</h3> <a href="http://nrich.maths.org/public/viewer.php?obj_id=5157&part=index">This problem</a> is ideal for children to work on in pairs or small groups as this will encourage them to talk about what they are doing, which is a great assessment opportunity for you. Its open-ended nature is a reason in itself to try it in the classroom. Some pupils may surprise you with their inventiveness! <h3>Possible approach</h3> <div>To introduce the problem, invite the children to chat in pairs about what they notice about the houses. Then, sort the houses according to a particular criterion using the interactivity and invite the class to work out how they have been sorted. This will help them to grasp the focus.</div> <div>Give each pair cards of the nine houses, (you can print off copies of either <a href="/content/id/5157/Sort%20the%20Street%20-%20Houses.pdf">this pdf</a> or this <a href="/content/id/5157/Sort%20the%20Street%20-%20Houses.doc">Word document</a>, laminated and cut out for long-term use) so learners can physically sort the houses into groups. Children could record their different groupings in some way, perhaps by making a collective record on the board or on a large sheet of display paper. You could also use the interactivity to share ideas.</div> <div>It is important to recognise children's reasons for groupings. Any way of sorting the houses is valid, as long as a good explanation of the categories is given. You could round off the lesson by playing "odd one out". Drag four of the houses into a space and ask pupils to say which is the odd one out. Can they give reasons for any of the other houses to be an odd one out too?</div> <h3>Key questions</h3> <div>What is the same about these houses? Are there any others like that?</div> <div>Why have you grouped the houses in this way?</div> <h3>Possible extension</h3> <div>Some children will enjoy the challenge of finding two or more criteria which fit some houses, perhaps also extending to more than two groups. For example, rather than just "these houses have five windows" and "these houses don't have five windows", some might say "these houses have five windows and are tall"; "these houses have five wondows but aren't tall/are short" and "these houses don't have five windows".</div> <h3>Possible support</h3> <div>You could model one way to approach this activity by taking two houses and asking what the same is about them, as suggested in the key questions. Children can then add more houses to the pair by looking for those that fit this criterion.</div> </mdoxml> <?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?> <mdoxml version="1.0"> What do you notice that is the same about some houses? How are other houses different? You could print off this <a href="/content/id/5157/houses.doc">sheet</a> and cut out the pictures to help you organise the houses if you don't want to use the interactivity. </mdoxml> <?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?> <mdoxml version="1.0"> e.g. 3/5 windows; blue/green/black doors; grey/brown rooves; identical/different windows; door in centre/door at side; 3/2 storeys etc etc Previous to 2013 solutions What a lot of responses we had to this problem! You found so many ways to sort the houses. A group of children from Herman First School wrote to us to say: We found 10 groups: roof colours 2 groups door colours 3 groups floor 2 groups window numbers 2 groups chimneys 1 group number of doors 1 group wall colour 1 group window size 2 groups number of floors 2 groups chimney size 2 groups I'm not sure what you mean by floor - perhaps others could explain? Maybe it is the same as "number of floors"? I guess that there is only one group for "chimneys", "number of doors" and "wall colour" because all the houses are the same in these respects, in other words they all have one chimney, one door and the same wall colour. Lucy from Oaklands Infants found some other ways: I sorted the houses into 3 groups because they were different styles: one group of 3 had 3 windows on 2 floors and a door on the right hand side; another group of 3 houses had 5 windows on 2 floors and a door in the middle; another group of 3 houses had 5 windows on 3 floors and a door on the right hand side. I sorted the houses by the position of the doors:one group of 6 houses had the door on the right hand side and another group of 3 houses had the door in the middle making it symmetrical. Gabby from Mason High School also noticed that you could sort the houses according to the steepness of their roofs. Perhaps there are more ways to sort this street? I'm sure there might be if we looked carefully! </mdoxml> 2 3 1 0 0 0 0 Sort the Street Sort the houses in my street into different groups. Can you do it in any other ways? Information and Communications Technology Interactivities Handling, Processing and Representing Data Sorting data Using, Applying and Reasoning about Mathematics Investigations Admin Lower primary mapping document