What if two words start with the same letter?

You look at the second letter, and if those are the same as well, the third. That is what the last two sets are for: cat, cliff, cow, crab and cub are settled by the second letter, and shed, shell, ship, shop and shut by the third.

Can a class get it wrong?

The board never says so. A full shelf is either in alphabetical order, and it says so, or it names the first pair that is the wrong way round, which is the thing to think about. There is no score and nothing is timed.

Why put the alphabet on the board?

Because a class needs it, and because a tool that sets a problem should help with it. The letters the words on the tray start with are marked, so the alphabet is doing the same job as jottings beside a sum.

Alphabetical Order

English · Year 1–Year 4

Drag the words onto the shelf in ABC order, with the alphabet to help.

About the abc order

Five words on a tray and a shelf to put them on. Drag a word to a place, or tap it to send it to the next empty one, and drag one already on the shelf to move it: dropped on a word that is already there, the two swap over.

The alphabet runs along the top of the board with the letters these words start with picked out. That is the working rather than decoration: a class ordering words is reciting the alphabet under their breath anyway.

Nothing is marked wrong. A full shelf that is out of order says which pair is the wrong way round, which is the rule a class has to apply: put cat before book and the board says book comes before cat.

The four steps are a progression, because alphabetical order is taught in stages: letters far apart, then letters next to each other, then words that start with the same letter and are settled by the second, then by the third. Sorting shed, shell, ship, shop and shut is a different job from sorting cat and dog.

Each step has three sets of five words in it, because the step is the lesson and five words is one go at it. They are behind the Words button, which is laid out as the four steps and says which set is on the board: a class that has ordered the c words can have the s words without changing the lesson.

Show me puts them in order for reading back, which is worth having when a class has argued themselves to a standstill. Start again takes them all off.

How to use it on your whiteboard

1Drag a word from the tray onto the shelf, or tap it to send it to the next empty place.
2Drag a word on the shelf onto another one to swap the two over.
3Fill the shelf and the board says whether it is in alphabetical order, or which pair is the wrong way round.
4Press the Words button for another five, or a harder step: the last two need the second and third letters.
5Press Show me to put them in order, or Start again to take them all off.

Questions

What if two words start with the same letter?: You look at the second letter, and if those are the same as well, the third. That is what the last two sets are for: cat, cliff, cow, crab and cub are settled by the second letter, and shed, shell, ship, shop and shut by the third.
Can a class get it wrong?: The board never says so. A full shelf is either in alphabetical order, and it says so, or it names the first pair that is the wrong way round, which is the thing to think about. There is no score and nothing is timed.
Why put the alphabet on the board?: Because a class needs it, and because a tool that sets a problem should help with it. The letters the words on the tray start with are marked, so the alphabet is doing the same job as jottings beside a sum.