Which Season Is It?

Four numbered cards fill this kindergarten seasons page, two across and two down. Each card shows three pictures that all come from one season, and under them a row of four small season signs: snowflake, flower, sun, leaf. On this print card 1 has a tent, a watermelon slice and a beach, card 2 a snowman, an ice skater and a skier, card 3 a tulip bud, a tulip and a nest of chicks, card 4 an acorn, a pumpkin and a basket of apples. The child looks at the three pictures together, decides which season they share, and circles that sign. Each card is a different season, so all four signs get used once.

Where the base page sorts one picture at a time, this face asks the child to read three at once and find what they have in common, which is a step up in reasoning. One picture on its own can be argued (a basket of apples could be Summer), but three together settle it, and the child learns to look for agreement. The signs carry no name, so the page also checks that the snowflake, flower, sun and leaf are now attached to the seasons in the child's mind and not just to the word beside them.

A one-sheet color print. Cover the answer row with a finger and have the child say the season before circling, then compare. The four seasons sort page is the warm-up if the signs are still unfamiliar, the seasons what does not belong page is the mirror task where three agree and one intrudes, and the season wheel turns to the order of the seasons.