Ganske (reading, Rowan U.), a former classroom teacher, provides a collection of about 200 reproducible word, picture, and letter sorts for use in K-3 classrooms or phonics, spelling, reading, and writing programs. These categorization activities serve as a way to improve children's understanding of how words work. Activities span the emergent, letter name, and within word pattern spelling stages, with a few that look ahead to syllable juncture. They include explanations, directions, and tips for using the sorts, as well as ideas from other teachers, literacy assessments, and techniques for working with Spanish-speaking English-language learners. A bibliography of children's literature is included as well as books that correlate to each activity. Annotation ©2007 Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)