Math Problem Solving with Patterns

 

Children love patterns because they are super fun!  What they don't know is that they are an essential building block in their understanding about numbers. What starts out in Kindergarten as making pretty designs with pattern blocks or other items eventually leads to skip counting, repeated addition (and therefore multiplication and division), algebraic reasoning, and beyond! So it's important that children are provided with a solid foundation.

 

Last week I examined what the students understood about patterns by asking them to make a pattern on the feathers of a turkey. Most of the SK students successfully created a simple pattern.

 

 

The learning goal is for the students to recognize patterns in many different context. I want them to understand that red...red...green is the same as orange... orange...blue and the same as big... big... little.

 

We will be working in a small group and create the pattern with a variety of objects. This will not be a paper and pencil task, this will be an opportunity for the students to create and orally communicate their learning and understanding.

 

The first inquiry will be for the students to show and explain about the many different ways they can make the same pattern? The challenge will be for them to explain how they know it is the same pattern but a different way.