Growing Patterns
I love doing a lesson on growing patterns at the beginning of third grade because it helps me learn a lot about where kids are in the math understanding and how they think. I started the lesson off by showing them a picture of the first two arrangements in a growing pattern.
I purposely start off by showing just a the first two arrangements because it leaves the problem fairly open and there are several correct answers. Then I ask kids to build the third and fourth arrangements in this growing pattern.
Before you look any farther..... Think about how you would solve this problem.
Now check out some of my students' responses.
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| Student A Response |
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| Student B Response |
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| Student C Response |
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| Student D Response |
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| Student E Response |
How many of the above responses can be justified as correct? Did you come up with a different way to do it? Respond in the comments below!
I just came across this older post of yours, Tara. I love the way you left it open-ended and discussed the options afterward. I've used a traditional cumulative pattern of cubes (columns of one, two, three, four...) when teaching story patterns, like "The Mittens I Wear in the Snow". The visual really helps kids grasp and apply the pattern in their reading and writing.
ReplyDeleteNice post - thanks! :)
Linda