Rich tasks
- Patterns in your life
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1. Patterns in your life
- Encourage students to find examples of patterns that they can describe.
Repeating patterns page 192
- Identify the ‘unit of repeat’ or core pattern to continue a repeating pattern.
- Create a repeating pattern.
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Teacher notes
- Before a student can continue a repeating pattern, they must identify the unit that repeats. This is sometimes referred to as the ‘core’ of the pattern.
- Students need lots of practice at describing and explaining how to continue a range of repeating patterns.
- Students should be encouraged to use the number of items in the repeating element or ‘core’, and match this with an additive or skip counting sequence to predict which part of the pattern will occur at a particular point in the sequence, rather than physically extending the pattern to this point. For example, for a pattern that repeats a triangle and circle, a student might use the 6th item (a circle), to predict that the 12th item would also be a circle, since 2 + 2 + 2 = 6 and 6 + 6 = 12.
Growing patterns page 196
- Identify the rule to continue a growing pattern.
- Create a growing pattern which follows a rule.
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Teacher notes
- It is very important that students draw or build a growing pattern with materials so that they notice what is added to form each new unit.
- A table is a useful tool for helping students track and recognise a growing pattern. As students transition to Level 3, they begin graphing ordered pairs (1,6) (2,12) (3,18) … from tables like these.
For example, the fish example from page 196 of the Student Resource Book could also be displayed like this.
| Number of fish | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | |
| Number of sticks | 6 | 12 | 18 | | | |
+6 +6 +6
Number patterns page 199
- Identify a rule to continue a number pattern.
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Teacher notes
- Students often recognise the increments of number sequences which align with familiar skip-counts. They may have difficulty when patterns begin with a different number, even though the increments are a similar size. Similarly, students can frequently add on to the end of a sequence but be less confident adding to the beginning or middle of a sequence.
Exposing students to a range of sequences with various starting points and gaps in a pattern develops flexibility as students become aware of different types of pattern. - Students, especially those who do not have a sound grasp of counting sequences, may be supported with access to materials like number lines, hundreds boards or thousands books. Access to a calculator also allows students to check or extend sequences beyond those they usually use.
