Reanne Rostine

Lesson Plan

10/23/96

Topic: Patterns

Grade level: 1 (could be adapted for various grade
levels)

Objective: The student will be able to recognize,
create, and describe various patterns.

Goal: The child will understand pattems and look
for them throughout their mathematical


experiences.

Materials:

– lots – o – links

– unifix cubes

– recording sheet

The Lesson:

Anticipatory set: I would begin my lesson on patterns
by having the children pick out


patterns in the room. For example, floor tiles, wall
paper, clothing, etc. could be used as


examples. Through this sharing activity, I would
ask the children to explain what a pattern is


or what a pattern is not. This introduction would
both introduce pattems as everyday


occurrences, and also define them in words that the
children could understand because they


would be doing the explaining.

Activity: The activity that I would indude in this
lesson would involve the lots – o – links. The


activity would proceed as following:

1. Have the children select a partner and assign
each pair "A" or "B".

2. Pass out links to each pair in the class.

3. Have each pair create a pattern.

4. After a short period of time, enough to get the
pattern started,have the A’s pass their


pattems to the next pair of A’s, and have the B’s
pass their to the next pair of B’s.

5. Allow this group to try to figure out the pattern
and continue it. Then pass the patterns to


the next set of pairs.

6. Continue this until the patterns are resumed to
their creators.

7. Have each pair stand up and share their original
and ending patterns with the class.

Practice: Have the children create more pattems with
unifix cubes. Have them record their pattems by coloring in boxes
on the recording sheet to correspond to their pattern Also, have
the children find other patterns outside of the classroom, for
example, at home or on the playground.

Closure: Discuss with the class how patterns could
be helpful. For example, they can give us clues as to what will
come next (as in the links activity they did in class). With older
children, patterns with numbers would be introduced at this time.
Also, the children could take turns creating patterns and posting
them in the classroom for their classmates to figure out. This
would reinforce the concept of patterns throughout the year! Assessment:
Assessment in this lesson could be done while the children are
doing the activity. The teacher could discuss with the pairs how
they figured out the patter, what the pattern is, and how they
plan to continue the pattern, etc. Assessment could also be done
on the unifix recording sheet and examples brought in by the students.
Assessment would be informal as the teacher would need to look
for understanding of the concept of patterns.