Patterns and Games

This week we added to our collections of patterns, constructing pattern snakes from pattern blocks and "recording" our patterns with shape cutouts with markers to add details. It was interesting to watch the organizational "patterns" of the children, from the "visualizers" to the "step by step" constructors. We played a game of "what's next" and the children independently paired up to challenge each other with figuring out what comes next given a particular pattern that they constructed. We read books that had patterns to them, and as I left out the words they would fill them in, given the pattern of the previous page. The children constructed their own 1,2 patterns in hopscotch mode, and some added the embellishments of numbers, then demonstrated their pattern. As the year has progressed, I am able to spend just a few minutes demonstrating our open-ended games and activities and the children make their own choices, choose partners, and work cooperatively or independently until discussion time, when we gather to show each other our work. We are going to share our pattern work in a pattern museum, which will take more organizational skills!