Mathematical Emphasis
Investigation 3--Patterns

• Describing pattern sequences
• Predicting what comes next in a pattern sequence
• Constructing patterns from a variety of materials

Tips For Helping At Home
Questions To Ask:

• What is the problem about? Tell me in your own words.
• What did your teacher show you in class?
• Can you make a drawing (model) to show that?
• What have you done so far?
• What do you need to do next?
• Can you show it in a different way?
• How did you get your answer?

Helping At Home

• Children work out number problems by using real objects. At home try to provide a collection of small objects for counting, such as beans, buttons, or pennies.
• Your child will bring home number games this year. Play the games frequently. Find a safe place for your child to store game directions and cards.
• When working on problems at home, your child may use pictures, numbers, words, or a combination of these to keep track of the work. All are important ways of showing mathematical thinking. Let your child find his or her own ways to solve problems and record work.

Vocabulary Terms

Color Tiles

One inch colored squares

Cubes

Interlocking plastic cubes that can be used to build trains (a length of interlocked units)

Manipulatives

Objects that can be used to help solve problems

Pattern Blocks

Plastic colored shapes including triangles, squares, hexagons, diamonds (rhombus), and trapezoids

Unit

A set of individual items that repeat within a pattern ( aab , aab , aab )

Mathematics Vocabulary Web site

Mathematics Strategy—Seeing Patterns

Mathematics is called “the science of patterns,” for it is often used as a language to describe and predict numerical or geometric patterns. As students become aware that patterns exist in mathematics, they start seeing patterns everywhere and using them to make predictions.

In this book, children are learning to think about regularity and repetition. They look at pattern sequences of concrete objects and learn to represent the sequence with letters and symbols.

They learn to predict what comes next in any directions. They also learn to look for the unit that repeats.

Source: Investigations in Number, Data, and Space: Mathematical Thinking at Grade 1. Dale Seymour, 1998. (Page 65)

Mathematics Game—What Comes Next?

Materials

Small materials to make a pattern (buttons, coins, shells)

4-6 cups

Playing the Game

1. The first player builds a pattern using objects and covers the last 3 or 4 items with cups.



2. The second player looks at the pattern and predicts which object will be under the first cup.



3. If the guess is correct, player 1 reveals the object and the second player continues.



4. If the guess is incorrect, player 1 does not reveal the object and the second player must try again.



5. The game continues until the pattern is figured out.