Do you ever find yourself doodling on a note pad, only to notice that you had made a pattern or picture without even realizing it? Patterns are present in many aspects of our lives. My daughter loves to draw and will make sure that her colors repeat exactly the same when she is creating certain projects.
This Spring I was able to teach my first lesson plan in my mentor’s kindergarten classroom. I had been in the classroom all year, which made it easier to interact with the students and know their capabilities. I planned with the teacher to do a lesson introducing the five senses, and I specifically focused on the sense of touch. After reviewing and tweaking the plan I was finally ready to roll.
The project portion of the lesson was to integrate their sense of touch and different textures by creating a 3-pattern on a strip of paper. I had prepared small 1” pieces of sponge, bubble wrap, cotton balls, colored popsicle sticks, ribbon, felt fabric, scouring pad, buttons, and Easter grass. The students were to pick 3 textures and repeat them in a 5 x 17 strip of colored paper and be able to recite to an adult what their pattern was. Some of the students were struggling with the concept of this at first. The children were fully capable of patterning at this point of the year when they were using similar objects, for examples colored stickers or blocks. When I threw in the factor of different textures and sizes they couldn’t completely remember on their own what a 3 pattern was. The teacher was glad we did the project so she could revisit the topic that day, and then again before the end of the school year. It was fun to be part of the “ah-ha” moment she had with what her students were struggling with.
Once the students had set out their patterns, and before they glued, they were to raise their hand and have an adult review their work. I was very pleased when some of the students would use the texture words along with repeating the pattern. An example was my daughter saying, “Rough, smooth, soft, rough, smooth, soft.”
I look forward to introducing the concept of patterns to my class in the future. Ideas for the activities could be colored beads strung out to make a necklace, paper chains, stickers, blocks, crayons, and shapes. The possibilities are endless! If you relate the project with seasonal items the children might find it extra fun.
Here are two great websites that have interactive games and worksheets to use with students.
Pattern Worksheets
Pattern Worksheets
Pattern Mania
Here is my FAVORITE part of this blog! I finally got everything to work to record my screen as my daughter used the e-manipulative pattern game. She had so much fun helping me and showing off her skills!
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