Lesson 7 — Repeating Patterns: Identify and Extend

Summary

Learners move beyond Kindergarten’s “copy the pattern” to finding the repeating part — the core — of patterns made of objects, sounds, and colors, and continuing the pattern on their own. They learn that every repeating pattern has a part that comes again and again.

Objectives

• Identify, extend, and create repeating patterns using objects, sounds, or colors, and tell the rule of the pattern. (D05.S2.01.01)

Connection

Patterns are everywhere people live and make things. A weaver passes the shuttle over and under, over and under; a beadworker threads red, blue, red, blue; a drummer taps boom-boom-clap, boom-boom-clap; a tiler lays a mosaic of light stone, dark stone, light stone, dark stone. From one end of the Earth to the other, people find the same secret: something repeats. When you can spot the repeating part, you can keep the pattern going as far as you like.

Materials

• Collections of objects in two or three kinds (seeds, shells, buttons, leaves)
• Paper or slate and a drawing tool

Preparation

• Prepare collections with two or three clearly different kinds or colors.
• Build one starter pattern to model finding the core.
• Clear space for body-and-voice pattern games.

Facilitator note

This lesson is written to the learner (“you”). It spirals up from Kindergarten’s “copy a pattern” to identifying the core and extending it — the new skill. Teach it with a worked example (philosophy §13): say the core aloud, mark where it ends, and show it repeating. Patterns can live in objects, sounds, colors, or movement — use all of them so every body can join. There is no “wrong” place to find a pattern; if a learner’s core is different from yours but truly repeats, honor it. For learners who are Deaf or hard of hearing, use visible patterns (objects, colors, movement) and sign or clap with a partner; for learners who are blind or low-vision, use sound and touch patterns — beats, and rows of textured objects. A learner who does not speak continues a pattern by pointing to or placing the next object. Pattern-making is a joy, not a race.

Procedure

1. Gather — recall shapes of things (5 min). Last year you copied patterns — red, blue, red, blue. Today we learn the secret inside a pattern: the part that repeats, called the core.
2. Worked example — find the core (10 min). Watch and help: here is a pattern — stone, leaf, stone, leaf, stone, leaf. What comes again and again? It is “stone, leaf.” That is the core. Say it: “stone, leaf — stone, leaf.” The core repeats over and over.
3. Extend the pattern (10 min). Keep the pattern going. After “stone, leaf, stone, leaf,” what comes next? A stone! Then a leaf. Say the core as you place each thing, and the pattern will carry you forward.
4. Patterns in sound and body (10 min). Clap a pattern: clap-clap-pat, clap-clap-pat. What is the core? “clap-clap-pat.” Continue it together. Now make a pattern with your body — step-step-hop, step-step-hop — and keep it going.
5. Your turn — build and extend (7 min). Build your own repeating pattern with your objects. Find its core, say it, and extend it until it is long. A friend can check by finding the core in your pattern.
6. Close (3 min). Every repeating pattern has a core — a part that comes again. Finding the core is how you see the pattern, and continuing it is how you make the pattern your own.

Differentiation

• Support: Use a two-part core (AB) only; say the core together and place the next item hand-over-hand if needed.
• Support (blind/low-vision): Use sound and touch patterns — two claps and one pat, or a row of two round pebbles and one flat leaf — felt and heard.
• Support (motor / seated): Make patterns that need no large movement — tap a table or your lap, blink, or direct a partner to place objects or step for you; the pattern is still the learner’s own, and “step-step-hop” becomes a tap-tap-pause.
• Extension: Build a three-part core (ABC) or a pattern with two attributes (big red, small blue), and find the core of a friend’s long pattern.

Assessment

• Formative (observation): Can the learner find the repeating core of a pattern and extend it correctly with objects, sounds, or colors?
• Formative (oral): Can the learner say the core of a pattern aloud or in sign?

Home connection

At home, find a repeating pattern on cloth, a wall, or a song, and tell a grown-up what the repeating part is — then continue it together.

Resources

• Clements, D. H., & Sarama, J. (2014). Learning and Teaching Early Math (2nd ed.). Routledge. (Repeating-pattern knowledge as a precursor to algebraic reasoning, including identifying the unit of repeat.)
• Zaslavsky, C. (1999). Africa Counts: Number and Pattern in African Cultures (3rd ed.). Lawrence Hill Books. (Pattern in weaving, beading, and design across cultures.)