Repeating Patterns – Lessons and Resources for Teaching Patterning in Kindergarten and Grade 1

Patterning is one of my favourite math strands because there are so many ways to link it to other subjects, especially music and visual arts. It falls under the Demonstrating Literacy and Mathematics Behaviours frame of the Ontario Kindergarten Curriculum. Are you teaching patterning soon? Keep reading for centres, lessons, books, games, and videos!

Overall Expectation 18

Students will recognize, explore, describe, and compare patterns, and extend, translate, and create them, using the core of a pattern and predicting what comes next.

Specific Expectations:

• 18.1 identify and describe informally the repeating nature of patterns in everyday contexts using appropriate terminology
• 18.2 explore and extend patterns using a variety of materials
• 18.3 identify the smallest unit (the core) of a pattern (e.g., ABBABBABB – the core is ABB) and describe why it is important
• 18.4 create and translate patterns (e.g., re-represent “red-blue-blue, red-blue-blue, red-blue-blue” as “circle-square-square, circle-square-square, circle-square-square”

How do you introduce patterns to children in Kindergarten?

Lesson 1: Patterns in the World

First, we look at real-life pictures that have patterns in them. Students are asked, “What is a pattern?” They talk about it together and we discuss what makes a pattern. Next, we start to co-create an anchor chart about patterns by having a student write the title (Patterns) and inviting students to draw or write what they know about patterns. Usually at this point they have a hard time using words to talk about patterns but a few students can draw a repeating pattern with colours or shapes.

Lesson 2: Repeating Patterns

We introduce the word “repeat” by saying, “Repeat means something happens over and over and over and over… (roll your hands around each other and say this until the kids are laughing).”

Lesson 3: Game: Is this a repeating pattern?

On these slides, students are shown a number of patterns and non-patterns. This is a great lesson to use as a formative assessment.

Making Patterns Using Concrete Materials

Representing Patterns

Next we use colours on paper to show patterns. Here, a child made a pattern with bears first. When he showed me, I gave him a strip of paper and asked him to show me the same pattern using crayons.

From here, students have often caught the “pattern bug” and notice patterns everywhere and want to extend their patterns as far as possible. We had students creating patterns that crossed our classroom using coloured chain links. They were also interested in colouring patterns, so my partner created this worksheet. Some students used it to continue one pattern through the whole page. Others made different patterns on each line.

Lesson 4: Game: Find the Bug

Lesson 5: Naming Patterns

After a lesson about naming patterns using letters in my Repeating Patterns Unit Google Slides resource, students used letters to “name” the patterns on their pages.

Some children used whiteboards to write their patterns.

Lesson 6: What is a Pattern Core?

In this lesson, students learn to find the smallest part of the pattern that repeats. Pattern rules are different from pattern cores. While pattern core refers to the smallest part of a repeating pattern, pattern rule refers to the formula that a number pattern follows.

Lesson 7: Pattern Challenge and Online Review Games

These can be assigned as homework or played on a device or smartboard in class. They’re a great way to wrap up the unit and review.

Best Books for Teaching Patterning

These are some of my favourite books for teaching patterns. They’re great to read aloud and then leave out for students to explore using loose parts to copy some of the patterns.

Math Counts (Updated Edition): Pattern by Henry Arthur Pluckrose

Pitter Pattern by Joyce Hesselberth

A-B-A-B-A―a Book of Pattern Play by Brian P. Cleary

Teddy Bear Patterns by Barbara Barbieri McGrath

Patterns at the Museum by Tracey Steffora

Videos for Teaching Patterning