Sorting and Patterning Fun Outside ELP

Taking our Sorting and Patterning Outside

The weather in September was fabulous! The days were mostly sunny and warm, giving us a chance to take some of our learning outside into the Kindergarten yard. Ms. Devitt and Ms. Dwamena (the other FDK class) set up the Kindergarten yard with some Math manipulatives such as pattern blocks, colour tiles, and sorting animals.

Before we went outside, I read two books to the children from the Nelson Mathematics program for Kindergarten: At the Toy Store (sorting) and The Pattern Farm (patterning). 

We used these stories as an introduction to Sorting and Patterning. We also asked the children what they knew about the concepts. We took the students outside to explore further.

Sorting

The students worked together to make animal groups using the squares from a hopscotch painted on the ground.

This picture shows a group of kangaroos.

They used coloured hoola hoops to make groups of colour tiles.

Patterning

The J.K.'s made simple patterns using colour tiles.

A simple AB pattern using red and green tiles.

An ABC pattern using red, yellow and green tiles.

The S.K.'s used pattern blocks to make more complex patterns.

An ABC pattern, using a red trapezoid, orange square and a tan rhombus.

An AB pattern, using a red trapezoid and a blue rhombus.

An ABB pattern, using one green triangle and two orange squares.

An ABC pattern, using one yellow hexagon, one red trapezoid and one blue rhombus.

The S.K.'s also used snap cubes to make patterns.

While it may look like the children are playing with the manipulatives, a deeper look would tell us that they are learning valuable "Big Ideas" in Patterning and Algebra. If you are a teacher (or a parent wondering about Curriculum), there is a valuable resource written by the Ontario Ministry of Education called, 

A Guide to Effective Instruction in Mathematics, Kindergarten to Grade 3 (2007). You can click on the link to go directly to the site. It will take you to the page for Patterning and Algebra.

Through this lesson, the Kindergarten students were learning to:

• "recognize, identify, describe and copy repeating patterns involving one attribute";
• "develop an understanding of the repetitive nature of patterns";
• "create repeating patterns". (Ont. Ministry of Education. A Guide to Effective Instruction in Mathematics K-3, p. 19)