Skills Covered

How to Use This Pack

Five pages of patterns made of natural things, made to be read aloud, each with a few words at the top and pictures to work on. Page 1 asks what comes next in AB, AAB, ABB and ABC patterns: children draw the next thing in the empty space. Page 2 asks for the next two. Page 3 asks children to circle the part that repeats (the core), such as shell, acorn, flower. Page 4 has one thing in the wrong place in each row to find and circle. Page 5 changes what the pattern is about: a big pebble and a small pebble, a stick standing up and two lying across, two shells the right way up and one upside down. Under them is a strip for children to make a pattern of their own, first with real leaves, pebbles or sticks, then drawn.

In the Classroom

Gather a basket of real loose parts before you start: pebbles, acorns, leaves, shells and sticks. Build the first row of each page on the table with the real things, let children say the pattern aloud ("leaf, acorn, leaf, acorn"), and only then turn to the page. Children can make the rows with the real things first and draw afterward. Photograph the patterns children make on page 5 and put them on the wall with their words about them, so the class can see how many different patterns there are.

At Home

Take a walk and collect small things: leaves, stones, sticks, flowers. At home, start a pattern on the table and ask your child what comes next. Then let your child make a pattern for you to continue. Say the patterns out loud together, and clap or stamp them too.

Tips for Success

• Say the pattern out loud: hearing it often helps more than looking at it
• The core is the smallest part that repeats; circle it the first time it appears
• To find the thing in the wrong place, say the pattern from the start and listen for where it breaks
• Size and turn make patterns too, even when every thing is the same kind
• Building a pattern with real things first makes the drawing easier