Description

What our Generate/Analyze Number Patterns lesson plan includes

Lesson Objectives and Overview: Generate/Analyze Number Patterns provides a basic introduction to number patterns. Steps for discovering that a pattern exists and how to find the rule for that pattern are both covered during the lesson. At the end of the lesson, students will be able to generate a number or shape pattern that follows a general rule. This lesson is for students in 3rd grade and 4th grade.

Classroom Procedure

Every lesson plan provides you with a classroom procedure page that outlines a step-by-step guide to follow. You do not have to follow the guide exactly. The guide helps you organize the lesson and details when to hand out worksheets. It also lists information in the blue box that you might find useful. You will find the lesson objectives, state standards, and number of class sessions the lesson should take to complete in this area. In addition, it describes the supplies you will need as well as what and how you need to prepare beforehand.

Options for Lesson

Included with this lesson is an “Options for Lesson” section that lists a number of suggestions for activities to add to the lesson or substitutions for the ones already in the lesson. One optional addition to this lesson is to have your students find patterns around the school or in nature and take pictures of them, then have them identify the pattern unit and create a bulletin board of school or nature patterns. If you have more advanced students, you can also begin to explain patterns as mathematical rules using operations and variables.

Teacher Notes

The teacher notes page includes lines that you can use to add your own notes as you’re preparing for this lesson.

GENERATE/ANALYZE NUMBER PATTERNS LESSON PLAN CONTENT PAGES

Generate and Analyze Number Patterns

The Generate/Analyze Number Patterns lesson plan includes two content pages. Patterns are all around us! Beehives, buildings, and the tiles on your bathroom floor all contain patterns.

Pattern units repeat to create a repeating pattern. In a beehive, for example, a hexagon shape repeats over and over. A building will have repeating rectangles for windows. Sometimes, it’s easy to find a pattern. Other times, it’s harder.

The lesson includes an example using drawings of popsicles. The pattern unit is green, yellow, orange, because this pattern repeats in the pictures. Knowing the order of a pattern helps you determine what comes next!

Numbers can also be in patterns. Number patterns are called rules. The lesson includes an example: 2, 5, 8, 11, 14. When we look at this list of numbers, we should first ask ourselves what we do to 2 to get 5. We add 3! To get from 5 to 8, we also add 3. Therefore, the rule for this number pattern is to add 3. Now that we know the rule, we can use it to find the next numbers in the pattern: 17, 20, and 23.

Sometimes, you’ll find a pattern within a pattern. Looking at this example, we can see that the numbers follow the pattern even, odd, even, odd. They alternate between even and odd.

The lesson includes another example: 61, 59, 57, 55, 53. To get from 61 to 59, we subtract 2. To get from 59 to 57, we also subtract 2. Therefore, our rule is to subtract 2. Now that we know the rule, we can use it to find the next numbers in the pattern: 51, 49, and 47. Notice that, in this pattern, the numbers do not alternate between even and odd. All of the numbers are odd.

We can also start with a single number and create a pattern using a rule. If we follow the rule over and over, we’ll create a pattern. Say we have the starting number 17 and the rule is to add 5. We can follow this rule to generate the following pattern: 17, 22, 27, 32, 37.

GENERATE/ANALYZE NUMBER PATTERNS LESSON PLAN WORKSHEETS

The Generate/Analyze Number Patterns lesson plan includes four worksheets: an activity worksheet, a practice worksheet, a homework assignment, and a quiz. You can refer to the guide on the classroom procedure page to determine when to hand out each worksheet.

JEWELRY ACTIVITY WORKSHEET

The activity worksheet asks students to draw a pattern unit from a bag and repeat it to create a bracelet or necklace. They will draw a picture of their jewelry on the worksheet.

PATTERN RULES PRACTICE WORKSHEET

For the practice worksheet, students will write a rule for each pattern on the worksheet, then write the next two numbers of each pattern. They will then follow the rules to create different patterns according to the rules written on the worksheet.

GENERATE/ANALYZE NUMBER PATTERNS HOMEWORK ASSIGNMENT

The homework assignment asks students to create five pattern units and repeat each pattern three times. They can use photos from the internet or magazines, or draw them themselves. Once completed, the pattern will be displayed in the classroom!

QUIZ

This lesson also includes a quiz that you can use to test students’ understanding of the lesson material. For the quiz, students will read two word problems that deal with number patterns and circle the correct answer.

Worksheet Answer Keys

This lesson plan includes answer keys for the practice worksheet and the quiz. If you choose to administer the lesson pages to your students via PDF, you will need to save a new file that omits these pages. Otherwise, you can simply print out the applicable pages and keep these as reference for yourself when grading assignments.