"What happened to our pattern standard in Kindergarten?" "Well I'm going to teach it anyway, because it is important!"
After
listening to concerns about patterning in Kindergarten, I felt the need to dig
a little deeper.
Patterning is not specifically spelled out in our standards
until 4th grade, but they are in there at every grade level!
If we look first at our Standards for Mathematical
Practice, MP7 discusses patterning.
CCSS.MATH.PRACTICE.MP7 Look for and make
use of structure.
“Mathematically proficient students look
closely to discern a pattern or structure. …”
Our Standards
for Mathematical Practices are applicable for K-12 students! So observing and using patterns is a critical
skill.
We
must create opportunities for our students to see patterns in their world (not just in Calendar math). For instance - in
kindergarten when we count to 100 by ones and tens, we use a plus one or plus
10 growing pattern. When we teach our first graders about the commutative
property and how knowing 1 +4 = 5 means they also know 4 + 1 = 5, we are asking
them to recognize patterns. When we teach our second graders about odd and even
numbers we are looking at an AB pattern. And, then when they get to (4.OA.C.5) in
4th grade and are asked to generate a number or shape pattern
following a given rule, a solid foundation has been laid for our students to be
successful!
So patterning is important to make
sense of the world around us, the way we teach patterns might have to change by
focusing on the foundational skills needed at each grade level.