PATTERNS & ALGEBRA 2

DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION
 Objectives:

At the end of this session, you should be able

to:
 identify a repeating pattern
 build simple number patterns
 continue simple number patterns and
determine missing elements
 relate addition and subtraction facts

DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION
 Learning Competency:

• Determines the missing term/s in a

given combination of continuous and
repeating pattern

DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION
 What is PATTERN?

A pattern is…..
a sequence or order of objects that repeat
or grow.
What will occur next in the pattern?

A B C
 Kindergarteners are asked to make
patterns and to continue a pattern by
coloring.

So by 2nd grade we better be asking a

little more… Making the steps toward
generalizing
 Pattern Vocabulary

The pattern rule is the relationship

between number or objects in a
pattern.
The core is the main unit of the
pattern that is repeated.
A term is each one of the parts
making up the pattern.
 ABABAB

The core of this pattern would be A, B.

There are two terms in each core of this
pattern.
There are six terms in the pattern.
 Non-numerical patterns can be
translated into a letter code (ABBA)
and then extended to make predictions and solve problems.

A B B A
Group activity

DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION
 Learning Tasks – Translating Patterns

These are both

AABB patterns.

Mix and Match

•Create a 2- to 4-element core, using your choice of
materials; e.g., colour, orientation, size.
•Extend your pattern 2 more times.
Presentation of
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DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION
DIFINITION:

The same grouping over and over.

The pattern never changes.
The pattern can have long or short units.
The pattern can include any items such
as...
numbers, shapes, objects, symbols and
colours.
• People patterns:
boy – girl – boy – girl – boy - girl
• Patterns involving actions:
jump – jump – hop – jump – jump – hop - jump
• Patterns with sounds:
snap – clap – clap – snap – clap – clap – snap
• Patterns with objects:

• Patterns with geometric shapes:

• Patterns with pictures or symbols:

Patterns can be repeating and made up of a core
set of elements—a core unit that is iterated.

Patterns can be increasing or decreasing and

created by orderly change.

9 7 5 3

32 16 8 4 2
 Also sometimes referred to as “Growing Patterns”

Frame 1 Frame 2 Frame 3 Frame 4

These patterns grow/ increase by the same number of object each time.
Learning Tasks – Increasing/Decreasing Patterns

legs 2 4 6 8 ?
body parts 1 2 3 4 5

Frame 1 Frame 2 Frame 3 Frame 4

Add 2 legs each time, skip count Look at relationships across

by 2 (recursive), legs go up by categories (function), double
twos, bodies go up by ones. the body parts.
Learning Tasks – Increasing/Decreasing Patterns

Legs and heads 3 5 ? ? ? ? ?

Body parts 1 2 3 4 5 10 100

What’s the relation?

Doubles plus 1

22
 Learning Tasks – Increasing/Decreasing Patterns

Note: Caterpillars, Worms and Pattern Block Trees are adapted from Lessons for Algebraic Thinking: Grades K–2,
pp. 2–11, 89–98, 157–170, by Leyani von Rotz and Marilyn Burns. Copyright © 2002 by Math Solutions Publications.
Pattern rules describe how a pattern grows and can
be used to make logical predictions.

Pattern rules reveal mathematical relationships.

What changes?
What stays the same?
A pattern rule must account for all elements of a pattern, including
the first one.

Body Parts 4 7 10 13 ? ? ?
Age 1 2 3 4 5 10 100

Body parts:
Start at 4 and add 3 each time

Age:
Start at 1 and add 1 each time

Relationship:
Body parts—3 times the age plus 1
 Learning Tasks

5 10 15

1 2 3

a) What would the 20th shape be?

b) What would the 30th shape be?
c) What would the 32nd shape be?
Predicting Patterns
Making the link between repeating and increasing patterns
What would the
Learning Tasks
32nd shape be?

5 10 15

1 2 3

5 10 15 20 25 30 31 32

2 7 12 17 22 27 32

5 10 15 20 25 30 32 33 34 35
• Think for 20 seconds
• Write and draw silently for 60 seconds
• Switch papers with another table
• Start again
– create, represent and continue a variety
of number patterns and supply missing
elements
–build number relationships
(addition and subtraction facts to at least 20)
make generalizations about number
relationships

‘When I add zero it

does not change the
‘when I count by
number’
fives the last
number goes An odd number
five, zero, five,
plus an odd
zero, …’
number always
equals an even
number’
Group activity

DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION
 Activity 1
Learning Tasks

5 10 15

1 2 3

Your Turn

a) Create a pattern in which the 15th shape is a .

b) Create a pattern in which the 12th shape is a .
c) Create a pattern in which the 6th and 9th shapes are both
.
 Activity 2
Paper Folding
Fold a piece of paper in half, and then in
half again, and again, until you make six folds.
When you open it up, how many sections will
there be? Make a chart. Continue to fold as
you look for a pattern.
 Activity 3
Paper Tearing
Tear a piece of paper in half and give half to
someone else. Each person then tears the piece of paper in
half and passes half on to another person. How many
people will have a piece of paper after 10 rounds of tearing
paper like this? Continue tearing paper and record on a
chart. Look for patterns as you complete each round.
 Activity 4
TABLE PROBLEM:
In a school library, the librarian are using square tables that can be put together
to make rectangles.
• One table can seat 4 pupils

• Two tables can seat 6 people

• Three tables can seat 8 people

1. Make a representation of the situation.

2. Do you see any pattern?
3. Make a table for your findings.
4. Describe the pattern.
5. If you will add 2 more tables how many learners could be seated?

DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION
Activity 1

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DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION
 Parting
thoughts

DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION
“Doing mathematics should always mean finding patterns
and crafting beautiful and meaningful explanations.”
(Paul Lockhart)

DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION