Patterns, Patterns Everywhere!

Patterns are one of my favorite things to teach. Partly because the kids pick them up so quickly, and partly because there are just so many fun things to do with them! I've been teaching patterns for two weeks (in addition to lessons on writing numerals), and my kiddos are experts! Here's a look at some of the fun pattern activities we've been doing.

Read These:

Definitely my class's favorite! We love to read this one over and over. Each page spotlights a specific pattern and all the illustrations on that page illustrate the pattern. The kids love finding all the patterns! Definitely read this one!

Do This: We use all kinds of things to make patterns! Erasers from the Dollar Store, manipulatives from Lakeshore, fruitloops, snapcubes, counters, basically anything you have around! We also love making people patterns (boy, girl; teacher, girl, girl; standing, sitting; etc.) and doing motion patterns (clap, stomp, stomp).

Make This: I LOVE these! We make these after reading Pattern Fish. The kids make patterns with crayon and then do watercolor over them. Use white reinforcers as eyes. They turn out so cute!

We also make pattern keychains for our bookbags. I don't have a picture of the ones we actually make but these are a pretty good example of what they turn out like minus the basketballs at the end. Use lanyard for easy stringing!

Make a class book based on Mary Wore a Red Dress- ask parents to dress their kids in some sort of pattern shirt. Take a picture and have students identify the patterns to finish the predictive sentences. It could also be fun to make a variation of Pattern Fish or Pattern Bugs- maybe Pattern Dogs or Pattern Cats?

Use These: 

I found "eraser pods" at dollar store. They are so perfect for pattern work!

 Checkout This: I've seen so many great things on Pinterest about patterns. These are some of my favorites (click on the pictures to go to the original source!).

Happy Patterning!
Jessie

My new love: Pinterest!

I've been a little remiss the past couple days in posting. It finally hit me this week that I'm going back to school VERY SOON and need to suck the life out of every minute of the remainder of my summer. I've done so by watching ridiculous amounts of Netflix television, reading several complete novels, and basically transforming into a big couch potato (much to my personal trainier's chargin). However even my steadfast commitment to summer time bliss could keep me away from my new love: pinterest. It's a teacher's dream and nightmare all in one. This site is incredible! I'm completely blown away by all the amazing ideas that are that. I literally am kept up at night thinking of all the ideas I want to incorporate into my classroom, home, and recipe box. Next week I'm heading back to school to perfect my classroom but in the meantime I wanted to share some of my favorite pinterest finds that will be making an appearance in my classroom this year! (This is just a sampling: I have over 500 teaching pins! I'm a little obsessed! =) Enjoy and make sure to check out these lovely ladies blogs!

Back to School Secret Handshake inspired by the Parent Trap= best teamwork activity ever! From: http://tekyteach.blogspot.com/2011/07/my-favorite-back-to-school-activity.html

Listening center organization: I LOVE this! From: http://teacherweb.com/MO/MillsElementary/MrsBondsFantasticFirstGraders/apt12.aspx

Literacy Workstation Menu: I really like this idea and I'm thinking of making something similar for my kiddos to mix up their workstation period. From: http://snippetsbysarah.blogspot.com/search/label/literacy%20center

Daily 5 board: I really love the images on the bottom for reading behaviors! From: http://fisforfirstgrade.blogspot.com/search?updated-max=2011-04-02T15%3A00%3A00-05%3A00&max-results=7

Clipchart: I've seen this all over Pinterest. I'm a little hesitant to do this type of behavior chart but I do love that the kids have an opportunity to "clip up" as well as down. We'll see how it works once I meet my little ones! =) From: http://www.bainbridgeclass.com/rules.htm

Behavior Bees: So precious! I made these today! From: http://firstgraderatlast.blogspot.com/2010/08/five-bees-promise.html