Our Learning Journey

We decided to research the topic of patterns in the primary classroom for several reasons. We thought that children would enjoy experimenting with patterns using different colors and blocks, that planning for these types of lessons would be enjoyable for us as teachers, and we thought that patterns must be an important topic because it is so common in our everyday lives.

Throughout our research we were surprised at how much we actually learned. We found so many ways to incorporate patterns into primary classroom instruction and that patterns were such an important aspect of the math curriculum. Patterns range from such simple arrangements of color to number fact families (including addition & subtraction) to open number sentences (in multiplication).

We also gained the necessary experience in using the mathematics curriculum guides, as this is our first mathematics course we have taken in the education program. We became familiar with age-appropriate strategies for each of the primary grades and how the concepts are built-upon each year. Another valuable aspect of our experience is that we learned how to use the wilson web, for example, and other methods of finding scholarly journals and articles to guide us on our way. We had not realized prior to this assignment just how many valuable resources there are for teachers right at our fingertips.

Although we gained many answers during our research, there are still some questions unanswered and new ones that we have formed throughout our journey. They include:
- Where did the concept of a "pattern" originate? Do we need this information to provide to our students?
- What are some more types of accomodations that we can make for struggling or more advanced students?
- What are some more cross-curricular activities in which patterns can be involved?
- How does one know that they have taught to the standard so that their students can build upon their pattern knowledge in the future?
- There are lots of ideas about how to teach patterns, but what are the most effective methods?
- What is the most effective assessment technique for assessing your students' understanding of patterns?