Unit 6, Lesson 2
Patterns that Repeat
Grade 4
Preparation
Lesson Narrative
In an earlier lesson, students generated and described growing patterns that followed a given rule. They noticed that there may be other features of a pattern that are predictable other than what’s stated in the rule. In this lesson, students do the same with designs with shapes that repeat according to a rule. They continue to look for structure and make use of it to identify and explain features of the patterns and to predict terms that may be inconvenient to find by simply extending the pattern (MP7). For example, they represent each shape in the pattern with numbers and reason about the repetition mathematically—by using operations and observing the properties of the numbers (MP2).
- Action and Expression
None
- Create a repeating shape pattern given a rule
- Describe (orally and in writing) features in a repeating shape pattern that were not explicit in a given rule.
- Explain (orally and in writing) strategies for predicting later terms in a repeating visual pattern.
Required Preparation
None
Teacher Reflection Questions
In an upcoming section, students will learn to multiply multi-digit numbers. What do you notice in their work from today’s lesson that you might leverage in that future lesson?