C1.1 Identify and describe the regularities in a variety of patterns, including patterns found in real-life contexts.
Skill: Recognizing a Variety of Patterns
Repeating Patterns
The non-numeric repeating pattern is the simplest form of pattern. To recognize it, you have to look for the pattern core. It is created when the elements that make up the pattern are repeated in the same order. Students must learn to identify the beginning and end of the pattern core. For example, in the picture below, the student who created this pattern shows by leaving a space between the pattern cores that the big red bead indicates the beginning of the pattern core and the little red bead, the end.
In addition, it is important for students to "read" the pattern by naming and touching each consecutive element of the pattern to identify the repetition.
In the Primary Division, students explore various types of patterns. In the junior grades students start to classify patterns.
Here is a suggested approach to teaching repeating patterns:
- Step 1: Observe a pattern with a single attribute and a two-element core.
First explore a pattern core that has only one attribute and whose core consists of only two elements. The attribute could be motion, position, sound, shape, or colour.
Example 1
In the pattern shown above, the attribute is position: one element standing and one element sitting constitute the pattern core.
Note: Colour change is easier to recognize and describe when a pattern is constructed with concrete materials, especially using objects that all have the same shape such as beads on a necklace, algebraic tiles, or nesting cubes.
- Step 2: Change the attribute.
Then explore patterns with another attribute such as shape or size, while still having two elements in the pattern.
Example 2
In the pattern shown above, the attribute is the shape. The two elements, the sailboat and the beachball, constitute the pattern core.
- Step 3: Modify the structure of the pattern.
Explore more complex patterns by adding more elements or more attributes. Students will then face a cognitive challenge that will lead to new learning.
Example 3
The following pattern has two attributes, shape and colour, and a three-element core, blue rectangle, blue rectangle, orange triangle. Its structure is AAB.
Continue by introducing a third shape or colour; for example, the following pattern also includes two attributes (shape and colour) and a three-element pattern (blue rectangle, red triangle, yellow oval). However, its structure is more complex, because there are three colours instead of two and three shapes instead of two. The pattern core is ABC.
- Step 4: Change the mode of representation.
Present patterns that have the same structure but are constructed with different representations, and then test whether students recognize that they have the same structure. For example, present two patterns composed of different concrete materials, such as beads and interlocking cubes, or, as in the pictures below, two patterns, one of which is a concrete representation (a pattern of positions) and the other a visual or semi-concrete representation (a pattern of drawn objects). When students can justify that the two patterns have the same structure, they are at a higher level of abstraction in their algebraic reasoning.
- Step 5: Identify false leads.
It is important for students to recognize which attribute(s) a pattern is based on.
Examples
Pattern A:
In this pattern, the colours used are not an attribute of the pattern. Therefore, students should ignore the colour attribute and stick to the shape attribute (triangle or circle).
Pattern B:
In this pattern, the different shapes and colours create false leads that must be ignored in order to discover the attribute, which is the position of the base (shape placed on a flat side or on a vertex).
Source: translated from Guide d’enseignement efficace des mathématiques de la maternelle à la 3e année, Modélisation et algèbre, Fascicule 1, Régularités et relations, p. 30-33.
Patterns with a Repeating Operation
The simplest patterns are those in which element 1 is composed of one element and each of the subsequent terms increases by only one element (example A). Patterns where element 1 is composed of more than one element and where the subsequent element increases by one element (example B) or by more than one element (example C) are more complex.
Examples
When students construct the shapes of an increasing or a decreasing pattern in a rectangular arrangement, as in example C, they are simultaneously working on multiplication.
Source: translated from Guide d’enseignement efficace des mathématiques de la maternelle à la 3e année, Modélisation et algèbre, Fascicule 1, Régularités et relations, p. 40-41.
Number Patterns
Very early on, students become aware of patterns in their environment, in nature, in the objects around them. This is why it is possible to introduce number patterns as early as Grade 1. At the same time, students develop their sense of number, can count in intervals and backwards, and later acquire the concept of addition as a grouping of objects. All of these concepts have an important connection to learning number patterns.
As students begin to explore the base ten number system, which is in fact the decimal system, they discover that the digits 0-9 are repeated when they count beyond 9 (10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15…). Seeing and justifying this pattern in the decimal system enhances understanding of number sense and groupings (units, tens, hundreds, etc.). For example, when skip counting by 2, starting at 16, students observe a predictable regularity in the numbers 16, 18, 20, 22, 24, 26, 28, 30, 32.…This is a first step toward exploring multiples of 2. This understanding also leads to an ability to skip count from any number. Similarly, when students count by 5s, they quickly recognize a pattern, that is, that the units digit alternates between the digit 0 and the digit 5 (5, 10, 15, 20…). They can generalize this discovery informally by saying that any number that is a multiple of 5 will end in 5 or 0.
As is the case when learning concepts related to non-numeric patterns, it is by developing the ability to recognize, among other things, number patterns in addition and subtraction that students in the primary grades build their algebraic thinking. The approaches described above for developing this skill also apply to numeric patterns.
Source: translated from Guide d’enseignement efficace des mathématiques de la maternelle à la 3e année, Modélisation et algèbre, Fascicule 1, Régularités et relations, p. 49-51.
Skill: Recognizing Repeating Elements and Repeating Operations in Various Patterns
Repeating Elements
To help students establish an intuitive understanding of the structure of the pattern, teachers should encourage them to verbalize the elements of the repeating pattern; for example, to describe the pattern of movements snap, snap, raise your arm in front of you… , teachers ask them to say out loud: "snap, snap, raise…"; to describe a pattern of beads forming a necklace, they are asked to touch the beads while naming them aloud: "blue bead, purple bead, red bead…" When students describe their pattern, it is important to explain the relationship between the elements of patterns (the elements of the pattern are represented in the same order) and use appropriate math vocabulary.
Sample Questions
- What attributes are needed to pay attention to in this pattern?
- What are the elements that make this a pattern?
- What pattern(s) do you notice?
As an example, they may describe the following pattern as follows: "The attributes are shape and position. The pattern has three elements: a triangle pointing up, followed by a triangle pointing down, followed by a sun. The three elements of the pattern always repeat in this order."
Students can also record their understanding. Examples of information to record include:
Source: translated from Guide d’enseignement efficace des mathématiques de la maternelle à la 3e année, Modélisation et algèbre, Fascicule 1, Régularités et relations, p. 37-38.
Repeating Operation
When a pattern has the number of shapes increasing or decreasing consistently from one position to the next, students can describe that change as a repeat operation. For example, students might describe the repeat operation below as follows:
Pattern A:
"This pattern rule consists of adding one star to the shape in the previous position."
Pattern B:
"In this pattern three squares are added below the squares in the previous position."
Note: The pattern is described according to the number of elements and not according to the attributes.
The arrangement of the elements for each position can help students see the operation that is being repeated. To help them, ask questions such as:
- What will the elements in the 3rd position in Pattern A look like? In Pattern B?
- How can you use the construction of elements from the 3rd position to help you with constructing the 4th position of Pattern B? 5th position?
- Does this pattern have repeating elements or a repeating operation?
Students should explore patterns with a repeating operation using concrete materials. Then, students discuss ways to create them as well as the relationships they see. Students also explain their understanding of the pattern rule: "Each tree is built by adding a rectangle to the trunk of the previous tree."
To describe what happens next, students can also make notes on their work, as in the following example.
The age of the tree and the number of shapes to represent each year.
In patterns with a repeating operation, there is also a relationship between the elements of each shape and the number of elements in each. This relationship is a very important mathematical concept, demonstrated with a table of values and leading to a more formal generalization in Grade 3, the formulation of the functional relationship.
Although in Grade 1 students are not required to define functional relationship, informal discussions dealing with the relationships between shapes and the number of elements that make them up can take place in determining the pattern rule and extending the pattern.
The study of patterns is the cornerstone of understanding regularities. Exploring patterns is a task that requires manipulation, interventions, and discussions that will help each student take a first step into the world of algebra.
Source: translated from Guide d’enseignement efficace des mathématiques de la maternelle à la 3e année, Modélisation et algèbre, Fascicule 1, Régularités et relations, p. 44-46.
Terminology Related to Patterns
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Repeating Pattern |
Increasing and Decreasing Patterns |
 Pattern A
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Pattern B Pattern C 
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Attribute: a characteristic that describes an object that we observe or manipulate. In pattern A, the attributes that describe the pattern are shape and colour. |
When the repeat operation in a pattern is being considered, the attribute is no longer important. |
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Position Number and Elements: each element whether it is a shape, object, or motion is assigned a position number based on its order. In Pattern A, the blue rectangle is in position 1, the green trapezoid is in position 2, the orange triangle is in position 3, etc. |
In Pattern B, one square is in Position 1 and in Pattern C, two cubes are in Position 1. |
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Pattern core: the smallest part of a pattern which identifies the elements that repeat. In Pattern A: a blue rectangle followed by a green trapezoid and then an orange triangle. |
The amount of elements from one positon change based on they type of repeat operation, whether it is addition,
subtraction, multiplication or division. In Pattern B: a square is added to the previous shape. Pattern rule in Pattern C: a cube is always added to the bottom term of the shape in the previous position |
| Structure: letters representing the elements in the pattern rule of a repeating pattern core. | |
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Position: Where each element is located in a pattern, indicated by a number. It is used to help describe the functional relationships in a pattern and to predict the next elements in the pattern without having to extend it. In Pattern A, there is a blue rectangle in the 1st, 4th and 7th position, a green trapezoid in the 2nd, 5th and 8th position, etc. |
In Patterns B and C, each shape has its position: the first shape is in the 1st position, the second shape is in the 2nd position, etc. |
Source: translated from Guide d’enseignement efficace des mathématiques de la maternelle à la 3e année, Modélisation et algèbre, Fascicule 1, Régularités et relations, p. 29.
Skill: Recognizing and Describing Patterns Found in Everyday Life
Young children have a natural curiosity and interest in the patterns around them. Patterns can be literary, artistic, musical, scientific or numeric. Patterns are found in many events, such as the succession of seasons and days of the week, the growth of living things, and daily activities; in rhymes and songs, such as rhythm, rhymes, and number of syllables; in stories with repeated structures, such as Goldilocks and the Three Bears; in music, such as the different sounds of instruments; in gestures, such as standing, crouching, or sitting; and in the world we have built, such as traffic lights, odd and even house numbers. Repeating patterns from various cultures used to decorate objects, such as vases, clothing, and jewelry, from various cultures are also good examples of repeating patterns.
Source: translated from Guide d’enseignement efficace des mathématiques de la maternelle à la 3e année, Modélisation et algèbre, Fascicule 1, Régularités et relations, p. 26.