C1.1 Identify and describe a variety of patterns involving geometric designs, including patterns found in real-life contexts.
Activity 1: Discovering Patterns! (Recognize)
Ask students to identify patterns in and around the school. To do this, suggest that they look closely at the walls, floors, windows, landscaping, etc.
Help them to discover patterns by asking questions such as:
- Look at the walls (windows, bricks, etc.) of the school. Do you notice how the colours on the wall change? Do you notice how the bricks are arranged?
- Is there a consistent order (or core) in the way the windows are arranged (bricks, tiles covering the floors, trees, etc.)?
- Can you describe the pattern?
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. 46.
Activity 2: The Pattern Museum (Describe)
Create a "pattern museum" on a bulletin board with pictures or drawings of patterns discovered at home. Ask students relevant thought-provoking questions, such as:
- How would you describe the "museum" to someone who comes to visit our classroom?
- Do all these examples have patterns? How do you know?
- If you had to group some of these images together, which ones would you put together and why?
This questioning prompts students to discuss the kinds of patterns in the "museum" and the characteristics of a pattern.
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. 47.
Activity 3: From Which Country? (Describe)
Fabrics have always been a way to express the cultural heritage of people. That is why the colours and patterns of fabrics often give a clue as to the nationality of the people.
Show students a piece of fabric. Ask them to describe the patterns in the fabric, focusing on patterns and colours, explain how the same pattern can look very different if one of the attributes is colour, and compare the patterns in the fabric with the patterns on their own clothes.
Exploring fabrics allows students to discover different cultural expressions and understand how the mathematics they learn in school relates to the world around them.
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. 47.