My litttle guy knew his patterns too but had difficulties with showing what
he knew in the classroom. I had to work on it at home so he could do it at
school. They just completed the AAB and ABB pattern so I just wanted to
give you the heads up that it will be coming. If he gets the other ones, you
may want to consider getting him ahead.
Is he in kindergarten or 1st grade?
I just am concerned about him not being able to transfer this skill to paper. I think that patterns are hard for him - so I'm trying to take baby steps. Gosh, I hope they don't have to have all of these mastered by the end of kindergarten!
My guy is in Kindergarten this year. Don't worry your little guy will learn it.Patterns were a big thing in kindergarten and it was reinforced again at the start of first grade.
Patterns are an easy thing to work on at home. One of the assignments my kids got in kindergarten and again at the start of 1st grade was that they had to find a shirt with a pattern on it to wear to school and then they had to explain to the class (with help from the teacher as needed) what the pattern was.
You can grab some things in your house where you have both patterned and solid versions (sheets, throw pillows, dish towels) and ask which one is a pattern? And what is the pattern? My kids started seeing patterns EVERYWHERE. They really got into it. Tonight C told me that I had to lay down with him because I laid with R last night and we have to do a pattern. (He pronouces it patter-en which is too cute! We also follow a pattern to determine who gets out of the tub first each night.)
A few weeks ago R had a homework assignment where he had to find something in the house that was a pattern and write what it was and then draw the pattern on the homework sheet.
Thanks everyone!
We just worked on them again. He can definitely do them. It is the getting started, keeping going and not wanting to fail that are issues going on here.
He is able to make an AB pattern when given red and green ants (from Ants in the Pants). I just put them in front of him and told him to make me an AB pattern. Then, I added a third color and told him to do it again (the AB pattern). Then, I added a fourth color and told him to make me an ABC pattern. He was able to do all three, with minimal prompts from me to "keep going". I didn't tell him what to do at all - he checked his work himself. He made a couple of mistakes, which he saw and fixed himself.
Then, comes paper. He gets SOOOO tired (he says) drawing AB patterns. We started with just doing two different colors and writing As and Bs. Then we did drawing two different shapes, using two different colors. This takes a LONG time because he insists on coloring the shapes in and there being "no white" in the shapes. This is what he was told at school - but it takes him a LONG time to do this and he never comes close to coloring in the lines, although he is doing better than he was at the beginning of the school year (we are working on getting OT services through the school).
Finally, I drew 8 small rectangles and asked him to color in an AB pattern using two different colors (I believe this is what the teacher said he is supposed to do). He was able to do that. He insists on writing As and Bs under each rectangle - I'm not sure if that's what the teacher says to do or not. It takes longer, but I think it does help him. He writes the letter under the shape after coloring it in.
Besides prompting him to keep going, really he did all the rest himself. So, I think he gets it. We will keep working on AB patterns this weekend and I will probably have him start working on ABC patterns next week if I feel he has mastered the AB patterns. AAB and ABB patterns - oh boy! I'm NOT looking forward to those at all. This seems to be something that is not a strength for him, and I've always kind of known that. My dd on the other hand has started imitating big bro and doing AB patterns already. Well, I guess I at least will only have to work on this once then!
I think there are probably several factors in the mix. Noise level and other distractions, his overall energy level (was this at the end of the day or before lunch?), pencil skills, not knowing what to do when he made a mistake, maybe not catching the instructions perfectly. It is also a fairly open-ended question, which requires making choices -- he might have trouble deciding and/or knowing where to start.
I would teach him a strategy. For example, first choose two shapes and draw them with pencil. If you make a mistake, erase. Then choose two colors, and color the shapes you've drawn. If you make a mistake, x it out and draw the correct one above with a little arrow. You can also ask for a new piece of paper.
My oldest had some pattern matching and pattern replicating activities on his cognitive testing at age 5-3/4, and I remember it was a total bomb. He had never been taught it at nursery school or at home, and he certainly wasn't about to have a lightbulb suddenly turn on in the stressful testing situation. So I think it's great that your son seems to have caught onto this concept, and is just having trouble generalizing the skill from concrete objects to drawn representations.
Good luck with everything!
Sorry - this is going to be long!
Ds has been doing very well in school and he always says math is his favorite subject. That has changed in the last week or two as they have been doing AB patterns and ABC patterns - in other words: red, green, red, green, red, green, etc. (this is an AB pattern. An ABC pattern would be: red, green yellow, red, green, yellow... Well you get the drift.
Today, ds comes home with a paper and at the top are:
Blue circle (A), green square (B), blue circle (A), green square (B), blue circle (A). I could tell this was in ds' writing and drawing/coloring. However, I later find out that the whole class did this along with the teacher (who did it on the board) - so he basically just copied what was being done on the board.
The bottom part has:
one black triange and one black rectangle.
The teacher noted that worktime was too loud for ds to create his own (AB pattern). And she asked us to work on this at home. Well, I was a little confused as to what she wanted me to do so I called her and left a message. She returned my call.
Apparently, she THINKS ds can replicate an AB pattern using manipulatives. But, this is the first time she has asked the class to make an AB pattern themselves on paper. They were to use TWO different COLORS AND TWO different SHAPES to do this (which, to me - is a little more complicated than an AB pattern, but maybe that's just me!). Anyway, she said that she was helping lots of the other kids (because I'm guessing others had problems as well) and she noticed that ds had basically just shut down and wasn't doing it. She said she just couldn't get to him - and there is no para in the classroom during mathtime (the para is assigned full-time to another child, but she is allowed to "help" ds if he needs it - which is actually pretty rare). She's a good teacher and she does know how to read ds - but I know she can't do EVERYTHING. She did ask ds if he didn't do what was asked because it was too loud in the classroom (apparently she has been having difficulty with the noise level in the classroom the last week). He said yes (which he would do even if that isn't the answer - because I'm sure whatever the real answer is too hard for him to verbalize). I honestly think, after talking to him tonight, that he made a mistake by not using two different colors and he didn't know how to fix it - so he stopped. Plus, this is not an easy task for him and drawing/coloring are not his strong suits as he has fine motor skill deficits.
So, the teacher asked if I could try to find out if ds does actually get the concept of patterns and if we can work on him trying to make one on his own. Okay, I'm game!
I took out our "Ants in the Pants" game which we have never played because ds does NOT care for games! But, he has been getting better and so I took it out and he helped set it up. I showed him how to flip the ants. We played for a bit and ds eventually got all four ants in the dog's pants. I actually did this in order to segue into AB patterns with two different colored ants. I set up a pattern of red ant, green ant, red ant. Then I held up both a red ant and a green ant and asked ds which of the two came next (after the red ant in my pattern). He picked the green ant and then was able to line up all 8 red and green ants in the correct AB pattern. I figured this was good.
To FINALLY get to the point of this whole thing - do any of you have any experience in teaching kids patterns? And do a lot of our kids typically have problems doing these?
My thoughts are to continue with some kind of manipulative for the next few days and over the weekend try to get him to arrange manipulatives into an AB pattern without me guiding him. I think I need to do this first BEFORE we try to transfer the skill onto paper. Then, I will work on him doing it on paper.
Apparently, he needs to know this skill and ABC patterns by the end of this month as he will be tested on it! Anyone have any ideas?
HELP!
My sons class is working on patterns as well. You may want to do AABUm, we're just working on basic AB patterns right now. Just AB, AB, AB and also ABC, ABC, ABC. I don't want to complicate matters at this point by adding more complex ones. I think the manipulatives are working. I could move on to cut-out shapes and then having him draw them and the last thing we need to do is make sure he can color each of the patterns BY HIMSELF without any prompting to start or keep going. That seems to be a huge part of the issue, in addition not knowing what to do when he makes a mistake.
Thanks for all the advice!
Math is actually right after rest time. He has just come back into the class as he is in the resource room for rest time - he doesn't have to be totally quiet in there (and he would if he was in the reg classroom at rest time). Lunch is about an hour and a half before math and then snack is right after math, I believe.
Usually, he does well in math - he's very good with numbers. They aren't to use pencils - they are only to use crayons. The goal is, that at the end of the month - he needs to be able to color in a pattern. It sounds like there will be a sheet of paper with shapes on it (that are blank or white). And the teacher will tell them to color in either an AB pattern or an ABC pattern - using different colors. He needs to be able to do this ON HIS OWN.
I'm not sure how this affects him if he can't - if he won't pass kindergarten? I'm actually kind of kidding, but I was a little concerned by how much the teacher was emphasizing that he needed to do this.
I personally think that the starting of the task is the factor that is making this so hard. I noticed yesterday if I started the pattern: red, green, red - he was easily able to complete it. We shall see today or tomorrow if he can do his own if I give him two colors.
Thanks for the advice - anyone else have to do this?
He can do it! He did need some prompting. It seems to be getting started that is the issue - then he can do it with no problem.
He was able to create an AB pattern from scratch without prompting with the manipulatives (the ants!). The ABC pattern he needed prompting - but he had just switched two around and was able to see it when we said yellow, red, green, red, yellow, green - he then switched the red and yellow around to the right position without my prompting to! So, he CAN fix it!
He was doing so well, we switched to paper. He needed more prompting here. So, we are just going to work on switching colors, not shapes as well. I had him write A, B, A, B, in alternating colors. This was a bit easier for him. He needed one prompt but then was able to continue for 6 more in the pattern.
This is great! However I then got a dose of reality when my 3 y.o. dd started making AB patterns by herself with the ants when ds went upstairs. Without prompting and without my initiating it. So, apparently this is something that most kids just pick up on and don't have to be taught this intensely... What age is this usually typical? I'm thinking 3 is young to do it, but I'm guessing 6 is a little late.
could you show it useing colored paper for each different iteam needed.