Here, There & Everywhere: Patterns/Relationships

This excellent lesson plan features patterning activities based on Brown Bear, Brown Bear, What Do You See, a book with repetitions of sounds and pictures. By reading and acting out the book's story, children learn about word patterns in literature. The lesson features hand-on activities where children, at different learning levels and with varying interests, explore patterns found in other subject areas. Using their senses, children gain experience in identifying, describing, and creating repeating patterns.

The activities, ranging from easy to challenging, promote color recognition, reading, exploration of word and number patterns, and creation of sound patterns. Children explore musical sounds and rhythms by playing keyboards and water glass xylophones. Using tempera paints and sponge shapes, children create wrapping paper with repeating shape and color patterns. Even the sense of taste is used in pattern explorations as children make fruit shish-kabobs that have a repeating pattern.

The lesson plan gives clear directions and information about materials and includes ideas for teacher discussion, lesson extensions, other books suitable exploring patterns, and information about mathematical patterns. Video clips illustrating lesson procedures for Here, There & Everywhere can be found at the PBS TeacherSource website. (author/pk/jrs)

This a great source of several connected lessons that teach and allow children to work with patterns. It will appeal to all learners and learners with different interests. It includes center ideas that are multi-leveled and both easy or challenging. It also is an integrated pattern activity that addresses multiple content areas. Children repeat patterns, find patterns and create patterns in different ways (including creating shish-kebobs, looking at animal pictures, making music) If you offer all activities as choices, you can allow children to choose what they are interested in.

It may be appropriate to introduce patterns in their world during circle time by reading the selected texts or looking at animal pictures to find the patterns.

You may also find ideas for adapting this lesson on the Planning Options pages of the REC.