This has been a lesson has been actively used since it was introduced late last week. It is a an engaging patterning activity which promotes pre-reading, literacy, language, and math concepts. The koala and kangaroo pictures are intended to go along with our unit of study for Australia. Many of the children have been creating stories while making their patterns, associating their knowledge from the
Aboriginal stories we have been reading together. Here is the lesson on a language shelf:
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| Far left - strips of paper with eight sections; tray with stamps, pencil, stamp pad; mat underneath with two pattern cards. |
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| The materials set up at a table with an ABB pattern card. The other pattern card is for an AB pattern. |
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| Completed strip with ABB pattern. |
As with other activities in the classroom, the child replaces all of the materials used in the lesson and brings it back to its place on the shelf, readying it for use by the next child who wishes to use it.
I just read last night a small article about patterning and how it's not only important for academic purposes but it's also very soothing for the child's brain. (That was just a super brief synopsis, obviously). Which makes sense when we think about how normalized a child becomes with order. Patterning, to me, is the creation of order, the rhythm of order, so it makes sense why a child would get enjoy a peaceful state with patterning…stamping, tracing a pattern, maze style patterns.
ReplyDeleteMaybe it was from Laughing Star that I read that. She is really big on the writing processes...
That is true, Heather - and I think a sign of that soothing effect is how children naturally look for and/or find and make patterns all around them.
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