Pattern Blocks Math Activities - by Kim Adsit and Michele Scannell

Are your math manipulatives gathering dust, sitting on a shelf? Do you want to be able to engage your students in fun, meaningful activities that will allow them to expand their mathematical thinking and grow in confidence as mathematicians? Well this is the unit for you! This unit includes 19 pattern block centers including an “I Can…” card, recording pages, and detailed lesson plans including ways to differentiate.

So many of us have pattern blocks in our classroom, but are not sure what to do with them. This unit will provide you with the necessary knowledge and materials to help you make the most out of your pattern blocks. The purpose of this unit is to give you ideas for things that your students can do independently with these manipulatives. The minilessons in this unit will help your students gain independence through scaffolding. These lessons follow the traditional minilesson format, although the parts are labeled differently. You will demonstrate (I do), you will allow your students to try it on their own with your support (We do) and you will then allow them to try it on their own (You do). By providing this scaffold for you students you have given them the support they need in order to be more successful when they are working independently. After you teach the lessons and you feel your students are ready to work independently, place all the materials, the “I can” chart, and the recording sheets with the pattern blocks.

All of the lessons and activities provided in the unit do not have to be taught consecutively. Feel free to pick and choose the order of activities to meet your needs and the needs of your students. Each lesson stands on its own and is not dependent on material presented in previous lessons. The only exception to this is the Data lessons. The three lessons are dependent upon the lesson before and are sequenced.

All lessons and activities in this unit support the math standards for kindergarten and first grade. Activities for counting, shapes, addition, subtraction, decomposing and composing number, measurement and data are included. The common core state standards for each grade level are listed as well as the NCTM (National Council of Teachers of Mathematics) standards for each group of lessons.

(c) 2016 - Kim Adsit and Michele Scannell. Permission is granted to original purchasers to reproduce material as designated only for their own classroom use. No other part of this work may be reproduced in any form or by any electronic or mechanical means including information storage and retrieval systems without permission in writing from the publisher, except by a reviewer, who may quote brief passages in a review.

Keyword: KinderGals, Inc