Patterns

Early in the year I would teach kindergarten students to recognize and identify patterns. I found that recognizing patterns helped with every subject. I read somewhere that most scientific disoveries were a result of discovering patterns. Students would find patterns everywhere in their environment. They would even point out patterns to their parents.
We would start out by making a two part ( AB ) color pattern using unifix cubes (plastic colored blocks that hook together ). Each student would make a pattern then read it aloud to me going from left to right. You would be surprised how many students track from right to left and have to be retrained to prepare them to read English.
Every day we would practice patterns. Sometimes I would put a pattern on the board e.g. sniley face, frowny face, etc, Some days I would make "People Patterns" by lining up a row of students and have the class identify the pattern e.g. long hair, short hair. As the year progressed we would make and identify more complicated patterns. Nearly 100% of students mastered this concept. By the end of the year, students were competant identifying quite complicated patterns.

What I learned: Patterns can be interesting and in many cases are the key to learning.