Newsletter 3: Visual Patterns

How many blocks in the 4th pattern? The 5th? How about the 13th?This prompt comes from a website called Visual Patterns, orvisualpatterns.org, a website that builds curiosity through patterns of similar objects. Created by Fawn Nguyen, the goal of each Visual Pattern prompt is to get the participant thinking about a pattern, or algorithm, that could be used to predict a future step. Fawn has two detailed blog posts about how she uses Visual Patterns in her class, so check them out (Post 1 and Post 2).

Here are some tips on using Visual Patterns at home:

• Give time to think about each rather than rushing through the thought process
• Using visuals of your own is a plus. Do you have toothpicks? Sugar cubes? Rocks? Anything in mass quantities that children can manipulate will help build the connection between the pattern and future steps
• Justification is key; encourage children to explain their reasoning
• Avoid doing the work for your child(ren). Rather, work through a challenging step together, taking the backseat to their creativity and innovation

Some potential sentence starters for using WYRmath at your dinner table:
How did we get from step __ to step __ ?
Tell me a little more about...
What about going one more step? What happens then?

Potential vocabulary:
Justify, steps, iteration, multiple, algorithm

What we want to avoid with a Visual Pattern is forcing the participant to structure their thinking in a specific way. Let the creativity take over and, if it isn't working, talk about how some minor changes might help guide the process.  Hopefully this week's Table Talk Math did that for you and your dinner table!

If not, see the post below that might be more suitable for a more challenging puzzle.

If you have any questions, please feel free to contact us on Twitter (@TableTalkMath) or reply to this email.

Thank you for taking the time to improve math fluency for children, one table talk conversation at a time.