Using Calculator To Teach Patterns

The Example of Activity Using Calculator To Teach Patterns
Activity Three Students will demonstrate their ability to recognize numerical
patterns/relationships and apply this knowledge to problem solving.
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Place students into cooperative learning groups.
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Pass out 100 centimeter cubes and calculators to each group.
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Explain to each group that they are going to model the patterns of the ants in the story the students and teacher are about to read.
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Review characteristics of patterns with the class.
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Read the first four pages of One Hundred Hungry Ants by Elinor J. Pinczes.
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Ask the students to model the pattern of the ants (one by one). Discuss if this is an efficient method of moving from place to place.
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Ask the children to use their calculator to count by ones the numbers of ants (use the constant arithmetic feature 0+1=,=,=,=,=…). Stop at 100.
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Return to the story and read the next two pages of the story. Ask the children to model 2 rows of 50, using centimeter cubes. Count, using the calculator (constant arithmetic feature 0+2=,=,=,=…). Stop at 100.
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Return and read the next two pages. Ask the children to model four rows of twenty-five, using the centimeter cubes. Count, on the calculator (use constant arithmetic feature, 0+4=,=,=,=,=…). Stop at 100.
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Return and read the next two pages. Ask the children to model five rows of twenty, using the centimeter cubes. Count, using the calculator (use the constant arithmetic feature 0+5=,=,=,=…).
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Return and read the next two pages. Ask the children to model ten rows of ten. Count, using the calculator (use constant arithmetic function 0+10 =,=,=,…).
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Finish reading the story.
Evaluation:
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Students will decide which patterns and relationships were most efficient and justify their conclusions. Evaluation is based on the criteria given in the attached rubric (Teacher Resource #4).
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After finishing activity, collect materials. Discuss patterns noticed in modeling/calculator activity.
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Handout hundreds chart (Teacher should have one to model, either overhead or chart). Use hundreds chart to record patterns discovered during activity (Teacher models counting starting at 2 up to 100). Children should color each pattern found differently to see relationships.
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In their math journals, children will describe which models were most efficient in moving the ants and which ones were not. Justify the patterns/relationships found.
Extension/Follow Up:
A possible writing extension activity would be to create and publish a big book following the format of one of the books read during the unit.
As a math extension activity, the students could create a series of one-step, multi-step and process problems using the story they wrote.
In a cooperative learning activity, the students could make several sets of puzzle cards for problem solving. See Cooperative Problem Solving with Pattern Blocks for modeling.

Synopsis of the story "One Hundred Hungry Ants".

In One Hundred Hungry Ants by Elinor J Pinczes, illustrated by Bonnie Mackain (Houghton Miffin, ISBN 0395631165), a soft breeze carries the suggestion of a picnic to 100 hungry ants. The littlest ant tells the other ants that marching in single file will take too long, so organises them into lines of 50, then 25, then 20, then ten. Will they get there before all the food is eaten?

Read and enjoy the book with the children the day before you intend to use it for a mathematical focus. Have fun with the story, and get the children to join in with the obvious choruses such as:

We’re going to a picnic! A hey and a hi dee ho!

And

There’ll be lots of yummies for our hungry tummies, A hey and a hi dee ho!