Growing Patterns

I have a bulletin board that is just for for growing patterns.  I started this after I attended one of Catherine Kuhns sessions at the Singapore Math Conference two summers ago.  I keep hearing that the students should make their "piece" on their own.  (You know, draw and cut each piece ALL BY THEMSELVES.)  I just can't do that.  So........our growing patterns are usually a cut and create or reproducible.   Sometimes I tie in a glyph, but our monthly glyphs usually hang on the cabinets.

We do a new growing pattern monthly.  It is a quick and cute (but educational) way to have a seasonal display!  The students make their piece on one day.  I hang them that afternoon and we figure out the growing patterns together the next day.  I have the card with the words written and hung already.  We just figure out the numbers and write them in.  We discuss what the next row would be and what other growing patterns we see.  FYI:  The first row should always be what the "piece" is... 1 snowman, 1 gingerbread man, 1 turkey, etc.  Here are a few examples from this school year.

 Turkeys for Thanksgiving

1 Turkey, 2 Eyes, 5 Feathers

 Gingerbread Men for Christmas

 1 Gingerbread Man, 2 Eyes, 3 

Snowmen for January

3 Snowmen, 6 Mittens, 
9 Buttons









Meredith