Listening and Following Directions

Patterns (Round 2)

Following up on the “Pattern Introduction” post, here is an activity and some info on the next phase of introducing patterns….

Before we start, if you have been doing the rhythmic patterns I want you to practice some more, introducing the letters ABC.

So you might clap, snap, snap, clap, snap, snap while saying “A, B, B, A, B, B” because you are doing one thing and then another so you move to a different letter of the alphabet to name that movement, and so on and so on.  This is due to the fact that universally movement patterns, color patterns, and shape patterns are often represented using the letters of the alphabet. 

You can teach them this by saying “If I am doing two motions then I need two letters to stand for them so I am going to use the first two letters of the alphabet ‘A’ and ‘B’.  Let’s try an AB pattern: stomp with the right foot, stomp with the left foot, but lets use the letters to stand for our stomping, ‘A, B, A, B’ while stomping left, right, left, right.  If I clap when I say ‘A’ and I snap when I say B then it would sound like this ‘A, B, B, A, B, B’ but if I made up a beat with 3 movements then I would need the next letter in the alphabet to stand for the new movement: Touch your head, shoulders, knees, head, shoulders, knees…. ‘A, B, C, A, B, C.’”

So, the next phase of patterns is allowing some symbol (like letters) to represent the movement, but other than introducing letters verbally as we just have as a listening and doing activity, we are going to incorporate visual representations of the movement.  So your child is going to follow a pattern, by looking at pictures, not just listening and following along with you.

Here are 3 separate patterns to follow, click on the image and print it out; see if your child can tell what movements to do by “reading” the directions: 

Take pictures of your child doing other movements, put them into a word document in a pattern, and print.  Your child will have so much fun with that!

Introducing the Concept of Pattern

Don’t write me off too soon! I have talked to a lot of moms of my kindergarten students who practically want to punch me in the face if I spend too long on this subject of patterns.  They say “My child worked on patterns in Pre-K, and he (or she) picked up on it very quickly.”

Trust me, I understand, I teach the subject over and over again so I can also get a little burnt out on patterns myself, but as a teacher let me talk to you for a moment about patterns so you hopefully won’t roll your eyes with each pattern post.

When your little one learns about patterns he/she gets so excited and thrilled to practice this skill because it gives order and predictability to activities, and how things in life work together in general.  After the concept of pattern is developed, children can predict that Tuesday comes after Monday, lunch comes after breakfast, and eventually they will learn that the number system is based on a pattern understanding that 12 comes after 11 because the tens place stays the same and the ones place follows a pattern of 1, 2, 3, etc.

So, the whole AB, AABB, ABC pattern lesson is a means to understanding the bigger picture of observing patterns in everyday life.

If your child understands certain aspects of patterns….GREAT….build on that.  There is usually an aspect of patterns that can be taught to add to one learned.

First, patterns can be taught in rhythmic motion such as listening to a beat and predicting what might come next.  Then, patterns are taught using color, shape, and arrangement.  Then, patterns can incorporate a letter symbol.  Then, patterns can be taught by extending all those skills with a higher level of difficulty.  Then, patterns can be taught using numbers.  Additionally, with these understandings, patterns can be observed naturally through everyday occurrences such as waking and sleeping, days of the week, seasons of the year, etc..

The main lesson in teaching patterns is that something repeats itself.  So remember the “I do, We do, You do” teaching skill from the post “Math on my Fingers” today you are going to:

1) Start a pattern to a beat such as “Clap, pat (your legs), clap, pat, clap, pat……

Rhythm Pattern

2) Ask your child to join in; continue on for a minute or so.  Then you are going to add the words saying “Clap, Pat, Clap, pat….”

3) “Let’s do another pattern using our bodies” Ideas: stomp, tap your head, snap, nod, tap your shoulders, flap your arms, etc.

4) Ask your child if they would like to come up with one for you or a family member to do. If your child does not follow a pattern, remind them that you want to pick one of two things that repeat themselves over and over again like the one you chose.

5) Practice variations of this over the next few days in my next math post I am going to add an extension activity for this same rhythmic pattern activity.

Consider purchase the following cubes, book (or a similar book) for the next few pattern lessons:

Write a Survey

Teaching Kindergarten was such a great learning experience.  I have so many flashbacks of memories that remind me how much children enjoy the simple things.  One simple thing my Kindergarteners loved to do was go around the room and take a survey of information; their favorite survey seemed to be likes and dislikes.

Pick something that your little one might want to find out or ask your little one what they want to ask.  Brainstorm with them….”Do you want to find out how many people like Fireworks?  Or how many people like sparklers?  Or how many people like party hats?” 

1. Click on the following like, and print out the sheet (or make one like it if you dont have a printer).  Like/Dislike Chart

2. Pick one topic and model writing it into a question at the top of the page in the space provided.

3. Place the page on a clipboard.  My kids loved this because it made them feel so professional. Here are some fun ones I found on amazon:

4. Have them go around the room and survey family members, friends, or even stuffed animals or dolls pretending that they are responding. 

5.  Allow them to record this info ANYWAY they choose: checkmarks, x’s, a Y for “yes” and an N for “No”, etc.

Do the first one with them 🙂 

This is a great way to teach organization skills because it is formatted as a chart, and it can even incorporate counting skills and more or less if afterwards you help them add up to see whether or not the majority of people liked or disliked the given topic. 

As always, have fun!

Color the Gingerbread House

This is one of the first phonemic awareness activities I am posting for pre-readers.  If you try to introduce this activity and your little one is not quite getting it, go back to some of the earlier reading posts on the “getting started” page and practice more activities similar to the earlier skills because your little one may need more time playing with words before he/she is ready to listen for the beginning sounds in words. 

Listening for beginning sounds, generating beginning sounds, and identifying which letter makes that sound are three SEPARATE skills.   So today, we are going to start with the basics of introducing phonemic awareness (which is the awareness that words are made up of sounds).

I created an activity in which you will talk about all the objects in the picture so that you can label the objects with your child BEFORE attempting to listen for the sounds that the words start with.  Once children are able to “play” with words enough to hear sounds.  They usually hear the beginning sound first, then the ending sound, and then the middle sound(s) eventually.  It takes A LOT of practice listening for the beginning sound before a child can hear and distinguish other sounds within a word. 

But this is a great place to start: 

Click on the link below, print it, read the directions and let your child choose what they want to color with -crayons, colored pencils, markers, etc.

Color the Sound

If you dont have a printer, free-hand this picture on a blank sheet of paper 🙂

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