kindergarten 'Pattern Snakes'

As an extension to the kindergarten curriculum I had students create pattern snakes. They had previously learned AB and ABC patterns and I took that as an opportunity to do something with it. I traced and pre-cut pattern blocks using the same colors (I got a pack of card stock which had all the same colors in it except for beige which I bought separately by the sheet for like 20 cents a piece at A.C.Moore) As a class we discussed wavy lines vs. straight lines. I showed them the book Snakes; Long, Longer, Longest' by scholastic and had them draw a wavy line across a 12" x 24" piece of white paper as a guide. We then spent 1 session practicing pattern making with our pattern block cut-outs and 1 session gluing them down making sure the pieces were touching and following the wavy line. They used to shapes for the head and tail that were not part of their pattern and then we discussed what kinds of setting you would draw a snake in. The lesson was also a good opportunity to review shapes with the students.

Next time I could also have the students trace and color snakes instead of pre-cutting them out. I had a blister on my thumb for 2 weeks after all that cutting! Also, this lesson makes it really easy to differentiate because for those students who are advanced you could have them create their own pattern and for those who need more reinforcement, they could write out their pattern before doing it.

All in all the lesson went really well and I'm very pleased with the results!