Sorting, Matching and Making Patterns
Transcript of video
To develop mathematical understandings:
- explore patterning, matching and counting with objects
- involve children in making choices and problem-solving
- encourage talking about their thinking
Female: What do you use?
Child: Your ears to hear.
Female: You use your ears to hear.
Female: Every day is filled with tasks and commitments that need to be met. As a single mom, one of my most pleasurable and important commitments is to my son, Tobias. I’m always looking for ways to enjoy and make the most of our time together.
Recently a friend mentioned how much she and her daughter enjoyed their time at a Parenting and Family Literacy Centre. Tobias and I decided to visit our local centre to see if we could get some ideas.
- visit a Parenting and Family Literacy centre
- learning through play
- exploring materials
- developing social skills
- making decisions
Female: The children at the centre were learning through play in preparation for school. They were playing with different materials and toys, being a part of a group, taking turns, sharing, making decisions, problem solving, listening to a story or a song and tidying up after their activities.
- learning to be independent
Female: Tobias explored the room and tried a variety of activities. He played in the sandbox, sorted, counted and created patterns. He also organized objects in muffin tins with tongs, and used his imagination at the cooking centre. He made choices, moved around at his own pace and talked about what he was doing.
- creating patterns, counting
- developing small motor skills
- making choices
Female: As Tobias approached the reading centre, one of the teachers invited him to listen to a story about socks. She read the story with lots of expression, emphasizing certain words.
Teacher: “Oh, this one’s stinky and grimy. P-U.” He’s looking. See. Want to turn the page? “Ah, oh, that’s not quite like me.” Do they look the same?
Child: Mm-hm.
Teacher: Do you think they look the same?
Child: No.
Teacher: No? Why—how are they different?
Child: Blue, blue and red.
Teacher: Oh, it’s got red. Oh, look.
Child: Match.
Teacher: They match. They’re a pair.
- develop understanding of ‘pair’
Teacher: You found a match just like in the …
Child: Book.
Teacher: All right. Taking a book that you have at the house and finding objects that correspond to the book is a wonderful way of tying in objects, you know, concrete objects that children love to have.
- objects engage the listener
Female: Mm-hm, mm-hm.
Teacher: And love to have in their hands. So I’ve—and these kinds of socks are easily available at the dollar store.
Female: Right.
Teacher: And then purchasing a book and then matching the concrete with the story …
Female: Right.
Teacher: … is fun for the child and then it can also be carried over into the home.
Female: When Tobias and I returned home we had lots of good ideas to try. I was able to obtain much of the same objects and toys from the dollar store in order to duplicate the activities enjoyed at the centre as well as using different objects we found around the house.
- objects engage the learner
Female: There was so much to talk about as we experimented with objects, made patterns, played counting games and sorted socks after doing the laundry.
Child: White.
Female: They’re both white. What else?
Our daily trip on the streetcar presents itself as a valuable time for us. I’ll often read a book during our trips on the streetcar as well as play I Spy, creating an opportunity for Tobias to learn from and explore the environment around him. We identify colours, patterns and shapes while having fun.
Female: … my little eye something that is yellow.
Male: Sorting a variety of objects teaches children to be observant, to notice similarities, differences and details such as colour and texture.
- observational skills
- similarities, differences, details
- no right or wrong answers
Male: There are no right or wrong answers.
Male: This activity encourages active participation and builds confidence.
- using manipulatives builds confidence
Male: The adult may ask the occasional probing question to encourage the child to think about their thinking such as “How did you know which sock went together to make a pair?” Or, “What did you do with the socks that did not match?” Through conversation and active engagement, children learn mathematical concepts and vocabulary and develop the ability to explain their ideas.
- ask probing question
- children think about their thinking
- build vocabulary and mathematical concepts
- explain their ideas
