Education Technology


Predictable Patterns with Addition

Activity Overview

Students learn to compare numbers. They generate patterns using repeated addends and different starting points.

Objectives

Students will explore the following concepts in this activity:

  • Whole Numbers
  • Addition
  • Comparing Numbers

About the Lesson

To introduce the activity, read What Comes in 2’s, 3’s, and 4’s? or Each Orange Had 8 Slices. Ask students questions like:  If each person has two legs, how many legs are there at your table? How many legs are there in the classroom?

Demonstrate how the calculator can help students keep track of adding 2 over and over again, by storing a constant.

Next, distribute the student activity sheet and have students use the hundred chart. They will use their calculators to generate sequences with repeated addends, recording the numbers in the sequence by coloring them on the hundred chart. Ask students to analyze the patterns they make with different repeated addends and different starting points.