Pattern Pets

We are learning about designs in Kindergarten.  Best practice to me is making sure kids learn the important information for the rest of their lives.  How do you help students remember those big ideas (and maybe some small ones too)?  You move their body, you make a rhyme or a song, you have them create using that concept.  In this case, I have the kids do actions to this little saying... 

Shapes and lines make the best designs. 

For the k's I make it a little more fun and have them use different voices as shown in the video below. 

Day 1 (one hour class)

Doing the rhyme is the first 5 minutes of class.  I also like to record this to share on +Seesaw so parents know the concepts being covered in class (and get to see some fun learning as well).

After, I play this video.  I stop it right after I get done talking about lines. (48 seconds)

I give each student a 6X9 inch sheet of paper. They go to their spots and draw their 5 lines. When they finish, they come right back to the carpet. Then I play the next part of the video talking about shapes. Again, I stop it (1:12).  I instruct the kids that they need to put their name on the back before drawing their shapes.  When finished, they come right back to the carpet again.

I play the next part of the video and stop it after the coloring instructions (2:41). Students line-up to get a sharpie. After returning the markers, they color.  I have to remind them several times to ask three before they show it to me.  Great practice on peer feedback. 

Here are some examples of students work.  I would show them the images and ask them what they would suggest to the artist if they asked them for feedback. 

That is the end of class.  If students finish before the end of class I let them play with blocks on the floor or create on practice paper. There usually isn't more than 10 minutes of 'extra' time for any Kindergarten student. 

Day 2 (one hour class)

A quick review of what a design is, starts out the class again. You will be amazed that most (if not all) of these little sponges soaked up the saying from last time.  They will be excited to share, "Shapes and lines make the best design." I practice this saying a couple more times in Robot, or in a whisper, or some other fun voice... just for fun. 

I play the next part of the video (2:40-3:58).  This part breaks down the idea of folding and cutting. This is VERY hard for kindergarten.  I have them fold and draw the 'rainbow'.  They bring it to me before they can get a pair of scissors to cut.   Have a pen ready to re-draw the rainbow curve on the 'right' side (the open side). 

Once all the cutting is done, I play the last portion of the video, all the way to the end.  Students get the head circle and get to work.  Drawing with pencil, sharpie, and color.  Glue is used to finish the work.  I love to share these little works of art on +Seesaw to share with parents. If students have extra time, I have small sheets of paper available for them to create other pets.  They get to recreate and make mistakes... and learn.  Students are proud to bring home their pattern pets.