Patterns of collaboration.

A first grade teacher approached me with an interesting request. "Can we think of an art lesson that will reinforce the concept of patterns which the students are studying in math?" The music teacher was asked a similar question. As a result, the classroom teacher and the art, music, math and reading specialists collaborated on a project that reinforced the concept of patterns in their disciplines.

Patterns in Art

In the artroom, I introduced the students to the book Hide and Snake by Keith Baker. In this book, a brightly colored, patterned snake challenges readers to a game of hide and seek as it hides among familiar objects. The objects also are covered with brightly colored patterns--some quite similar to the snake's patterns. This book is fun for young readers. It teaches them about patterns and increases visual discrimination as they begin to notice differences among the patterns.

After studying the patterns on the snake and the objects, I had the students create patterned snakes of their own with brightly colored markers on 9 x 12" (23 x 31 cm) white drawing paper. I suggested that the snake extend from one edge of the paper to the other and that within the parallel lines of the snake's body, each student should create a pattern of repeated shapes. Once the students completed their first snake, they created another with a different pattern and continued until their papers were entirely colored with bright shapes.

Patterns in Music

In music class, the students learned to hear, move to and to sing patterns. To sing a pattern, the music teacher had the students sing "Frere Jacques" and move their hands as the melody moved up and down. She drew the pattern of the melody on the blackboard, so the students could see that their voices sang in a pattern of four repeated sections.

It is easy to hear the melodic musical pattern of Edvard (Grieg's "In the Hall of the Mountain King" because it is repeated over and over, getting faster and louder each time to the finale. The students made up their own story to accompany the music as the melody repeated itself. Learning Folk dances also can help children understand repetition and pattern in movement. The "Mexican Hat Dance" is fun to learn and has a simple, repeated dance and clapping pattern.

Patterns in Math

The math specialist introduced pattern blocks--those brightly colored, wooden shapes. Exploring with pattern blocks increases students, analyzing skills and awareness of spatial patterns, laying the foundation for the understanding of more complex number patterns.

The counting book Ten Little Rabbits by Virginia Grossman and Sylvia Long introduces the customs of ten American Indian cultures and is illustrated with beautiful patterns. As the students listened to the story, they focused on the pattern designs. They noticed that some were symmetrical and others were asymmetrical. The math specialist encouraged the students to create designs using the pattern blocks and then to recreate them with colored paper shapes.

Patterns in Reading

The reading specialist chose a story that was predictable and repetitious. She not only reinforced the concept of pattern but also motivated the students to participate. Children are captivated by stories that contain repetitious refrains. Such stories include I Know an Old Lady by Rose Bonne. Throughout this tale, an old woman who swallowed a fly must swallow something bigger each time to eat the previously ingested creature. Repetition is inherent to the theme. Each student must recall and repeat the previous sequence. The finale to the story is a complete recall of the pattern that established the sequence of events. As a shared reading activity, children love to respond aloud to the outrageous possibilities of what the old lady should eat next.

Other children's stories that work in collaborative efforts include The House That Jack Built by Paul Caldone, The House That Bob Built by Robert A. M. Stem and The Very Busy Spider by Eric Carle. All can inspire creative art projects.

Susan J. Striker is an art teacher in the Greenwich Public Schools in Greenwich, Connecticut. She wrote this article while teaching in Newburgh, New York, in collaboration with music teacher Marianne Craven, reading specialist Carole Terwilliger and math specialist Cheti Hamilton.

Resources

Baker, Keith. Hide and Snake. San Diego: Harcourt Brace Jovanovich, 1991. Bonne, Rose. I Know an Old Lady. New York: Scholastic Inc., 1961. Caldone, Paul. The House That Jack Built. New York: McGraw-Hill Inc., 1961. Carle, Eric. The Very Busy Spider. Philomel, 1985. Grossman, Virginia, and Sylvia Long. Ten Little Rabbits. San Francisco: Chronicle Books, 1991. Stern, Robert A. The House That Bob Built. New York: Rizzoli International Publications Inc., 1991.