Dear parent or guardian: This is a summary of the key ideas your child is learning in mathematics.

You can use this summary as background as you support your child’s work. Some suggestions for
simple activities you can do with your child are also included.

Repeating Patterns
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What Is a Repeating Pattern?
A repeating pattern is a collection of shapes (or numbers, objects, actions, etc.)
where a set of them repeats over and over.

That smallest set of repeating items is called the pattern core (or the core
of the pattern).

core

In every pattern, something changes in a predictable way.

Where Do We See Patterns?

There are a lot of repeating patterns in the world around us. You can find patterns
in music, dance, fabric, floors, house design, and so on.

What Types of Simple Repeating Patterns Are There?

There are many types of repeating patterns.

For example:
• A pattern might have two different items that are repeated. This is called
an AB pattern.

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What Types of Simple Repeating Patterns Are There?

(continued)
• A pattern might have three different items that are repeated. This is called
an ABC pattern.

• Sometimes a pattern has a shape followed by two identical copies of another

shape. These three shapes are repeated. This is called an ABB pattern.

Although naming a pattern with letters is not critical, the letters (AB, ABB, ABC, etc.)
help describe the way the pattern repeats. A different letter indicates a different
type of item. The number of items in the pattern’s letter code tells how many items
are in the pattern’s core.

What Are More Complicated Repeating Patterns?

Sometimes more than one attribute of the items in a pattern changes. If two
attributes change, we can call the pattern a two-attribute repeating pattern.

• In some patterns, two attributes change together.

In the pattern above, both shape and colour change in an AAB pattern.

• In other patterns, two attributes change independently.

In the pattern above, the colour changes in an AB pattern,

but the shape changes in an AAB pattern.

The patterns put together make a larger pattern. Some children will simply see a
pattern with a core of six shapes repeating (or an ABCDEF pattern).

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Continuing a Pattern in Different Ways

Until someone tells us that a pattern has a certain code (or rule), such as AB or AAB,
there is no way to be sure how to continue it.

For example, here are a few ways to continue a pattern that begins with a triangle
and a circle:

How We Show That a Pattern Continues

To show that a pattern continues, people write “…” at the end of it.

For example, to show that we want more copies of circles and squares in this
pattern, we write “…” at the end.

...
We do this because we can never show a whole pattern since patterns can
continue forever.

Helping Your Child

You can help your child make different types of patterns at home. Patterns can be
based on shape, colour, sound, orientation, and so on.

You can select various shapes around the house (e.g., different types of plastic
building blocks, different types of wooden blocks, or even virtual manipulatives
on a computer or tablet), and have your child show you the patterns he or she can
create. You can encourage either simple patterns or more complicated patterns,
depending on what you think your child is ready for.

You can also have your child observe everyday patterns. For example, there might
be a pattern of cutlery around the dinner table, or there might be shape patterns
on the soles of your child’s shoes.

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Notes
In everyday language, we often interchange the words “pattern” and “design.”
For example, we say that a shirt has a pattern if there is some design on it.

In math, we generally use the term “pattern” to mean a line of shapes or numbers
in a particular order with a repeating core.

Definitions
attribute: a characteristic of a shape or object, for example, colour, number
of sides, number of vertices

core of a pattern: the part that repeats in a repeating pattern; for example,
the core of the pattern below is blue square, yellow circle

B Y B Y B Y B Y
...

core
repeating pattern: a sequence of elements that repeat
... in a predictable way,

for example, 5, 6, 6, 5, 6, 6, 5, 6, 6, …

two-attribute repeating pattern: a repeating pattern where each of two attributes

(e.g., shape and colour) changes in a predictable way, for example,

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