In my classroom we do a daily math calendar or number sense work out. Each month centers on a different pattern that expands throughout the month. I display the pattern in a calendar pocket chart and we reveal one card each day, building anticipation and encouraging students to revisit the pattern daily looking for new insights as the pattern evolves. In this post I have included the two I start the school year with. I typically use the patterns with students in grades 4 and 5. This is a fabulous way to frame a daily number talk allowing students to explore the number or representation of the day while still having an ongoing pattern. I also find this simplifies my planning for number talks as I prepare my calendar and the calendar observation chart at the start of the month and we’re ready for the month. I find this approach really helps me to free up time to create other tasks. I have also created all of my calendar units until Christmas meaning that I am ready to go for the first four months of the school year. One of my favorite elements of this is that the patterns are multifaceted having several layers of complexity allowing every student to engage in the pattern each month has colour or shape patterns along with one or more numerical pattern. The patterns increase in complexity over the course of the year allowing student to build confidence along with their number sense and problem solving skills.
I have included the first two units below
Month One: Ancient Aegean Numerals
This pattern uses Ancient Aegean Numerals to model multiples of nine. Aegean numerals are a base ten numeration system that uses a distinct character to represent 1s, 10s, 100s and so on by repeating the character a number of times, this numeration system does not rely on positional notation the way our modern Hindu-Arabic numerals do. This is a great pattern to introduce the idea of a calendar based math talk as the pattern itself, counting by nines is relatively simple mathematically the complexity lies in decoding the numbers on each day’s cards.
Month Two: Fibonacci Sequence
The Fibonacci sequence is a well-known arithmetic pattern using addition. In this calendar pattern students will explore multiple representations of numbers while discovering the Fibonacci sequence. Students will interact with numbers represented in place value charts, with base ten blocks, standard form, expanded form and word form. This pattern is intriguing for students and can be connected to other learning across the arts and sciences in the form of the Golden Ratio.