Maths focus: Patterns and Capacity

Learning Intention:  

Can I copy, continue and make up my own repeating patterns?

      Capacity is the total amount of fluid that can be contained in a container.

Do I understand the terms full, empty and half-full/empty?

Can I use and understand the terms “holds the most” and “holds the least?”

Can I order 3/5 containers according to their capacity?

Key vocabulary:

Copy   continue   devise   repeating pattern

Full  empty   half-full   half-empty    holds   more than   less than   most   least

how many?     enough    too much     order    capacity

Useful Websites

Repeating patterns: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FwdYiHsrMUc

Repeating patterns: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3DDus06PDb8

Repeating patterns: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SvdAhexM9o4

Capacity:

Mr Archimedes Bath story- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1OPsrVIBW5I

Who sank the Boat story-  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C_cYb9RHKUQ

Finding capacity video- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zF3JSnEq7tU

Below are some activities you can do over the course of the week.

You can do one or a few each day. You can also repeat activities in order to help your child to fully understand the concepts of patterns or capacity, or if your child has particularly enjoyed them.

Activity:

Look for patterns both inside and outside your house, e.g. walls, wallpaper, duvet covers, cushions, wrapping paper, jumpers etc.

Identify the patterns you see……the shapes/ pictures/ objects used in the pattern.

Activity:

Using objects from around the house, start a repeating pattern for your child to continue, e.g.

Red brick, blue brick, red brick, blue brick…….

Doll, teddy bear, doll, teddy bear…..

Stone, twig, stone, twig….

Horse, cow, horse, cow……..

Fork, spoon, fork, spoon……

Red pencil, yellow pencil, red pencil, yellow pencil…..

Sock, shoe, sock, shoe…..

Book, CD, book, CD……

To make it more challenging:

Red brick, blue brick, yellow brick, red brick…..

Stone, twig, leaf, stone, twig, leaf……

Horse, cow, sheep, horse, cow, sheep……

Spoon, fork, bowl, spoon, fork, bowl….

To make it even more challenging:

Red brick, red brick, blue brick, red brick, red brick, blue brick…….

Spoon, fork, fork, spoon, fork, fork……

Stone, stone, leaf, stone, stone, leaf….

Encourage your child to create his/her own repeating patterns using objects.

Activity:

Draw coloured spots on paper to create a repeating pattern, e.g.

Green spot, purple spot, green spot, purple spot……

Orange spot, orange spot, black spot, black spot, orange spot, orange spot…..

Draw shapes on paper to create a repeating pattern, e.g.

Triangle , square, triangle, square….

Rectangle, circle, triangle, rectangle, circle, triangle…..

Square, square, circle, square, square, circle….

Or

Red triangle , blue square, red triangle, blue square….

Yellow rectangle, black circle, yellow triangle, black rectangle, yellow circle, black triangle…..

Red square, red square, green circle, red square, red square, green circle….

Your child could paint their repeating patterns.

Your child could use paint make fingerprint/ handprint repeating patterns.

Your child could use paint and bricks to print their repeating patterns. Or other objects.

Activity:

You can make repeating patterns using numbers, e.g.

1, 2, 1, 2, 1, 2…..

2, 4, 6, 2, 4, 6……

1, 2, 3, 1, 2, 3……

2, 2, 4, 4, 2, 2, 4, 4…..

6, 6, 7, 7, 6, 6, 7, 7…..

Activity:

Help your child to understand the terms full, empty, half-full & half-empty by filling containers so they are full and half-full/empty.

You can use water, but you can also use rice, flour, sand etc.

Activity:

Have 3 sizes of objects, e.g. cup, mug, tin, yoghurt pot, of different sizes.

Explain to the child that you are going to find out which container holds the most and which one holds the least. You are going to use a non-standard measure to find out how much each container holds, its capacity.

Non-standard measure- you could use a spoon, egg cup, a container much smaller than the containers being compared.

Label the containers being compared a, b and c.

Container a: using water as the non-standard measure ask your child to estimate how many egg cupfuls s/he thinks it will take to fill it. Then ask your child to find out. Discuss how many cupfuls it took. Discuss if his/her estimate was a sensible one. Then ask your child to record the answer, e.g. s/he could draw a picture of the number of egg cupfuls and write the number of egg cupfuls next to it and/or write a sentence, e.g. object a holds 3 egg cupfuls of water.

Using the knowledge of how many egg cupfuls object a holds, ask him/her to estimate how many egg cupfuls object b will hold. Then ask your child to find out and record the answer. Record the answer.

Questions to ask: Which holds more? How do you know? Which holds less? How do you know?

Repeat the process for object c. Questions to ask: Which container holds the most/ How do you know? Which container holds the least? How do you know? Record the answer.

*Your child can repeat this activity with different objects/ using 5 containers.