Time and Rice: Part 2

Age group
  • Junior/Intermediate (Age 9 to 12)

Curriculum Goal

Junior: Patterning and Algebra

Identify, describe, extend, create, and make predictions about a variety of patterns, including those found in real-life.


Junior: Number Sense

Use knowledge of numbers and operations to solve mathematical problems encountered in everyday life.

Context
  • Children and the teacher work together for the first part of the lesson before students engage in independent and collaborative tasks.
  • Educators are encouraged to familiarize themselves with to become aware of existing patterns before instructing.
  • This lesson is a continuation of Time and Rice: Part 1.
Materials
  • (for educator reference)
  • Pencils
  • Calculators
  • (one per student)
  • (one per student)
  • (one per student)

Lesson

  • Ask students: Who can share how addition, subtraction, multiplication, and division can help us build and identify patterns in numbers? Students may share that patterns can grow, shrink, increase, and/or decrease.
  • Continue, saying: Recognizing and identifying patterns help us make predictions based on our observations to solve problems. Today, we are going to become number pattern explorers to understand how one grain of rice became 1,073,741,823 over the span of 30 days.
  • Project and tell students: On the board you will see 鈥淒ays 1-10鈥 of 鈥淕rains of Rice Received鈥 and 鈥淭otal Grains of Rice鈥. What is the difference between 鈥淕rains of Rice Received鈥 and 鈥淭otal Grains of Rice鈥?
  • Allow students to share their answers.
  • Say: The 鈥淕rains of Rice Received鈥 column represents how many grains of rice Rani was given each day. This column is always less than the 鈥淭otal Grains of Rice鈥 column. Who can share why the 鈥淕rains of Rice Received鈥 column is always less than the 鈥淭otal Grains of Rice鈥 column after 鈥淒ay 1鈥 where the columns are equal?
  • Allow students to share their ideas.
  • Say: On Day 1 the columns are equal because there was no previous day鈥檚 total for Day 1 鈥淕rains of Rice Received鈥 to be added to. Each day the 鈥淕rains of Rice Received鈥 column is added to the previous day鈥檚 鈥淭otal Grains of Rice鈥 value.
  • Continue by demonstrating this to students. Point to the table and say: On Day 1 Rani received one grain of rice. What is Rani鈥檚 total grains of rice on Day 1? Students should respond by saying 1.
  • Point to 鈥淒ay 2鈥 and say: If Rani received double the amount of rice than they did on Day 1, how many pieces of rice will Rani receive on Day 2? Students should say two because one doubled is two.
  • Say: How can we determine Rani鈥檚 鈥淭otal Grains of Rice鈥 for Day 2? Allow students to share their responses.
  • Say: Rani will have three grains of rice after two days because on Day 1, the 鈥淭otal Grains of Rice鈥 was one and then we add the two grains that Rani received on Day 2.
  • Hand out a copy of to each student. Say: You will now have five minutes to find as many patterns as you can! You are encouraged to mark up this page and record patterns when you identify them. Remember patterns can occur vertically within the same column and horizontally across different rows. Your five minutes of exploring for patterns starts now!
  • During this time, circulate the classroom to ensure all students are comprehending the task.
  • When the five minutes are up, tell students: We are now going to share the patterns we found. should still be projected on the board. As students share their identified patterns, mark up the table for students to observe (use as reference). Allow students to share the patterns they identified within the table and help them uncover ones they may have missed.
  • Continue, saying: Now you are going to independently fill in the blanks for Days 11 to 20 using the patterns we have identified and discussed.
  • Handout , giving students 10 minutes to work on the table. When 10 minutes are up, project and review the activity together.
  • Say: In pairs, you are now going to apply your learning using the patterns we have identified. Your task is to complete the columns 鈥淕rains of Rice Received鈥 and 鈥淭otal Grains of Rice鈥 from Days 21 to 30. When you are done, write a sentence using words describing each pattern you and your partner used on the back of the sheet.
  • Before students work in pairs, ensure the task is understood. Ask: How will you determine the values for Day 21? Students should respond that they will reference the values for 鈥淒ay 20鈥 and use patterns to determine 鈥淒ay 21鈥 values.

As a group, take up and get students to share what strategies they used to complete the table.

Look Fors

  • What prior knowledge do students have about growing patterns?
  • What language is being used when students share patterns they found?
  • Do students understand that patterns involve repeating the same function?
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