Virginia SOL 2.PFA.1.a
The Standard
Identify and describe repeating and increasing patterns.
Virginia Standards of Learning for Mathematics · The student will describe, extend, create, and transfer repeating and increasing patterns (limited to addition of whole numbers) using various representations.
Teacher's field guide
What This Standard Means
What Students Need to Do
- Students decide whether a sequence repeats a set group or grows by adding whole numbers. They explain the rule using words, numbers, shapes, sounds, or movements.
What Mastery Looks Like
- A student can classify a sequence as repeating or growing and explain why. The student names the repeating group or states the amount added each time.
Common Misconceptions
- Students may focus only on the next item instead of finding the group that repeats. They may call any sequence that gets larger a pattern, even when there is no clear addition rule.
How to Assess It
- Show △ ○ ○ △ ○ ○ and 4, 7, 10, 13. Ask students to label each pattern type and write or tell its rule.
Lesson moves
Ways to Teach It
Give pairs colored cubes to build red-blue-blue-red-blue-blue and towers of 2, 4, 6, 8 cubes, then explain each rule.
Display square-circle-circle-square-circle-circle and ask, “What repeats, and how do you know?” Then compare it with 2, 5, 8, 11.
Play Pattern Sort: students draw sequence cards, place them under repeating or growing, and earn a point by stating the rule.
Examine photos of floor tiles, brick walls, and stacked cans; students mark a repeating or growing arrangement and explain its rule.
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Printable 2.PFA.1.a Worksheet
A ready-to-print activity worksheet aligned to 2.PFA.1.a, with an answer key for the teacher on its own page. No account needed.
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Related Standards
- 1.PFA.1.a
The 1st Grade version of this standard.
- 3.PFA.1.a
Identify and describe increasing and decreasing patterns using various representations (e.g., objects, pictures, numbers, number lines).
- 2.PFA.1.b
Analyze a repeating or increasing pattern and generalize the change to extend the pattern using objects, pictures, and numbers.
- 1.PFA.1
The student will identify, describe, extend, create, and transfer repeating patterns and increasing patterns using various representations.
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