Virginia SOL 3.PFA.1.c
The Standard
Solve contextual problems that involve identifying, describing, and extending patterns.
Virginia Standards of Learning for Mathematics · The student will identify, describe, extend, and create increasing and decreasing patterns (limited to addition and subtraction of whole numbers), including those in context, using various representations.
Teacher's field guide
What This Standard Means
What Students Need to Do
- Students read a situation and find how a quantity changes from one step to the next. They describe the addition or subtraction rule, extend the values, and answer the question.
What Mastery Looks Like
- Students identify the starting value and the amount added or subtracted each step. They extend the pattern accurately and use the needed term to answer the question in context.
Common Misconceptions
- Students may use the wrong operation, especially when phrases such as “4 fewer each day” signal subtraction. They may also apply the rule too many times by counting the starting value as the first change.
How to Assess It
- Exit ticket: A jar holds 30 marbles on Monday and loses 4 each day. How many remain Thursday? State the pattern rule.
Lesson moves
Ways to Teach It
Build a staircase with connecting cubes, record each step’s total, name the addition rule, and predict the next two totals.
Prompt: Mia reads 5 pages on day 1 and 4 more daily; explain how you can find her day 6 total.
Play Pattern Detective: partners draw context cards and number sequences, then earn a point by stating the rule and next two values.
Track a classroom supply that changes by the same amount daily, then use the pattern to predict a future quantity.
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Related Standards
- 3.PFA.1.b
Analyze an increasing or decreasing pattern and generalize the change to extend the pattern or identify missing terms using various representations.
- 2.PFA.1.b
Analyze a repeating or increasing pattern and generalize the change to extend the pattern using objects, pictures, and numbers.
- 4.PFA.1.d
Solve contextual problems that involve identifying, describing, and extending increasing and decreasing patterns using single-operation input and output rules.
- 3.CE.2.e
Represent, solve, and justify solutions to single-step contextual problems that involve multiplication and division of whole numbers through 10 × 10.
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