Virginia SOL 4.PFA.1.a
The Standard
Identify, describe, extend, and create increasing and decreasing patterns using various representations (e.g., objects, pictures, numbers, number lines, input/output tables, and function machines).
Virginia Standards of Learning for Mathematics · The student will identify, describe, extend, and create increasing and decreasing patterns (limited to addition, subtraction, and multiplication of whole numbers), including those in context, using various representations.
Teacher's field guide
What This Standard Means
What Students Need to Do
- Students determine how values change from one step to the next. They state the rule, continue or create the pattern, and represent it with objects, pictures, numbers, number lines, or tables.
What Mastery Looks Like
- A student can name the rule for a sequence, table, picture, or object model and use it correctly at every step. The student can fill missing terms and show the same pattern in another form.
Common Misconceptions
- Students may choose a rule after checking only the first two terms. They may confuse the term value with the amount of change. In tables, they may compare inputs to outputs instead of checking how values change across steps.
How to Assess It
- Exit ticket: Complete 36, 31, 26, __, __. State the rule, show the jumps on a number line, then create an increasing pattern with the same step size.
Lesson moves
Ways to Teach It
Give pairs counters and number cards; have them build, draw, and label a pattern that grows by four each step.
Ask, "How can two patterns start at 20 but change differently?" Students compare rules and write the next three terms.
Play Pattern Match with cards showing sequences, tables, pictures, and rules; students pair equivalent representations and explain each match.
Use weekly savings and spending examples to model amounts increasing by $5 or decreasing by $3, then predict later amounts.
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Printable 4.PFA.1.a Worksheet
A ready-to-print activity worksheet aligned to 4.PFA.1.a, with an answer key for the teacher on its own page. No account needed.
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Related Standards
- 3.PFA.1.d
Create increasing and decreasing patterns using objects, pictures, numbers, and number lines.
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- 3.PFA.1.a
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- 4.PFA.1
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