Remember how I promised to dish out my favorite read-alouds to teach math? It’s time for our next installment! We’re diving into books about patterns this time — well, not just books about patterns but I’ll explain what I mean by that shortly.
Now, you won’t spot patterns in the Common Core State Standards in grades 1, 2, or 3. So, why am I dedicating an entire post to books about patterns? Because they are so important that they are actually a part of every single grade level and content area. Patterns provide students with a sense of predictability in math. It helps organize and make connections between content. They even help us to make generalizations about math. I would go so far as to say that patterns form the foundation of all of our math teaching, from geometric patterns to the base ten system to standard algorithms to algebra. Patterns are, quite literally, everywhere!
So don’t let those content standards fool you! Patterns are super important to teach your students and luckily, picture books are a great way to do it. Repeating patterns, growing patterns, and more – let’s get to it and check out my top 10 books about patterns!
You can find the links to all of these great books about patterns HERE!
Teddy Bear Patterns by Barbara Barbieri McGrath
I had to start with Teddy Bear Patterns because let’s face it, what lower elementary classroom doesn’t have teddy bear counters lying around? This book about patterns uses teddy bear images that look almost exactly like those counters making it perfect to use along with them!
The book starts with sorting the bears by color and then moves into different repeating patterns. The text names the colors in the pattern while the images show it all in action. It even goes into addition, multiplication, and skip counting.
This book about patterns is a treasure trove of pattern exploration opportunities! There is so much pattern content to dig into with this book alongside counting bears that it can span multiple days of pattern fun.
A-B-A-B-A — A Book of Pattern Play by Brian Cleary
Next up we have A-B-A-B-A — A Book of Pattern Play. With its catchy rhymes, it is another picture book that explicitly introduces repeating patterns, including using letters, like A-B to represent them. Not only does the book show visual repeating patterns, but also numerical patterns, like 1, 2, 3, 1, 2, 3, etc. and skip counting patterns.
Plus, this book about patterns also briefly touches on patterns in the environment. This book about patterns would be a great read-aloud for grades 1 and up and could lead to activities like looking for repeating patterns within the classroom or school.
Pitter Pattern by Joyce Hesselberth
This adorable book about patterns follows Lu as she goes about her weekly adventures, discovering patterns all around her – in words, days of the week, piano keys, and more. Each set of pages clearly names patterns within Lu’s day, making it easy for kids to follow along.
Pitter Pattern is perfect to pair with finding patterns in everyday life. Have students keep track of all of the patterns they observe throughout their day or week. Can they find as many patterns as Lu did?
Pattern Bugs by Trudy Harris
Pattern Bugs takes readers on a bug-filled journey through patterns. With each new bug, we meet a new pattern. The most fun part of this book is that the pattern isn’t complete until you turn the page. That makes this book perfect as a read-aloud because I can just hear the kids excitedly finishing each pattern before you turn the page.
Even better is that Trudy Harris also wrote Pattern Fish which follows a similar pattern (pun intended!) as Pattern Bugs. Each pair of pages uses fish to introduce repeating patterns and encourages kids to predict the last part of each pattern. It’s a double dose of pattern fun!
Pattern by Henry Arthur Pluckrose
Here’s one more book that is explicitly about patterns. Before we even dive in, the cover of Pattern by Henry Arther Pluckrose is sure to catch your eye. Something about the black background with the bright colors in repeating patterns is just so fun!
What is different about this book is that it introduces a pattern and then throws us a curveball by showing a non-example. The book then uses photographs rather than illustrations to show a variety of patterns in real-life materials like clothes, construction vehicles, and natural materials. But wait, there’s more! The book also asks readers to question why patterns might be helpful. Why are patterns on the bottom of sneakers? Why might that be helpful? Now that’s some critical thinking!
The books listed below are probably titles that you are probably quite familiar with but aren’t explicitly books about patterns. Because patterns are so integrated into nearly everything around us, it’s easy to add these rich read-alouds into your math block. Read on, and I’ll share some ways to use these classics to incorporate math and patterns into any part of the day.
One Grain of Rice by Demi
This book is one of my all-time favorites and takes me way back to my student-teaching days.
In the story, Rani tricks the raja into giving rice to the village. On the first day, the raja gives one grain of rice but the number of grains gets doubled every day for 30 days – a growing pattern! While the story does not explicitly talk about a growing pattern, the text and the illustrations make it clear how one grain of rice grows to be more than one billion grains of rice.
Investigating the math in this book would be great for having third graders continue the pattern. How many grains of rice will it be on day 31? What about 35? Can they find a pattern to find the number of grains of rice on any day?
The Very Hungry Caterpillar by Eric Carle
Who doesn’t love this classic? I’m sure you are familiar with The Very Hungry Caterpillar but in case you aren’t, it’s the story of a, well, … very hungry caterpillar. The caterpillar just eats and eats day after day, which demonstrates a growing pattern. Each day the number of items the caterpillar eats grows by 1 until Saturday when he really goes to town eating! The text also follows a pattern – each day “he was still hungry!”
Another fantastic thing about the book is that each page has little holes corresponding to the number of foods the caterpillar ate. So not only can they follow along with the text and illustrations, but they can also follow along as each day a new hole gets added.
Alma’s Art by Roda Ahmed
This beautiful book follows Alma as she paints patterns using different colors of paint. As she paints, her painted patterns remind her of fall, the sun, a grassy hill, and more. The book also features an adorable puppy that doesn’t play an active role in the story, but I just know kids will love spotting the puppy and what it’s up to as Alma paints.
Alma’s Art would be so fun to use as a basis for an art project. Have students use one color to paint (or draw) repeating patterns that create a greater image. Now that would make for a beautiful bulletin board!
A Bad Case of Stripes by David Shannon
A Bad Case of Stripes is always a favorite on the bookshelf. In this story, the main character, Camilla Cream, loves lima beans but won’t eat them because her friends hate them and she is always worried about what others think of her. One day she comes down with a bad case of stripes that aren’t cured until she learns to be true to herself.
So, why this book? The awesome illustrations open the door for rich pattern discussions. Some of Camilla’s symptoms are repeating patterns and some aren’t, making them ideal for discussions about which are which. Other illustrations don’t show Camilla at all, but kids can still look closely to find patterns. This book is chock full of fun and patterns!
Click, Clack, Moo. Cows That Type by Doreen Cronin
“Click, clack, moo. Click, clack, moo. Clickers, clack, moo.” This book’s super catchy rhythm and playful story, will have kids hooked! In the story, the cows communicate with the farmer with a typewriter and when he refuses to do as they ask, they go on strike to get their demands met. The pattern in the text, like in Pattern Bugs, also makes it perfect for student interaction!
And that’s it, 10 of my favorite books about patterns and books with patterns! Looking for some more read-alouds that you can use in your math instruction? Check out my list of place value books, geometry books, fraction books, and books to explore measuring. Happy reading!
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