{"id":3349,"date":"2013-08-02T06:44:54","date_gmt":"2013-08-02T14:44:54","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/kidnexions.com\/blog\/?p=3349"},"modified":"2013-08-02T06:44:54","modified_gmt":"2013-08-02T14:44:54","slug":"name-patterns-a-fun-first-week-of-school-activity","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.familymathnight.com\/blog\/?p=3349","title":{"rendered":"Name Patterns:  A Fun First Week of School Activity"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><figure id=\"attachment_3352\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-3352\" style=\"width: 300px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><a href=\"http:\/\/kidnexions.com\/blog\/?attachment_id=3352\" rel=\"attachment wp-att-3352\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/kidnexions.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/08\/2013-07-31-21.31.51-300x225.jpg\" alt=\"\" title=\"Name Patterns\" width=\"300\" height=\"225\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-3352\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.familymathnight.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/08\/2013-07-31-21.31.51-300x225.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.familymathnight.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/08\/2013-07-31-21.31.51-450x337.jpg 450w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px\" \/><\/a><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-3352\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">www.FamilyMathNight.com<\/figcaption><\/figure>Patterns.  It was always a theme throughout the school year in my mathematics classes.  So to kick-off patterns, during the first week of school, the students create a color pattern using their name.  Then, we discuss the patterns made by names of different lengths.  It may seem like a simple activity, but some great conversations can be generated when students focus on the reasons why certain patterns appear.  For example, in the photo above, there are 15 squares in each row.  What happens when the length of the name is 3 letters long&#8230;or 5 letters long?  Why does that happen?  And why do the 4-letter names and 8-letter names have the same pattern?  What about 6- and 9-letter names?  Etc.<\/p>\n<p>This is a fun way to tie in something that is important to the students &#8211; their name &#8211; and our work in looking for patterns.  And, of course, when the conversation has ended, these make a great bulletin board!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Patterns. It was always a theme throughout the school year in my mathematics classes. So to kick-off patterns, during the first week of school, the students create a color pattern using their name. Then, we discuss the patterns made by names of different lengths. It may seem like a simple activity, but some great conversations can be generated when students focus on the reasons why certain patterns appear. For example, in the photo above, there are 15 squares in each&#8230;<\/p>\n<p class=\"read-more\"><a class=\"btn btn-default\" href=\"https:\/\/www.familymathnight.com\/blog\/?p=3349\"> Read More<span class=\"screen-reader-text\">  Read More<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[123,76,51,44,45,52,58,57],"tags":[102,81,21,22,177],"class_list":["post-3349","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-activities","category-family-math-night-2","category-kids-and-math-3-5","category-kids-and-math","category-number-sense","category-number-and-operations","category-problem-solving-kids-and-math","category-problem-solving","tag-common-core-state-standards","tag-family-math-night-activities","tag-karyn-hodgens","tag-kidnexions","tag-patterns"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.1.1 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Name Patterns: A Fun First Week of School Activity - Karyn&#039;s Blog<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.familymathnight.com\/blog\/?p=3349\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Name Patterns: A Fun First Week of School Activity - Karyn&#039;s Blog\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Patterns. It was always a theme throughout the school year in my mathematics classes. So to kick-off patterns, during the first week of school, the students create a color pattern using their name. Then, we discuss the patterns made by names of different lengths. It may seem like a simple activity, but some great conversations can be generated when students focus on the reasons why certain patterns appear. For example, in the photo above, there are 15 squares in each... Read More Read More\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.familymathnight.com\/blog\/?p=3349\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Karyn&#039;s Blog\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/facebook.com\/familymathnight\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2013-08-02T14:44:54+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.familymathnight.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/08\/2013-07-31-21.31.51.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"2560\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"1920\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Karyn\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Karyn\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"1 minute\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.familymathnight.com\/blog\/?p=3349#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.familymathnight.com\/blog\/?p=3349\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Karyn\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.familymathnight.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/8315e40892235d198a376ee61ef7f093\"},\"headline\":\"Name Patterns: A Fun First Week of School Activity\",\"datePublished\":\"2013-08-02T14:44:54+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.familymathnight.com\/blog\/?p=3349\"},\"wordCount\":178,\"commentCount\":0,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.familymathnight.com\/blog\/#organization\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.familymathnight.com\/blog\/?p=3349#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"http:\/\/kidnexions.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/08\/2013-07-31-21.31.51-300x225.jpg\",\"keywords\":[\"Common Core State Standards\",\"family math night activities\",\"karyn hodgens\",\"kidnexions\",\"patterns\"],\"articleSection\":[\"Activities\",\"Family Math Night\",\"Grades 3-5\",\"Grades K-2\",\"Number and Operations\",\"Number and Operations\",\"Problem-Solving\",\"Problem-Solving\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.familymathnight.com\/blog\/?p=3349#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.familymathnight.com\/blog\/?p=3349\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.familymathnight.com\/blog\/?p=3349\",\"name\":\"Name Patterns: A Fun First Week of School Activity - Karyn&#039;s Blog\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.familymathnight.com\/blog\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.familymathnight.com\/blog\/?p=3349#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.familymathnight.com\/blog\/?p=3349#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"http:\/\/kidnexions.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/08\/2013-07-31-21.31.51-300x225.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2013-08-02T14:44:54+00:00\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.familymathnight.com\/blog\/?p=3349#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.familymathnight.com\/blog\/?p=3349\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.familymathnight.com\/blog\/?p=3349#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"http:\/\/kidnexions.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/08\/2013-07-31-21.31.51-300x225.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"http:\/\/kidnexions.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/08\/2013-07-31-21.31.51-300x225.jpg\"},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.familymathnight.com\/blog\/?p=3349#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.familymathnight.com\/blog\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Name Patterns: A Fun First Week of School Activity\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.familymathnight.com\/blog\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.familymathnight.com\/blog\/\",\"name\":\"Karyn's Blog\",\"description\":\"Ideas, Lessons, and Musings on Kids&#039; Math\",\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.familymathnight.com\/blog\/#organization\"},\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.familymathnight.com\/blog\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Organization\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.familymathnight.com\/blog\/#organization\",\"name\":\"Family Math Night\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.familymathnight.com\/blog\/\",\"logo\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.familymathnight.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.familymathnight.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/fmnlogo-large.png\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.familymathnight.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/fmnlogo-large.png\",\"width\":712,\"height\":206,\"caption\":\"Family Math Night\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.familymathnight.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/\"},\"sameAs\":[\"https:\/\/facebook.com\/familymathnight\",\"https:\/\/instagram.com\/familymathnight\",\"https:\/\/youtube.com\/familymathnight\"]},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.familymathnight.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/8315e40892235d198a376ee61ef7f093\",\"name\":\"Karyn\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.familymathnight.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/8822970fc0e614aab3c5814aa4e2f399870dbe6a34aca22991e0204c455f23c2?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/8822970fc0e614aab3c5814aa4e2f399870dbe6a34aca22991e0204c455f23c2?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Karyn\"},\"sameAs\":[\"http:\/\/www.familymathnight.com\"],\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.familymathnight.com\/blog\/?author=2\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Name Patterns: A Fun First Week of School Activity - Karyn&#039;s Blog","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.familymathnight.com\/blog\/?p=3349","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Name Patterns: A Fun First Week of School Activity - Karyn&#039;s Blog","og_description":"Patterns. It was always a theme throughout the school year in my mathematics classes. So to kick-off patterns, during the first week of school, the students create a color pattern using their name. Then, we discuss the patterns made by names of different lengths. It may seem like a simple activity, but some great conversations can be generated when students focus on the reasons why certain patterns appear. For example, in the photo above, there are 15 squares in each... Read More Read More","og_url":"https:\/\/www.familymathnight.com\/blog\/?p=3349","og_site_name":"Karyn&#039;s Blog","article_publisher":"https:\/\/facebook.com\/familymathnight","article_published_time":"2013-08-02T14:44:54+00:00","og_image":[{"width":2560,"height":1920,"url":"https:\/\/www.familymathnight.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/08\/2013-07-31-21.31.51.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"Karyn","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Karyn","Est. reading time":"1 minute"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/www.familymathnight.com\/blog\/?p=3349#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.familymathnight.com\/blog\/?p=3349"},"author":{"name":"Karyn","@id":"https:\/\/www.familymathnight.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/8315e40892235d198a376ee61ef7f093"},"headline":"Name Patterns: A Fun First Week of School Activity","datePublished":"2013-08-02T14:44:54+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.familymathnight.com\/blog\/?p=3349"},"wordCount":178,"commentCount":0,"publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.familymathnight.com\/blog\/#organization"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.familymathnight.com\/blog\/?p=3349#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"http:\/\/kidnexions.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/08\/2013-07-31-21.31.51-300x225.jpg","keywords":["Common Core State Standards","family math night activities","karyn hodgens","kidnexions","patterns"],"articleSection":["Activities","Family Math Night","Grades 3-5","Grades K-2","Number and Operations","Number and Operations","Problem-Solving","Problem-Solving"],"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"CommentAction","name":"Comment","target":["https:\/\/www.familymathnight.com\/blog\/?p=3349#respond"]}]},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.familymathnight.com\/blog\/?p=3349","url":"https:\/\/www.familymathnight.com\/blog\/?p=3349","name":"Name Patterns: A Fun First Week of School Activity - Karyn&#039;s Blog","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.familymathnight.com\/blog\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.familymathnight.com\/blog\/?p=3349#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.familymathnight.com\/blog\/?p=3349#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"http:\/\/kidnexions.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/08\/2013-07-31-21.31.51-300x225.jpg","datePublished":"2013-08-02T14:44:54+00:00","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.familymathnight.com\/blog\/?p=3349#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.familymathnight.com\/blog\/?p=3349"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.familymathnight.com\/blog\/?p=3349#primaryimage","url":"http:\/\/kidnexions.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/08\/2013-07-31-21.31.51-300x225.jpg","contentUrl":"http:\/\/kidnexions.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/08\/2013-07-31-21.31.51-300x225.jpg"},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.familymathnight.com\/blog\/?p=3349#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.familymathnight.com\/blog"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Name Patterns: A Fun First Week of School Activity"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.familymathnight.com\/blog\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.familymathnight.com\/blog\/","name":"Karyn's Blog","description":"Ideas, Lessons, and Musings on Kids&#039; Math","publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.familymathnight.com\/blog\/#organization"},"potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.familymathnight.com\/blog\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https:\/\/www.familymathnight.com\/blog\/#organization","name":"Family Math Night","url":"https:\/\/www.familymathnight.com\/blog\/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.familymathnight.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/www.familymathnight.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/fmnlogo-large.png","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.familymathnight.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/fmnlogo-large.png","width":712,"height":206,"caption":"Family Math Night"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.familymathnight.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/"},"sameAs":["https:\/\/facebook.com\/familymathnight","https:\/\/instagram.com\/familymathnight","https:\/\/youtube.com\/familymathnight"]},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.familymathnight.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/8315e40892235d198a376ee61ef7f093","name":"Karyn","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.familymathnight.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/8822970fc0e614aab3c5814aa4e2f399870dbe6a34aca22991e0204c455f23c2?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/8822970fc0e614aab3c5814aa4e2f399870dbe6a34aca22991e0204c455f23c2?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"Karyn"},"sameAs":["http:\/\/www.familymathnight.com"],"url":"https:\/\/www.familymathnight.com\/blog\/?author=2"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.familymathnight.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3349","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.familymathnight.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.familymathnight.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.familymathnight.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.familymathnight.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=3349"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/www.familymathnight.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3349\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3356,"href":"https:\/\/www.familymathnight.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3349\/revisions\/3356"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.familymathnight.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=3349"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.familymathnight.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=3349"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.familymathnight.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=3349"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}