Objective

Students will identify and make repeating patterns.

• The Pilgrims’ First Thanksgiving by Ann McGovern
• Pilgrim templates
• Mayflower template
• Construction Paper - 12" x 18" (brown, blue and white)
• Help-Yourself Glue Tubes
• Safety Scissors
• Markers or crayons

1. Print out the Pilgrim templates on white paper. Each child will need a page of boy templates and a page of girl templates.
2. Reproduce the Mayflower template onto brown construction paper. Make one copy for each student.

1. Remind students that there were boy and girl Pilgrims on the Mayflower and at the First Thanksgiving.
2. Tell students that they are going to practice making patterns.
3. Invite volunteers to come to the front of the room. Give the volunteers a pattern (such as boy, boy, girl, girl, boy, boy, girl, girl) and have them stand in a line to demonstrate the pattern.
4. When students have arranged themselves correctly, encourage the rest of the class to say the pattern aloud with you. Walk down the line, pointing to each child as you say, “Boy, boy, girl, girl, boy, boy, girl, girl.” Then ask, “If we wanted to continue this pattern, who should be next in line—a boy or a girl?” Invite students to share their responses.
5. Repeat steps 3 and 4 using different patterns (such as boy, girl, boy, girl or boy, boy, girl, boy, boy, girl) until students have demonstrated an understanding that patterns are arrangements with a repeating order.

1. Tell students that you would like them to practice making their own patterns using pictures of boy and girl Pilgrims.
2. Give each student a sheet of Pilgrim boys, a sheet of Pilgrim girls, and both pages of the Mayflower template. Prompt students to color the pictures and cut them out. (For younger students, you may want to cut out the pictures ahead of time.)
3. Provide each student with a blue sheet of 12" x 18" construction paper.
4. Instruct students to turn their sheets sideways and glue the ship to the bottom of their sheet.
5. Instruct students to arrange the Pilgrim boys and girls in a pattern along the top of the boat. Then have students glue the pictures in place.
6. Display the completed artwork on a bulletin board titled “Mayflower Voyage” or “Pilgrim Patterns.”