Jumping Hills - Number Patterns

While learning about number patterns, the students learned the strategy of using "jumping hills" on a number line to count the number of spaces between numbers. To help them practice, students used dry erase mats and number lines to draw their "jumping hills." For example, if the number pattern was 1, 5, 9 then the students would draw a hill from 1 to 2, 2 to 3, 3 to 4, and then 4 to 5. They would see that there were four "hills" or four spaces. They would then repeat this going from the number 5 to the number 9. They would then see that it was again, four spaces. From this they could conclude that the skip counting rule was +4. The "jumping hills" really give the students a good visual of skip counting number patterns.