Pattern – Garden Beds

Problem: A gardener wants to protect some plants by placing a border of tiles around the edge. If he planted 3 plants, how many tiles would be need to place around to create a border? What about 4, 5, 6…. 150 plants? Can you see a pattern? (Students need to draw the garden beds as a horizonatal row in their grid books).

Solution: You just need to double the number of plants (for the top and the bottom) and then add 6

(three for each end). Can any students record this in mathematical notation?

En: provide students with tiles to model the problem. Prompt them to record answers in a table

Ext: what if the plants were arranged in other ways (not just in straight lines)?