Skills Covered

How to Use This Pack

Five pages of patterns that grow by the same amount every step. Page 1 shows steps 1, 2 and 3 of four cube patterns, a tower, a train, an L and a post, and students draw step 4 on grid paper; the first one is a worked example. Page 2 has rows of ducks, flowers in a V, turtles in two rows and strawberries in an L: students count each step, write the number under it, then draw step 4 and count it. Page 3 shows three choices for step 4 of each pattern, and students circle the one that is right: one choice is step 3 again and one grows by the wrong amount. Page 4 is for 2nd grade: cube and dot patterns that grow by 2 or 3, where students draw step 4 and fill in a table up to step 6. Page 5 asks how three patterns grow, "It grows by __ each time", then gives step 1 of a new pattern and has students draw steps 2 and 3 and say how theirs grows.

In the Classroom

Build page 1's tower with snap cubes while the class counts: 1 cube, then 2, then 3. Ask what step 4 will look like before anyone draws it. For page 3, have students explain why the wrong choices are wrong: "That one is the same as step 3" or "That one grew by 2." Page 5's make-your-own pattern works well as a partner swap: trade patterns and find each other's rule.

At Home

Make growing patterns with blocks, coins, cereal or crayons: put down 2, then 4, then 6, and ask what comes next. Take turns making a pattern and guessing how it grows. Stairs, towers and rows of toys all make good patterns.

Tips for Success

• Look at what is new in each step: circle the shapes that were added
• Count each step and write the numbers in a row; the jump between them is the same every time
• Step 4 should have the same shape as the other steps, just bigger
• If a choice looks just like step 3, it did not grow at all
• Check by counting on: add the same number again to find the next step