What comes next?

Something here keeps repeating. Can you hear it if I say it out loud?

MathAges 4–515 minutes3 pagesEnglish textInk-light

Being written

This one is planned but not finished yet. Everything below is what it will contain.

Not drawn yet

I can see the pattern and draw what comes next.

How the fifteen minutes go

The five steps on this sheet, in the order a child meets them. This is what you will actually be doing, not a description of the method.

1
Wonder
Something here keeps repeating. Can you hear it if I say it out loud?
2
Listen
Your grown-up reads the pattern aloud: shell, fish, shell, fish…
3
Explore
Say it with them. Then draw the next one.
4
Share
Make a pattern of your own with two crayons and let them guess the rule.

Print the one that fits today. Same skill, three depths — and on this sheet they differ like this.

Support

AB patterns only, shell, fish, shell, fish.

Fewer items, more pictures, hints included, parent reads the instructions.

Core

AB and AAB patterns.

The standard task, recognition, practice and explanation.

Challenge

ABC, and make one of their own.

Open-ended. Explain why, make your own example, use it somewhere new.

The same guide that is printed on the back page, so you can read it before you decide to print anything.

The answers

1 shell · 2 blue · 3 fish · 4 star · 5 big, but the RULE spoken aloud matters more than the item drawn.

If they get stuck

Say the pattern out loud together, rhythmically, three times. Patterns are heard before they are seen.

Common mistakes

Continuing by copying the last item rather than following the rule.
Getting it right without being able to say why. Ask for the rule; that is where the maths is.

When they finish early

Make a pattern with real objects along the edge of the table.