Build the staircase live with pattern blocks (or sketch it) as pupils settle: a column of 1, then 3, then 5. Take three or four genuine guesses for the 4th step before revealing anything — this is a real first attempt, not a teaser. Do not say the rule yet. Let pupils notice the climb of 2 themselves in the next beat.

2, 4, 6, 8: gaps all +2, step stays the same. Point at a gap, ask what they notice before confirming.

1, 3, 6, 10: gaps +2, +3, +4, step growing by one each time. Pause for a hands-up question (which is the term, which is the step) to lock the vocabulary.

20, 16, 12, 8: back-jump of 4 each time (-4, -4, -4), numbers shrink.

1, 2, 4, 8: gaps +1, +2, +4, each term double the one before, so numbers pull apart fast. Contrast with 1, 3, 6, 10: both grow, but here the rule is double the last, not add one more.

Name it together from what they saw: a step can stay the same, grow or shrink.

This round is for talking it through together — one pupil works at the board while the watching class says the step rule aloud.

Use this beat to test the rule the class just named: does "the step stays the same / grows / shrinks" still hold? Mark three terms, ask the pupil at the board to place the fourth, then predict the fifth aloud.

The line is loaded with 3, 6, 9 (the step stays the same). Revoice a strong answer: so because the jump stayed the same, you could land the next one without counting all the way.

These are the practice questions — pupils take turns at the board, check each answer, and the class confirms before moving on. Keep the board work brisk rather than over-explaining.

The challenges climb: a constant grow, then a constant shrink, then a longer look-ahead on a constant step, then a doubling pattern where the step grows. For the doubling one, draw out that you cannot count up in equal jumps — you have to apply the rule "double the last number", which the board states on screen and you modelled in the watch beat.