Look at this illustration of patterns around the school, including a grid of classroom windows and a brick wall.

Each hides a pattern. Which pattern would be easiest to describe to a friend on the phone, with no picture to help them?

Here is a pattern from around the school. We will work through two patterns, one that grows and one that repeats, writing a rule for each the way you will write yours today. As we work through each one, listen for how the rule lets you predict a term you cannot see.

Today we work through one full pattern-hunt entry together on the board: the paving slabs outside the door.

First we count the slabs step by step. Then we write the rule three ways. After that we decide which wording is clearest. Finally we test the best wording by predicting step 10 before anyone counts that far.

Now you become a pattern hunter around the school. Work on your own with the checklist on your clipboard.

For every pattern you find, write down what it is, count enough terms to be sure, and write its rule in words. There is one extra STRETCH target at the bottom of the checklist — that one is only for when you have finished the three you must find.

Underneath, write the rule in words so clearly that a classmate could draw your fifth term without asking you a single question. Then note which pattern you met today was the hardest to put into words, and say why.