Here is a block staircase. The first step has 1 block. The next step has 3 blocks. The step after that has 5 blocks.
How many blocks do you think the next step will need? Have a guess before we work it out together.
A term is a number we land on in a pattern; the step is the jump from one term to the next. Four patterns are on the number lines. Watch the gaps between the markers each time and decide what the step is doing.
In your maths copy, draw the next two steps of the block staircase from the start of the lesson. It went 1, 3, 5, 7 blocks. Beside each new step, write how many blocks it adds on from the step before.
Now let's test what we found. One pupil comes to the board and marks where the next term lands, then says where the one after would go. Everyone else watches and says the step rule aloud: is the step staying the same, growing or shrinking?
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