Finding the repeating unit
Identify and describe the repeating unit (core) of a repeating pattern made with numbers, symbols, shapes or objects, and use it to continue, create, compare and translate patterns from one form (movements, sounds) into another (objects, shapes, letters or numbers)
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1 approach
Finding the repeating unit means practising the idea at the table with counters or paper models and one clear check. We will demo once, then your child tries.
Materials: Paper shapes or a ruler and pencil; Shape name cards. Adult traces or shows one shape and names a property (sides/angles). Child identifies three shapes or measures one simple property and records it. Done: three correct shape/property responses. Stop after the fresh check; keep optional challenge for another day.
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Start practiceFinding the repeating unit practice
Practice key ideas from Finding the repeating unit.
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Learning resources
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Illustrative Mathematics · Practice link — not the full lesson
Sidewalk Patterns
Before you open · source notes
Sidewalk tile patterns support finding the repeating unit. Not every random sequence without a rule.
Free, no sign-in. A teacher solution is on the same page, so use the student view with your child.
Before you openAsk the learner to name the repeating unit and predict the next tile.
Opening this link does not save learning or assess mastery.
Source, access and review notes
Public Illustrative Mathematics task page. The .html address responds HTTP 308 to this URL. An anonymous GET of this URL on 2026-11-12 returned HTTP 200 with no login or payment prompt. Where a teacher solution is present, it is on the same page as the student task; this check did not find a separate locked student view. An adult can use the student view section and should not read a solution aloud. Advertising was not observed in the fetched HTML text; that is not a browser, device, or ad-free guarantee. This is a paper or discussion task, not an automatically marked interactive game. Opening the link does not save practice or assess mastery. Diagrams on the page use missing or filename-only alt text, so they are not an accessible image equivalent. Accessibility still depends on an adult describing the picture.
Illustrative Mathematics. “Sidewalk Patterns.” Licensed CC BY-NC-SA 4.0. External task; Gakuva does not copy, host, embed, or redistribute it.
CC BY-NC-SA 4.0 — link only
Check understanding
- Circle the part that repeats in red, blue, blue, red, blue, blue and describe it as an ABB pattern
- Build a new pattern with the unit 1, 2, 2, 3 and repeat it three times
- Translate clap, stamp, stamp, clap, stamp, stamp into a shape pattern (circle, square, square) and into letters (ABB), and explain why they have the same repeating unit
“If your child sees beads threaded red, blue, blue, red, blue, blue, can they point out the part that keeps repeating and use it to make their own pattern?”
Curriculum record
- Type
- Conceptual
- Subject
- Mathematics
- Domain
- Algebra
- Age range
- Ages 3–13
Standards