Asking Pattern Questions: a skill companion

A small set of reusable sheets that grow one inquiry skill: noticing a pattern, turning it into a question you can try out, and making a good guess from what you have seen. Print the scaffolds once and slot them into the science lessons you are already teaching.

What a skill companion is

Inquiry skills are not a topic of their own. They grow inside the science units a class teaches all year, such as What Living Things Need, Day, Night and Seasons and Pushes and Pulls. So this pack is not a full term of lessons. It is three reusable scaffolds, a map of where they fit, and a short stand-alone lesson for teaching the skill on its own first.

Start here: five minutes

1. Read the pairing map on the next page: it shows which scaffold fits which science lesson.
2. Print the planner and the prediction frame, one each per child, whenever a lesson asks a question you can try out.
3. Cut out the question cards once. They are reused all year, in any topic.
4. Open the free interactive unit on your board when you want a worked example of the skill.
5. Run the one-page mini-lesson first if you want to teach the skill before folding it into a topic.

No science background needed

This pack is written for the busy generalist teacher. Each scaffold explains itself in plain words, and the answer sheet gives model responses and look-fors for every Year 1 topic, so you can walk in and use it.

Slot the skill into your science lessons

The same skill of noticing a pattern, asking a question and making a guess fits into every science unit. This map shows a pattern children can notice in each Year 1 topic, a question to pose, and which scaffold to reach for. You do not run these as extra lessons; you fold them into the science you teach.

The moves, and the picture that backs each one

When you want a worked example on the board, open the interactive unit and use the picture that matches the move children are working on.

• Change only one thing so the test is fair: “Which things float? Change just one thing”.
• Watch a pattern unfold: “Does the plant grow toward the window?”.
• Sort the everyday clues that back up a guess: “Sort the clues for your guess”.

How the scaffolds build the skill

The planner turns a pattern a child noticed into a question that can be tried out. The prediction frame adds a good guess with a reason from experience. The question cards sharpen the hardest part: telling a pattern question you can try out from an opinion no test can settle. Used together across the year, they make asking and predicting a habit.

I noticed a pattern

Be a pattern detective. When you notice something happening again and again, you can turn it into a question and try it out.

A pattern I noticed

My question about the pattern

A good question is one you can try out. These openers can help.

• Does ______ ... ?
• What happens if ______ ?
• Which one ______ more?

How we could try it

Teacher note: if a child ticks “Not yet”, help them reword it into something they can watch or measure, or sort it with the question cards first.

My good guess

A prediction is a good guess. It says what you think will happen and gives a reason from something you have seen before.

Before we test

Draw what I think will happen

After we test

A guess that turns out wrong is still good science: you found something out.

Can we try this question out?

Cut out the cards. Sort them into two piles: questions we can try out, and questions we cannot. Some cards are opinions or feelings, and no test can settle those.

Teacher note: the two piles are “we can try it out” and “we cannot”. The answer sheet lists which is which, and why. Blank cards let children add their own.

Notice, ask and guess

Use this stand-alone lesson to teach the skill on its own, before you fold it into a science topic. It runs the three scaffolds in this pack in one short block, so children meet the whole skill in one go and then reuse the sheets all year.

We are learning to

• notice a pattern in what we see,
• turn it into a question we can try out,
• make a good guess and give a reason from what we know.

Success criteria

• I can ask a question I can try out.
• I can make a guess and say why I think it.

You need

• the question cards (scaffold 3), one set per table, cut out ahead or by fast finishers,
• the planner and the prediction frame (scaffolds 1 and 2), one each per child,
• a few things that show a pattern: a ball and a wooden block, or a full box and an empty box,
• the free interactive unit on your board, if you have one (optional).

Lesson flow (about 30 minutes)

Running it shorter? Stop after Try it out, or not, and pick up Plan and predict inside your next science lesson, where children plan a real try-it.

Watch for these ideas

• An opinion dressed up as a question, like “which is nicest?”. If two people who disagree could both be right, it is not a test.
• A guess with no reason. Ask what they have seen before that points that way.
• Wanting to change everything at once. Keep it to one change so the answer is clear.

Make it easier, make it bigger

• Easier: sort just four question cards, two you can try out and two you cannot.
• Bigger: write a brand-new question you can try out on a blank card and swap it with another table to sort.

Answers and look-fors

The next sheet has the card answers, model responses for the planner and prediction frame across the Year 1 topics, and a quick three-level guide.

Answers and look-fors

Question cards: which can we try out?

The blank cards children write are marked the same way: can we watch or measure the answer, or is it an opinion two people could disagree on?

Planner and prediction frame: what a good response sounds like

Responses will vary, and that is fine. The point is a question that can be tried out and a guess with a reason. Here is what an at-standard response sounds like in each Year 1 topic.

A quick three-level guide

A child at standard asks a question that can be tried out and gives a guess with a reason. The skill grows all year, so keep the scaffolds coming back in every science topic.