4th grade · Math · Unit 6 of 15
Patterns & Tables
Growing and shrinking patterns
What your child practices
Extending increasing and decreasing number patterns, naming pattern rules, finding rules in input/output tables, and describing how two quantities are related.
Alaska content standards learning standard: 4.OA.5 · analyzing number patterns that follow a given rule
How we explain it
Children can open this short lesson before they practice.
- A table lists each step and its number.
- Find how much the numbers change each step.
- Use that rule to carry on the pattern.
Example: A pattern starts at 4 and adds 3 each time. What is the 5th number? 4, 7, 10, 13, 16. The 5th number is 16. Answer: 16
Patterns & Tables in Alaska
In the Alaska content standards, this is unit 6 of 15 in 4th grade Math, after Decimals and before Equations.
Gradelings describes a child's practice on this unit as Beginning, Approaching, Meeting or Exceeding (Four practice steps). That reflects practice, not a report-card mark: the teacher decides the mark.
Source: Alaska Department of Education and Early Development
Sample questions
A taste of this unit. In the app, questions change every time and get easier or harder to match your child.
Question 1
What number comes next?
419, 444, 469, 494,
answer box
519
Hint: Find the change from one number to the next: 419 to 444 is +25. Do the same to 494.
Question 2
What is the pattern rule?
91, 141, 191, 241
- Start at 91. Add 50 each time.
- Start at 141. Add 50 each time.
- Start at 91. Add 51 each time.
- Start at 91. Subtract 50 each time.
Start at 91. Add 50 each time.
Hint: A pattern rule tells the first number and how it changes. 91 to 141 goes up by 50.
Question 3
For every 1 spider, there are 8 legs. How many legs are there for 12 spiders?
🕷️answer box
96
Hint: Each spider adds 8 legs. Multiply: 12 × 8.
Question 4
What number is missing?
235, 220, 205, , 175
- 190
- 200
- 191
- 180
190
Hint: The pattern goes down by 15 each time. 205 − 15 = 190.
Question 5
What number comes next?
239, 228, 217, 206,
- 195
- 184
- 205
- 217
195
Hint: Find the change from one number to the next: 239 to 228 is −11. Do the same to 206.
Question 6
Which rule turns each In number into its Out number?
In Out 1 8 5 40 7 56 8 64 - Multiply by 9
- Add 2
- Multiply by 8
- Add 7
Multiply by 8
Hint: Test a rule on every row, not just the first one. A rule that works for 1 → 8 might not work for 5 → 40.