Free · Grade 5 · Steps to 6, 9, or 12

Two rules, two patterns worksheets

Working on two rules, two patterns? Print this sheet as it is, or change the level and questions first. You can also answer it on screen — it is the same sheet either way.

  • Answer key included
  • Reopen this exact sheet
  • Letter & A4 ready
Ready to printTwo rules, two patterns
Two rules, two patterns worksheet — Steps to 6, 9, or 12, free printable with answer key

The answer key prints on a separate page.

What's on this sheet

A single pattern — 2, 4, 6, blank, 10 — is a fourth-grade question, and there is a sheet for it already. What makes this a year harder is that there are two patterns and they are related: the child follows each rule down its own row, then looks across and sees that the bottom row is always the same multiple of the top. The relationship is not stated anywhere on the sheet; it is the thing to be found.

Why this sheet works

The second rule always counts in whole multiples of the first. Two freely chosen steps would still make two valid patterns, but the relationship between them comes out as something like “1.75 times” — true, unmarkable in a blank, and not what a fifth-grader is being asked to notice. Keeping the second step a multiple of the first is what makes the relationship a whole number worth writing down.