What's Next, Nina

$What's Next, Nina book cover$

Grade 1
5 skill lessons

Math

Skill lessons

The mathematics the book carries, taught directly. Printable workbook pages and teacher keys are not available for this book yet.

1Find Where the Bracelet Starts Over
2Say What Comes Next, and Say Why
3Six Beads, Two Ways
4Patterns That Do Not Repeat by Colour
5Put Back What the Row Still Shows

Math + reading

Math through the reading

The same book, entered through a sentence it prints. Change one word in the reading and the numbers change with it.

No math-through-reading lessons for this book yet.

Reading

Reading and language lessons

The same book read as a text. What a word means in its sentence, how a character is shown, how the writing is put together - no mathematics.

No reading and language lessons for this book yet.

Both exports carry any edits you have made. Edits are saved in this browser only — nobody else sees them, and they are not sent anywhere.

Skill lessons

5 lessons on the mathematics the book carries. Printable workbook pages and teacher keys are not available for this book yet.

1. Find Where the Bracelet Starts Over Concept · Finding the repeating unit in a repeating pattern

Betsy holds out a bracelet and the book prints every bead on it: blue, blue, red, gold, and then those same four again. Because the row comes round twice, a child can see the repeat rather than be told it. Students lay the eight beads in the printed order, walk a finger along until they reach a bead that starts the row over, ring the four beads of one repeat with a loop of yarn, and then say those four colours in order with the loop lifted off and the row covered.

Full lesson — 20 minutes

1. Lay Betsy's bracelet (5 min)
Each pair lays eight cubes in the order the book prints them: blue, blue, red, gold, blue, blue, red, gold. Touch every cube and say its colour out loud, left to right, one touch and one colour word. Leave the row exactly where it is; every step today works on this row.
Word preview: bracelet
She holds out a bracelet. Blue. Blue. Red. Gold. Blue, blue. Red. Gold.
2. Walk it until it starts over (6 min)
Start at the left-hand cube and walk one finger along the row, saying the colours. Stop on the first cube that begins the row again and keep a finger there. Say how many cubes you walked past before you got to it. Both partners walk it, and they have to stop on the same cube.
Word preview: pattern
It's a pattern, I say.
3. Ring one repeat (5 min)
Put the loop of yarn round exactly one repeat and nothing more, then say its four colours in order. Lift the loop off, cover the row with a hand, and say the four again. A partner uncovers the row and stops you on the first colour that does not match.
Word preview: repeat
4. Make the row longer (4 min)
Add cubes to the right-hand end so the row keeps the same rule, until the four colours have come round four times. Before each cube goes down, say what it has to be. Anyone who cannot say it walks the row again from the left.

Short version — 9 minutes

1. Walk it until it starts over (5 min)
Walk one finger along the printed row saying the colours, and stop on the first cube that begins the row again. Say how many cubes you walked past to get there.
Word preview: pattern
It's a pattern, I say.
2. Ring one repeat (4 min)
Put the loop of yarn round exactly one repeat and say its four colours in order. Lift the loop, cover the row, and say the four again.
Word preview: repeat

Three levels

Support: Stay with the first four cubes, blue, blue, red, gold, and lay a second set of four in a row underneath them so the two rows sit bead under bead. Point along both rows together with two fingers and say the colours once. Only when the four can be said with the rows covered does the second repeat join the end of the top row.
At Grade: Lay all eight cubes, find the cube where the row starts over, ring one repeat with the yarn, and say its four colours in order with the loop lifted and the row covered.
Extension: Cover the row and say what the tenth cube would have to be, and how you know, before the cover comes off. Then build a row whose repeat is three cubes long, hand it to a partner, and see whether they ring the same three you meant.

English learners

Colour words come early in every language of schooling, and this row says what it says in any of them: a finger travelling along eight cubes needs no translation. What carries the mathematics here is not a colour word at all but the English for a thing that comes round again, starts over, one repeat, once more, and a child can name all eight cubes and still not have that sentence. Put the frame up before the cubes go down: it starts over at ___ , and one repeat is ___ , ___ , ___ , ___ . Invite the first walk along the row in the student's strongest language, same finger, same cubes, then again in English with the frame.

Materials

Blue, red and gold cubes or beads, eight per pair
Printed source passage in this step
A loop of yarn or a pipe cleaner per pair
Word cards: pattern, repeat

Standards & curriculum

These lessons are being matched against curricula now.

2. Say What Comes Next, and Say Why Reasoning · Predicting the next term of a repeating pattern and defending it

The book's question is its own title, and Alice asks it out loud in the bead store. Nina answers it four times over: she offers a purple, is told there was more blue, tries a blue bead, and puts down another. Students take the printed bracelet run, say the next bead as a claim before a hand touches a cube, and then give the reason out of the row itself, pointing at the beads already down rather than at the colour they happen to want.

Full lesson — 20 minutes

1. Read the question the book asks (4 min)
Students read the line where Alice asks what is next and Nina answers, and say which part of her answer the beads on a table could settle and which part they could not. She names the colours and then says she cannot remember how they went.
Word preview: next
What's next? Alice asks. The pink and orange beads, I say, but I don't remember the pattern.
2. Claim the next bead (6 min)
Each pair lays six cubes of the bracelet run, blue, blue, red, gold, blue, blue, and then says the next bead out loud before touching anything: the next one is ___ . Place it, check it against the printed row, and do it again from a different starting cube.
Word preview: another
How did it go? Another purple?
3. Say the reason, not the colour (6 min)
Partners take turns. One names the next bead, the other asks how they know. The reason has to put a finger on cubes already down, the four before it or the matching cube one repeat back. A reason that says because blue is the one I like goes back to the row and tries again.
Word preview: because
No, there was more blue, I say.
4. Two beads further on (4 min)
Now say the bead after the next one, and the one after that, before either goes down. Place both and check. Say which of the three claims was the easiest to be sure of, and what made it easier.

Short version — 9 minutes

1. Claim the next bead (5 min)
Each pair lays six cubes of the bracelet run and says the next bead out loud before touching anything: the next one is ___ . Place it and check it against the printed row.
Word preview: another
How did it go? Another purple?
2. Say the reason, not the colour (4 min)
One partner names the next bead, the other asks how they know. The reason has to point at cubes already down, the four before it or the matching cube one repeat back.
Word preview: because
No, there was more blue, I say.

Three levels

Support: Work on the four-cube run with the row left uncovered and the next cube already sitting face down at the end. Say what is under it before it is turned over, and point at the cube one repeat back that told you. One claim, one reason, one turn over, then the next cube.
At Grade: Say the next bead before anything is touched, place it, and give a reason that puts a finger on cubes already down.
Extension: Take a row where only three cubes show, blue, blue, red, and say whether the next one is settled. Say what would have to be added to the row before it was, and then say it for a row of four.

English learners

The claim and the reason are two different jobs in English and this lesson asks for both, which is more than it looks. A child can put the right cube down without a word; saying why needs a because sentence, and that shape arrives later than the colour words do. Give both frames on the table before the cubes go out: the next one is ___ , and I know because ___ . Take the first reason in the student's strongest language with a finger on the cubes that fund it, then the same reason in English with the frame, and let the finger stay where it was.

Materials

Printed source passage in this step
Blue, red and gold cubes or beads, eight per pair
Word cards: next, another

Standards & curriculum

These lessons are being matched against curricula now.

3. Six Beads, Two Ways Fluency · Making six from a part of blues and a part of purples

Nina and Alice settle on a run of beads and do it again and again: two purples and then four blues. At the end of the book Nina looks at her sister's necklace and counts five blues and one purple. Both repeats hold six beads and the book never says six about either of them. Students count the printed run, build the sister's from the two numbers her sentence states, and say the two ways six came apart into a blue part and a purple part.

Full lesson — 20 minutes

1. Count the printed run (5 min)
Each pair lays the beads the book prints, purple, purple, blue, blue, blue, blue, in that order, and counts them with one touch per bead. Say how many there are altogether, then how many are blue and how many are purple. Say all three numbers out loud before moving on.
Word preview: altogether
Alice and I do purple, purple, blue, blue, blue, blue again, and again.
2. Build the sister's six (6 min)
Read the sentence where Nina counts her sister's necklace and lay that run underneath the first: five blues and one purple. The book gives those as counts and not as an order, so put the purple wherever you like and say out loud that the order is yours and not the book's. Count the row. Say whether the two rows came out the same length.
Word preview: blues
But yours has five blues and one purple, and on the bottom.
3. Say the two ways (5 min)
With both rows down, say the two ways six came apart: four blues and two purples, five blues and one purple. Then make a third row of six that is neither, and say it the same way. Partners count each other's rows before either row is believed.
Word preview: same
Well, it's almost the same, I say.
4. Six with the beads away (4 min)
Push the cubes aside. The teacher says a number of blues from one to five and each student says how many purples go with them to make six. Every student takes a turn alone before the class says one together.

Short version — 9 minutes

1. Count the printed run (4 min)
Lay the beads the book prints, purple, purple, blue, blue, blue, blue, and count them with one touch per bead. Say how many altogether, then how many blue and how many purple.
Word preview: altogether
Alice and I do purple, purple, blue, blue, blue, blue again, and again.
2. Build the sister's six (5 min)
Lay the sister's run underneath the first from the counts her sentence states, five blues and one purple, and say that the order is yours because the book gives none. Count it and say whether the two rows came out the same length.
Word preview: blues
But yours has five blues and one purple, and on the bottom.

Three levels

Support: Work with the printed run only. Lay the two purples on the left and the four blues beside them, count all six with one touch each, then say the purple part and the blue part. Cover the blues with a hand and say how many are hiding, then uncover and check.
At Grade: Count the printed run, build the sister's six from the counts her sentence states, and say both ways six came apart with a row to point at for each.
Extension: Find every way six comes apart into a blue part and a purple part, lay them in order from most blue to fewest, and say how you know none is missing.

English learners

The counting words to six are usually in place in a child's first language before English arrives, and this lesson lets that count do the work: one touch per bead sounds right in any language and is checkable by a partner who shares none of it. The English that carries weight is the word for the whole, altogether, and the book never uses it, so it has to come from the room. Put up ___ blues and ___ purples make six altogether. Take the first count in the student's strongest language, then have them say the frame in English over the same two rows, with a hand covering the part being named.

Materials

Blue and purple cubes or beads, twelve per pair
Printed source passage in this step
Word cards: altogether, same

Standards & curriculum

These lessons are being matched against curricula now.

4. Patterns That Do Not Repeat by Colour Representation · Reading a repeating pattern that repeats by shape or by size

The book's closing chart says patterns can be drawn with colour, size and shape, and two of its rows show it working. In one, red circle, yellow square, blue circle, green square, no colour comes round twice and the shapes come round every other piece. In the other, the sizes run small, small, large and then small, small, large again while the colour changes underneath them. Students build both rows and say, for each, which one thing is doing the repeating.

Full lesson — 20 minutes

1. Build the shape row (5 min)
Lay the four pieces the chart prints, in order: a red circle, a yellow square, a blue circle, a green square. Say the colours along the row, then say the shapes along the row. Say which of the two lists has something coming round again and which does not.
Word preview: shape
Color and shape pattern. Pattern. Red, circle, yellow, square. Blue, circle, green, square.
2. Build the size row (6 min)
Lay the chart's other row underneath: small yellow, small yellow, large yellow, then small purple, small purple, large purple. Say the sizes along the row and put a finger where they start over. Then say what the colour does at the same place, and whether the sizes cared.
Word preview: size
Color and size pattern. Pattern. Small, yellow, small, yellow, large, yellow, small purple, small purple, large purple.
3. Name the thing that repeats (5 min)
For each row, put one finger on the first piece and one on the piece where the row starts over, and say the single word for what repeats: shape in the first row, size in the second. Then say which of the two rows would still be a pattern in a photograph with the colour taken out.
Word preview: repeats
I can draw patterns with color, size and shape.
4. Draw one of your own (4 min)
Each student draws a row of six where the size comes round again and no colour is used twice, then hands it to a partner, who says the rule out loud and draws what the seventh piece would be.

Short version — 9 minutes

1. Build the shape row (5 min)
Lay the four pieces the chart prints, in order: a red circle, a yellow square, a blue circle, a green square. Say the colours along the row, then the shapes, and say which list has something coming round again.
Word preview: shape
Color and shape pattern. Pattern. Red, circle, yellow, square. Blue, circle, green, square.
2. Name the thing that repeats (4 min)
Put one finger on the first piece and one on the piece where the row starts over, and say the single word for what repeats. Then say whether the row would still be a pattern with the colour taken out.
Word preview: repeats
I can draw patterns with color, size and shape.

Three levels

Support: Build the shape row only, and sort the four pieces into two piles first, circles in one and squares in the other, so the two shapes are in the hands before they are in a row. Then lay the row from the printed order and say only the shapes along it, ignoring the colours altogether.
At Grade: Build both printed rows, say which one thing repeats in each, and put a finger on the piece where each row starts over.
Extension: Build a row where the shape repeats every other piece and the size repeats every third piece, and say which piece is the first one where both come round together.

English learners

Two of the words here are new mathematics carried by ordinary English, and they are easy to lose: size and shape both name a way of looking at the same piece, and a child sorting the pieces by hand has already understood both before either word arrives. Sort first, name second. The frame to rehearse is the ___ repeats and the ___ does not, filled from two piles of pieces rather than from memory. Invite the sorting talk in the student's strongest language, then have the row described in English with the frame and both piles still on the table.

Materials

Pattern blocks or paper cut-outs in circles and squares, four colours
Printed source passage in this step
Small and large pieces in two colours
Paper and crayons
Word cards: shape, size

Standards & curriculum

These lessons are being matched against curricula now.

5. Put Back What the Row Still Shows Application · Restoring missing beads inside a repeating pattern

The necklace breaks at the party and Nina is left holding three beads, which Betsy calls a clue. The book never says which three they were, so the class works Nina's problem on a row of its own: the printed bracelet laid out twice over, three beads turned face down, and each hidden colour named from what the rest of the row still shows before any bead is turned back.

Full lesson — 20 minutes

1. Read what she had left (4 min)
Students read the line where the necklace breaks and Nina is left holding three beads, and say what a clue is worth here. It tells you something without telling you everything, and the book never says which three beads they were.
Word preview: clue
Three little beads.
2. Hide three beads (5 min)
Each pair lays the printed bracelet twice over, eight cubes. One partner looks away while the other covers three cubes, none of them side by side. The pair then names all three hidden colours out loud, one at a time, before a single cover comes off.
Word preview: hidden
Those three beads are a clue, Betsy says.
3. Put them back and check (7 min)
Uncover each cube as it is named. When a name is wrong, leave it wrong for a moment: walk the row from the left saying the repeat aloud until you reach that place and let the row say what belongs there, then put it right. Swap jobs and do it again with three different cubes covered.
Word preview: belongs
It's as good as new, I say.
4. A row that stops telling you (4 min)
Now cover the whole right-hand half, so only four cubes show. Say whether the row still tells you what the fifth cube is. Say what would have to be showing before it did.

Short version — 9 minutes

1. Hide three beads (4 min)
Lay the printed bracelet twice over, eight cubes. One partner looks away while the other covers three cubes, none of them side by side, then the pair names all three hidden colours before any cover comes off.
Word preview: hidden
Those three beads are a clue, Betsy says.
2. Put them back and check (5 min)
Uncover each cube as it is named. Where a name is wrong, walk the row from the left saying the repeat aloud until you reach that place, let the row say what belongs there, and then put it right.
Word preview: belongs
It's as good as new, I say.

Three levels

Support: Cover one cube at a time, and never one at either end of the row. Say the repeat aloud from the left with a finger travelling, and stop on the cover. Uncover it straight away, then choose the next one. Three covers at once only after three singles have come out right.
At Grade: Name all three hidden colours before any cover is lifted, and repair a wrong name by walking the row aloud rather than by guessing again.
Extension: Cover three cubes that sit side by side and say which of the three the row still settles and which it does not. Then say how many cubes have to stay showing for the row to settle every hidden one.

English learners

Nothing in the naming needs English: a child points at a cover and says a colour. The English this lesson needs is the language of place, the one before it, the one after, at the end, in the middle, and those words are exactly what a child reaches for when a name has to be repaired rather than repeated. Put the frame on the table: the one before it is ___ , so this one is ___ . Let the first repair be talked through in the student's strongest language with a finger travelling the row, then said again in English with the frame and the finger in the same place.

Materials

Printed source passage in this step
Blue, red and gold cubes or beads, eight per pair
A paper cup or an index card for covering beads
Word cards: clue, hidden

Standards & curriculum

These lessons are being matched against curricula now.