# Day 36 — What comes again?

**25 minutes · AC9MFA01 (recognise, copy and continue an AB repeating pattern); partial practice · educator review pending**

**Success:** The child copies an AB pattern, identifies its two-part repeating unit and continues it for three more positions.

**Prepare per pair:** three book picture cards, three block picture cards and three more of each; a six-place [pattern strip](print-aids.md). Use objects or tactile shapes if printed pictures are inaccessible.

1. **Retrieve, 3 min.** Arrange book, block, book, block. Ask what the child notices. Do not accept “book, block” as a continued pattern until at least one more repeat is tested.
2. **Model, 6 min.** Lay book–block three times. Say, “This part keeps coming again: book, block. I can point to that two-card part here, here and here. To continue, I begin that part again: book, block, book.” Read or show the full sequence twice.
3. **Guided game, 9 min.** Partners choose book/block, dot/dash path marks or engine/carriage train cards from [print-aids.md](print-aids.md). One copies a six-card display; the other continues three positions, then they swap. A child can invent two clearly different safe objects.
4. **Fresh try, 4 min.** Show circle, square, circle, square, circle, square. “Copy it, show the part that repeats, and place the next three.” Keep answer cards mixed.
5. **Check, 3 min.** Ask whether circle, square, circle is enough to know it will keep repeating; build a second full unit to check. **Key:** unit circle–square; next circle, square, circle. For book/block, next book, block, book.

**If the child repeats just the last object:** Point to two full units, slide a finger or tactile marker under both, and ask which pair recurs. If a child continues correctly but cannot name a unit, let them bracket or move the first two cards instead of explaining in words.

**Access and record:** Use raised or differently shaped cards, high contrast, spoken descriptions, sign/AAC or child-directed placement. Do not depend on colour. Record copying, unit recognition and three-place continuation separately, plus support.