In this activity students look into a pattern and diagram where their first task is to verify the number of lines and squares.

This is often a great discussion between students because some of the objects they need to count are not obvious. This has been a favorite task of our students and some have spent a lot of time working on it beyond class time. That makes it a perfect low-floor high-ceiling task! Doing math doesn’t mean that we must resolve a problem by the end of class time. Mathematical thinking can go on for as much time as students want to commit to the task.