See and Say Sequence Puzzle
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I’ve got a new sequence puzzle to share with my students when we get back from Spring Break. This puzzle asks “What is the next number in the sequence?”
This puzzle is commonly known as the “See and Say Sequence,” “Look and Say Sequence,” or “Count and Say Sequence.”
I intentionally made my question poster very generic so I can reuse it in the future for other numerical sequences.
What is the next number in the sequence?
1, 11, 21, 1211, 111221, 312211, 13112221, …
If you are stumped by this sequence, the name does sort of give away the solution if you really think about it. It is for this reason that I do not tell my students the name of this sequence.
Like always, I try not to post solutions to puzzles here on my blog because my students are master googlers. Though, this sequence is so famous that they will have no trouble finding the answer online at all if they search the sequence.
I divided a sheet of letter sized paper in thirds and printed part of the sequence on each third.
MATH = LOVE RECOMMENDS…
A laminator is a MUST-HAVE for me as a math teacher! I spent my first six years as a teacher at a school with a broken laminator, so I had to find a way to laminate things myself.
I’ve had several laminators over the years. I currently use a Scotch laminator at home and a Swingline laminator at school.
I highly recommend splurging a bit on the actual laminator and buying the cheapest laminating pouches you can find!
I taped the strips together and tried out a laminating hack I saw online where you tape several laminating pouches together in order to laminate the long strip. It worked quite well. I was able to easily remove the tape after it came out of the laminator.
I typed this sequence puzzle up at the same time that I typed up the M Heart 8 Puzzle.
I had such a fun time putting up a new symbol each day. In retrospect, I kinda wish I had formatted this sequence in the same way where I put up a new number each day. Kids would remind me each day this past week if I didn’t add a new term to the sequence.
Update: I made a version with individual magnets so you can add to the sequence each day.
Free Download of See and Say Sequence Puzzle
See and Say Sequence (PDF) (1556 downloads )
See and Say Sequence (Editable Publisher File ZIP) (1024 downloads )
See and Say Sequence with Individual Magnets (PDF) (1148 downloads )
See and Say Sequence with Individual Magnets (Editable Publisher File ZIP) (941 downloads )
Looking for more fun puzzles? Check out my puzzles page!
Puzzle Solutions
I intentionally do not make answers to the printable math puzzles I share on my blog available online because I strive to provide learning experiences for my students that are non-google-able. I would like other teachers to be able to use these puzzles in their classrooms as well without the solutions being easily found on the Internet.
However, I do recognize that us teachers are busy people and sometimes need to quickly reference an answer key to see if a student has solved a puzzle correctly or to see if they have interpreted the instructions properly.
If you are a teacher who is using these puzzles in your classroom, please send me an email at sarah@mathequalslove.net with information about what you teach and where you teach. I will be happy to forward an answer key to you.
Not a teacher? Go ahead and send me an email as well. Just let me know what you are using the puzzles for. I am continually in awe of how many people are using these puzzles with scouting groups, with senior adults battling dementia, as fun activities in their workplace, or as a birthday party escape room.
