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Lesson Patterns

Reusable Lesson Patterns

6 min readUpdated

Start from proven structures for review, branching, self-check, guided practice, and interactive challenges.

The fastest way to build strong lessons is to reuse patterns that already match common teaching goals.

These patterns are not rigid templates. They are reliable starting points you can adapt.

Pattern: Guided instruction then check

Use this when:

  • Learners need a quick teaching moment before answering
  • The lesson should move cleanly from explanation into assessment

Typical flow:

  1. Opening scene
  2. Instruction scene
  3. Check-for-understanding scene
  4. Feedback or retry scene

Strong widget pairings:

  • Text + image
  • Audio or text-to-speech + multiple choice
  • Submit button + score

Pattern: Labeled diagram

Use this when:

  • Learners need to identify parts of a visual
  • The content is spatial

Strong widget pairings:

  • Image + hotspots that reveal each part's name when tapped
  • Find in Picture to check that learners can find each part ("Tap every part that carries water"), with near-misses that count as wrong taps
  • Image with numbered parts + a dropdown or matching to check the names (a hotspot can't check either: any tap counts as correct)
  • Button + answer-key image

Best for:

  • Science diagrams
  • Maps
  • Body parts
  • Equipment labeling

Pattern: Branching choice path

Use this when:

  • Learners should choose a topic, role, or challenge path
  • The lesson should feel more personalized

Strong widget pairings:

  • Buttons + variables (each button sets the variable to its topic)
  • A dropdown, whose Selected value a condition can check
  • Scene navigation + conditional text
  • Score or timer on a layout applied to the scenes that need it

Best for:

  • Choose-your-topic review
  • Scenario-based learning
  • Differentiated practice

Pattern: Shared backdrop with layouts

Use this when:

  • Several scenes should share the same header, directions, or score display
  • You want to change a repeated element once, not per scene

Typical setups:

  • One layout carrying a score and timer, applied to every challenge scene — each challenge gets the same time limit, because a layout timer starts over on every scene; feedback and celebration scenes stay layout-free so they feel like a change of pace
  • Two layouts alternating between sections — a "teach" backdrop for instruction scenes and a "quiz" backdrop for assessment scenes, so students always know which mode they are in

Best for:

  • Multi-scene practice runs
  • Station or center activities
  • Any lesson where a repeated element would otherwise be copied scene by scene

Pattern: Timed challenge

Use this when:

  • Urgency supports engagement
  • Fast recognition matters
  • You want a game-like feel

Strong widget pairings:

  • Timer + interactive rain
  • Timer + multiple choice
  • Score + celebration scene

Best for:

  • Fluency review
  • Rapid recognition
  • Competitive warm-ups

Pattern: How Many Do You See?

Use this when:

  • Young learners are learning to recognize small numbers without counting
  • You want them to see parts of a number ("2 and 2 make 4")
  • The routine runs often, with a new card each time

Strong widget pairings:

  • Quick look, one per scene: flash the card, answer, then show how to see it (step-by-step tutorial)
  • Quick look set to Just look + multiple choice, shown on On Card Covered
  • Text to speech for the question, then a Ready! button that runs Start the look

Best for:

  • Daily K–1 number-sense warm-ups
  • Dot talks and quick images
  • A run of cards that each add one dot

Pattern: Is it a triangle?

Use this when students are learning what makes a shape that shape: its sides and corners, not how it's turned or how big it is.

Build it with

Steps

  1. Start with clear examples. Show a triangle as a prompt and offer two shape choices: the same triangle smaller and turned (use Copy from, then change Size and Turn), and a near-miss.
  2. Add turned and stretched examples. Skinny, wide and upside-down triangles are all triangles. Children who have only seen a triangle sitting on its flat side often say an upside-down one "isn't a triangle", so plan for that conversation.
  3. Add near-misses. A pizza slice (One curved side), a shape with a Gap in one side, rounded corners, and a four-sided almost-triangle (Cut corner) look right but aren't. Use Multi selection for "Tap all the triangles".
  4. Finish with a sort. Mix triangles (skinny, wide, upside down) with near-misses as draggable exact shapes, and let students drop each into "Triangles" or "Not triangles". The drop buckets grade where each card lands.
  5. Keep each choice's Description set to By sides and corners, so the question stays fair for screen-reader users and the words practice the skill. Leave the sort cards' alt text empty for the same reason: they are read by their descriptions.

Why it works

The answer depends on the rule (3 straight sides, 3 corners, closed), not on the look, and drawn shapes are exact, so the same shape turned or resized really is the same.

To build the "Tap all the triangles" question step by step, follow the tutorial Ask students to tap all the triangles. For the card sort, with rectangles instead of triangles, follow Sort rectangles from shapes that aren't.

Pattern: Questions for pre-readers

Use this when:

  • Learners can't read yet (PreK–1), but the question asks about numbers, pictures or ideas, not reading
  • Nothing on screen should need reading to answer

Typical flow:

  1. A spoken instruction plays when the scene opens: a text to speech widget with Auto Play, such as "Tap the hand that shows three."
  2. The question turns on Read choices aloud with Tap to hear, tap again to choose, so each choice says itself on the first tap and is chosen on the second.
  3. Read all stays on, for a child who wants to hear every choice in order.

Keep the instruction short and don't read the choices in it. "One. Two. Three. Four." asks a child to hold four words in memory and map them to tiles by position. With read-aloud on, each choice says itself, so Randomize Order can stay on and a child replays one choice instead of the whole instruction. Only one voice plays at a time: tapping a choice pauses the instruction.

Works with multiple choice, matching, sorting list, and the numeral buttons in counting collection and quick look. Generate clips in the lesson's narration voice so the choices sound like the instruction; without clips, the device's own voice reads them.

When to leave it off. When reading the word is the skill, such as sight words or color words, the instruction must never read the choices. A speaker the child chooses to tap (Speaker on each choice) is still a fine scaffold for practice, because the child tries to read first and checks by listening. For a check of independent reading, leave read-aloud off.

On each attempt page, "Heard 3 of 4 choices before answering" helps you tell a child who can't read the choices from one who can't yet do the math.

Best for:

  • Kindergarten math, where every question is spoken
  • Picture vocabulary and listening comprehension checks
  • Any question a pre-reader should answer without help from an adult

Pattern: Sorting or categorization

Use this when:

  • Learners should organize ideas into order or groups
  • The task is about relationships, not just recall

Strong widget pairings:

  • Sorting list + reset button
  • Drop bucket + draggable widgets
  • Score + feedback panel

Best for:

  • Sequence steps
  • Classify examples
  • Sort vocabulary
  • Group evidence or examples

Pattern: Self-check station

Use this when:

  • Learners should try first, then reveal support or answers on demand
  • The activity should support independence

Strong widget pairings:

  • Button + hidden image
  • Button + hidden text explanation
  • Variable + hint visibility
  • Flashcard + score or progress message
  • Word search with "Allow reveal" enabled (vocabulary review with hints on demand)

Best for:

  • Centers
  • Homework-style review
  • Independent practice stations

Pattern: Reflection and response

Use this when:

  • Learners should explain thinking in their own words
  • The lesson should slow down and deepen understanding

Strong widget pairings:

  • Text prompt + text input
  • Number input + explanation text
  • Button + submit flow
  • Media prompt + response widget

Best for:

  • Exit tickets
  • Comprehension reflection
  • Reasoning checks

Learn by doing

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