Pattern work is now undertaken as early as kindergarten, and both researchers and teachers have discovered that children engage in pattern work with great enthusiasm and innate ability. Having some flexibility in pattern perception and selecting mathematically useful patterns require some training, although there is nothing particularly algebraic about these skills. They are, however, a prerequisite to using patterns for introducing more formal algebra. Expressing pattern "seeings," saying a pattern with words and eventually using algebraic symbolism, is part of algebra. A pattern rule involves the use of a variable quantity. Although the variable in school pattern work is restricted to natural numbers, students can acquire some familiarity with the role of variables. Guided by scaffolded questioning, pattern explorations can lead to some very rich algebraic thinking about variables and unknowns, equivalence of algebraic expressions, symbol manipulation, domain and range of expressions and equations, and solving for the unknown. This article illustrates--using the growing T pattern--how to scaffold classroom questioning in order to introduce the formal study of algebra in middle school. (Contains 5 figures.)