What a Piece of Work

As the year winds down and the matrix of deadlines, year end presentations and events pile up, it is easy to feel kind of frantic as a teacher. Have you given them everything? Are they ready? What have we missed? It’s an eyes up, shoulder in, full tilt kind of feeling. This is the perfect opportunity to just stop, look around, breathe and find something to focus on that will fit in your hands. In this case…for our grade threes with their eyes on transitions to Upper Elementary, it is the math. And what better piece of math than the algebraic expression of the trinomial cube. It is a simple but beautifully resolved series that reaches back to the pink tower and brown stair children of two are shown in the casa then stretches outward into literally endless permutations. At the end of each, with perseverance, is a satisfying feeling of mastery.