Math: Any Place, Any Time

I've been away, teaching other kids and their teachers.  When I came home I discovered my seven year old had discovered triangular numbers.

Not only that, she had created two nearly identical representations (slide symmetry) and ordered the cat chess pieces by size.  Not pictured are her collection of old books, displayed in order of publication date, oldest to newest. None of this echoes any of our sit-down math lessons this year so far.

I think, as a kid, my thinking was very similar and I have always wished that someone would have helped me move this kind of thinking and seeing forward into more formal mathematics.  That's why its really important to keep an eye open to what our students do in their 'off time'.  Math can happen anywhere, any time and when it does happen it's the perfect opening toward more conscious math making.