Teaching Artist Residency at Casey Elementary

My work with students at Casey Elementary School in Jackson began with a presentation called “Mysterious Patterns,” in the library for all 4th graders. I was back later in the day to do the same presentation for all 5th graders. Based on my book of the same name, the talk centers on fractals in nature. And, on geometric fractals.

Fractal shapes are shapes in which the whole shape is made up of different sized copies of the same shape. Here I am talking with students about how to find a pattern in the number of triangles that show up in each size in a geometric fractal called the Sierpinski Triangle.

I showed students this other geometric fractal, a Menger sponge, and we discussed how to find the number of squares at each level. I set it aside and said we would continue to talk about it when I returned for my work in their classrooms.

One of the questions I got as I wrapped up my presentation was “what’s next?” We discussed my work-in-progress (on infinity). Students stopped as they left the room to give me ideas about what photographs I might take to illustrate a book on infinity.


As she left, one student whispered into my ear the number 512. I didn’t understand. I thought she was making a suggestion about the infinity book. It turns out she had done the calculation in her head about how many squares would be in the next level of my quilted Menger Sponge. She asked if she was right. I had to admit that I hadn’t done the calculation myself. I went home and did the calculation — using pencil and paper — and discovered she was right.

I marched myself back there the next day with a book for her and for her class. I can’t wait to get back to Casey for my full days of work in the math classes for 4th and 5th grades. We will be making fractal pop-ups and using them to demonstrate facility with formulas for calculating perimeter, area, and volume. I love my work!

Thank you to John Howell, Casey’s Arts Integration Specialist, for taking the photographs in this post.