A few summers ago, I was in Charleston, SC teaching Montessori philosophy, methods, and 6-9 (lower elementary) mathematics to a group of aspiring teachers. South Carolina had become a hotbed for Montessori those days, and it was expanding into public schools as rapidly as it was in the independent schools sector. In this particular group, there were both seasoned teachers in regular education, and 3-6 (primary) teachers, and one 9-12 (upper elementary) teacher, all spending a good chunk of their summer learning 6-9 (lower elementary) Montessori pedagogy. Near the end of the week, I was showing some “exponent and powers” lessons, and had a series of squares and cubes arrayed on a mat in front of me, the beauty of the mathematical patterns formed were clearly evident. The 3-6 year old teacher noted, “Those 10 cubes are the same sizes as the pink cube in a primary classroom”. The 9-12 year old teacher remarked, “In upper elementary we use it for cubing and volume work.” There was one of those great thoughtful pauses from the group, and one of the youngest of the cohort, just out of college, said softly, almost to herself, “Wow. I think I’m going to like this…”