Purple Coneflower

Geodialist (Walter) Fibonacci Sequence and patterns in nature...flower petals, leaves, veins, branches...all of these things I'd use to introduce all sorts of concepts for the kids over the entire school year. I did most of that when I taught 4th grade math. We did a garden too, and there were tons of calculations and predictions the kids did. They graphed like crazy, documented observations, kept notes, wrote about everything. It was fabulous. The "vortex" was a clincher for some of the kids...not much official math went on at first, at least that they realized, but they learned there were patterns in nature and we started this entire math thing to count, sort, and track our natural world. That is missed by so many kids because that concept is not on standardized tests. I was able to have the "garden classroom" for about half of my lessons and the kids really enjoyed it.

Geodialist, if you can get really close up and stay in focus, these flower centers are awesome. They are a math lesson in patterns. Nice photo.