WASHINGTON - Joanne Tegethoff teaches algebra. Never mind that her students carry Disney princess and Thomas the Tank Engine backpacks and have the alphabet taped on their desks.
Tegethoff used to teach what she called "very boring math," using worksheets of addition and subtraction problems. Now her first graders delve into algebraic thinking. By the third grade, Viers Mill Elementary students in Silver Spring, Md., are solving equations with letters and variables.
Long a high-school staple, introductory algebra is becoming a standard course in middle school for college-bound students. That trend is putting new pressure on such schools as Viers Mill to insert the building blocks of algebra into math lessons in the earliest grades.
