Terrific Tessellations

Aloha friends!  I hope you are enjoying your weekend and relaxing to get ready for the busy weeks and holidays ahead.

I am trying to balance out my hectic life and still share what has been happening in our class. My husband left for California on Wednesday for two weeks.  That means mommy is cooking for the next two weeks.  Luckily my daughters like peanut butter and jelly and macaroni and cheese (Annie's from a box).


My youngest Diva tried out for a production of Alice In Wonderland and is part of the ensemble.  She has rehearsals now on Friday evenings and Sunday afternoons for the next two months. I am so proud of her, but it does involve so much time!  She normally goes to her dance studio on Monday, Wednesday and Saturday.  My oldest daughter takes riding lessons on Thursdays.  So basically the only night I am not driving somewhere is on Tuesdays!

Ahhh, I remember the days when I used to just go to the beach after school to surf.  I may have to change my blog name to Driving My Daughters Around Through Second ;)

With all of this busy-ness  I still want to share what's happening in my classroom.

Last week I taught an art lesson on M.C. Escher.  I love his amazing art work and it is a fun way to get kids thinking about patterns in art.

I shared a few of his famous pictures- just Google or check out his website.  Some of the students who saw the Night of the Museum Secret of The Tomb remembered seeing one of his pictures in the movie.

We talked about how his artwork is like a puzzle and then we talked about what Tessellations were.  We looked at a few examples and then I had the kids create their own using pattern blocks.






They were so into it.  They could work alone or with a partner.  I helped them to make sure that each piece could fit in and continue on and on.  When they had created their pattern I gave them a shape template (I kept them from Everyday Math).  They recreated their pattern on their papers.  

They worked on them for over an hour! I had to stop them and tell them they could work on it throughout the week.

This week I gave them an easier task.  They got to use these fun shapes that I picked up on Amazon.









The shapes are so fun and they thought it was a piece of cake compared to last weeks lesson! Again I had to stop them and tell them they could continue and finish next week.

I can't wait to see them all colored in. I plan to make a bulletin board display with all of them.  This is such a great activity for kids at this level and higher.  They really have to push themselves to think out of the box a bit and once they see the patterns they get so excited.

I am off to another rehearsal. I guess I should buy some groceries while I'm out.  I think tacos for dinner sounds like a good idea.  I'm pretty sure I can't mess that up :)


No comments

Mahalo Nui Loa For Commenting!!

Back to Top