Grade Level: 4th Grade

Subject: Mathematics

Topic: Tessellations

Duration: 60 minutes

Objective:
Students will be able to understand the concept of tessellations, identify different
types of tessellations, create their own tessellations, and evaluate their peers'
tessellations for accuracy.

Materials Needed:

Various shapes cut out of construction paper (e.g., squares, triangles, hexagons)
Poster board or large sheets of paper
Markers or colored pencils
Tessellation templates (optional)
Rubric for evaluating tessellations
Engage (10 minutes):

Begin the lesson by displaying various examples of tessellations on the board or

through a slideshow presentation.
Ask students what they notice about the shapes in the tessellations.
Prompt a discussion about where tessellations can be found in real life (e.g., tiles
on the floor, quilts, honeycombs).
Explore (15 minutes):

Distribute the different shapes cut out of construction paper to each student or
group.
Instruct students to explore the shapes and try to arrange them on their desks to
create a tessellation.
Encourage students to experiment with rotating and flipping the shapes to fit
together without any gaps or overlaps.
Circulate the classroom to provide assistance and guidance as needed.
Explain (10 minutes):

Gather the students back together and discuss their experiences with creating
tessellations.
Explain the definition of a tessellation: a pattern of shapes that fit together
perfectly without any gaps or overlaps.
Discuss different types of tessellations, such as regular tessellations (using only
one type of regular polygon), semi-regular tessellations (using two or more
regular polygons), and irregular tessellations.
Introduce key vocabulary terms like congruent, polygon, and symmetry.
Elaborate (20 minutes):

Divide students into small groups and provide each group with a large sheet of
paper or poster board.
Instruct each group to work together to create their own unique tessellation using
the shapes provided or by drawing their own shapes.
Encourage creativity and experimentation with different arrangements and color
schemes.
Once completed, have each group present their tessellation to the class,
explaining the shapes used and any patterns or symmetry present.
Evaluate (5 minutes):

Distribute the rubric for evaluating tessellations to each student.

Instruct students to use the rubric to evaluate the tessellations presented by their
peers based on criteria such as accuracy, creativity, and symmetry.
Collect the rubrics and review them to assess student understanding of
tessellations.
Conclusion:
Wrap up the lesson by summarizing the key concepts learned about tessellations.
Encourage students to continue exploring tessellations in their everyday
environment and to look for examples outside of the classroom.